Target mandarin eating ROE; Good sign?

[Meglovin]

Today at the LFS, I asked (without expecting much) to see if any mandarins were eating prepared food. I saw one of the targets eat two chunks out of the water! He said it was ROE blended with other small foods. He put frozen in but the chunks were large, and the mandarins were only about an inch long, but I didn't see any go for it.

Is the fact I saw one go after ROE a sign that he might be easier to feed? I told myself I'd only get a mandarin if he's eating prepared foods, but since I didn't know if ROE was a good sign, I didn't buy him today.

 

[HumbleFish]

It's a good sign and a nice way to supplement their diet. But you really need a strong pod population as their "base" diet. Mandys can't live on roe alone.

 

[35galSaltwater]

what's a pod population?

 

[findingnemo7]

That's the first I've heard a mandarin eating roe. Still recommend you establish a large pod population in your refugium to feed into your DT. Definitely will be easier to keep since you can feed him roe while the pods rebuild. I noticed my mandarin completely destroys my pod population.

When he says pod population he means copepod population. Main food source for mandarins.

 

[HumbleFish]

That's the first I've heard a mandarin eating roe.

My pair eats this.

They dine together in one of these.

 

[postshawn]

I had one eating frozen foods for a couple months. Then all of the sudden it just stopped and a couple weeks later it died. It was a great fish otherwise. I will never get one again unless I have a source of pods for it. I won't rely on just one type of food.

 

[mayjong]

what is the food "paste" referred to in the above video/website for the den?

 

[webersp]

That's the first I've heard a mandarin eating roe. Still recommend you establish a large pod population in your refugium to feed into your DT. Definitely will be easier to keep since you can feed him roe while the pods rebuild. I noticed my mandarin completely destroys my pod population.

When he says pod population he means copepod population. Main food source for mandarins.

My Mandarin eats roe and mysis out of an olive jar, as of today. Before that he was taking mysis and roe out of the water column with regular feedings, but he just stopped and now I'm having to put the olive jar in. I would also not recommend purchasing one just because it was seen eating roe, you never know when it might quit, especially if you have other faster moving fish competing for food.

 

[35galSaltwater]

Is a refugium just any container of saltwater and pod food? Or does it have to be an tank with circulation? What about water changes? Probably none since the pods get sucked out with the water?

 

[Meglovin]

Thank you for the feedback, everyone. I still have not purchased this fish since I only have a 29 gallon BioCube, and do not want to doom one of these guys to starvation in my tank.

I want to convert the second chamber of my BioCube into a refugium (since I'm fairly certain all of my pods are gone; tank has been running for 8 1/2 months) but in my small tank, I want to make sure a mandarin (if I do get one) is eating other prepared foods.

The guy did say that, along with the ROE, there was some ova in the mix as well. If I establish a nice refugium and get a decent amount of pods once again, would it be wise to consider purchasing the target mandarin I saw eating the ROE? My concern is that, if he were to stop eating prepared like what happened to some of you, he would starve since my tank is on the smaller side. So long as I have a refugium, do I still need to worry about starvation?

 

[rssjsb]

Quite honestly, I think your tank is too small for a mandarin. I think you would need a bigger refugium than that to host a sufficient pod population to keep a mandarin healthy and happy. Eating prepared foods is great, but these guys eat a pod every eight seconds. All day long.

You may get lucky and get one that will eat enough pellets or other foods to survive, but frankly, the odds are not great. Sorry to be such a downer, but I think these fish are really not a great risk in a small tank.