What is my mandarin doing when...

M

mongerman

New member
He pecks at the rocks? I dont see any pods on the rocks, so is he actually eating pods, or just pecking away in vain. Also, every now and then he dispels this white wispy smoke from his gills. Whats that? I have him in a 75 gallon with 10 gallon refugium and another 5 gallon area in sump filled with live rock rubble for pod cultivation.

TIA
 
Mine did the same thing, he was pecking at it to scare the pods out. I had a wrasse that did it also. As for the white stuff, I have no clue.
 
Mandy-keepers call those hits. You can't see the pods he eats, but if his hits are about one every 4-5 seconds he's finding enough. If that count slows down, you need to beef up your fuge (20g fuge is a real good size for mandy-keeping)---and be sure you don't have a sponge or filter sock trapping the pods circulating in the system.
 
1 hit every 5 seconds = 12 hits a minute, 720 hits an hour and 17,280 hits a day. And people wonder why you need an established tank to keep these fish alive.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13091925#post13091925 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gold Stripe
1 hit every 5 seconds = 12 hits a minute, 720 hits an hour and 17,280 hits a day. And people wonder why you need an established tank to keep these fish alive.
Click to expand...

they don't eat 24 hours a day
 
But they start when the first grey light from the windows hits the tank, and continue until the last gasp of light goes out.
You could say at least 10,000 pods a day. ;)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13091778#post13091778 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
Mandy-keepers call those hits. You can't see the pods he eats, but if his hits are about one every 4-5 seconds he's finding enough. If that count slows down, you need to beef up your fuge (20g fuge is a real good size for mandy-keeping)---and be sure you don't have a sponge or filter sock trapping the pods circulating in the system.
Click to expand...

I have a Mag Drive 12 with the sponge on in the sump. Are you saying I should remove this sponge and have everything free flowing throughout the system? I do notice that pods are stuck in my return chamber after they they over flow from the display and fuge and can't get out.

By the way my Mandarin does the same exact thing. I assume she is eating well her stomach is getting pretty fat. This is the most elusive fish I ever seen. She is always hiding behind the rocks. I guess she goes where the pods go.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13092040#post13092040 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
But they start when the first grey light from the windows hits the tank, and continue until the last gasp of light goes out.
You could say at least 10,000 pods a day. ;)
Click to expand...

You say 10,000 pods per day, but it takes about a month for a copepod to grow from fertilization to a baby producing adult. A 75 gallon tank is highly unlikely to produce 10,000 copepods per day even with a refugium, yet a survey of people keeping mandarins in 75 gallon tanks with refugiums and decent amount of live rock, reports that the majority are successful at keeping mandarins alive long term. So I'd have to say that your hit rate of 5/minute from dusk to dawn is a bit exagerated. Still, they can definitely decimate your pod population if you don't keep on top of their needs.

The growing size of the belly is a very good sign. A healthy Mandarin should always look rather fat. The other thing to keep a close eye on is the population of your copepods in the refugium and rock rubble. If you start to notice a visible decrease in populations then you need to take steps.

I forget the exact ratio, but your pods need to be eating something like 5 times more food than what you would expect the mandarin to eat if you could feed it directly. Make sure you feed your refugium and rubble piles with this in mind or your pod populations will not have enough food to breed and supply the Mandarin's needs.

Survey mentioned above: Mandarin success rate survey
 
They peck the rock causing the pods to run, sometimes right out to the fish. I've had mandys in the past, never had an issue with keeping them alive and healthy.

Noc. Yes remove the filter sponge, to allow the larger sized pods to make it to the main display.

Another alternitive is the introduction of the LIVE pods at the LFS. Like LIVE copecops and Tiger pods all distributated by Artic.....er something I just forgot the name. There in bottles in and icebox at the LFS now. If you are neverous just float the bottle of live pods in the sump/fuge or main display for 20 min or so and then poor them in. With this new food Item Mandy's have been succesfull to keep today. But you should still wait for at least 1 year after setting up a system before trying your hand at a dragonet of any type. To insure your pod popluation is healthy.
 
What is the best thing (within reason cost wise) that can be safely dosed that will feed then (the pods) so that they continue to repopulate.
 
I make a trip to the local beach once a week, fill two 5 gal buckets full of seaweed, bring it home and start straining, TONS of them. I have two mandys in the main and one in the REF fatten up for the introduction. feeding photofeast every other day.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13098290#post13098290 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vito is hooked
I make a trip to the local beach once a week, fill two 5 gal buckets full of seaweed, bring it home and start straining, TONS of them. I have two mandys in the main and one in the REF fatten up for the introduction. feeding photofeast every other day.
Click to expand...


you are the lucky few.

you could make some money selling that stuff.
 
Re: the wisps of smoke - Mandarin's also eat small worms on the rock that have crusty shells. They crush the shell in their mouth and dust comes floating out their gills. My rocks where loaded with these worms when I put the mandarin in. My turbidity increase noticeably until he ran out of worms.
 
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