Your mandarin training secrets

[Hyperion1337]

RN what brand of brine are you using?

 

[Hyperion1337]

bump

 

[DrBegalke]

Mine spotted will eat ova, hikari spirulina brine shrimp, and even flake food.

Make sure that the mandarin isn't out competed by other fish/shrimp/crabs, especially when first getting them to eat frozen foods.

 

[Hyperion1337]

how to you guys train yours to eat live ._."" i dumped in like 10-20 live brine and he's ignoring them and is just swimming around ._."
he was taking frozen bloodworm okayishly but i put in some brine to train him to frozen brine... now i just feel like an idiot..

 

[Hyperion1337]

Also, I was wondering do mandarins change their stripe colors from green to blue as they mature? or do they keep the same (not so beautiful) green stripes throughout their lives?

 

[sponger0]

Also, I was wondering do mandarins change their stripe colors from green to blue as they mature? or do they keep the same (not so beautiful) green stripes throughout their lives?

There are two types of mandarins. There are Green Spotted and Psycedelic(sp). Two different patterns.

 

[Hyperion1337]

i was meaning the green mandarin known as the psycedelic one.

 

[sponger0]

The green one is known as Target or Green spotted. The Pschedelic is blue

 

[Hyperion1337]

lol i know the difference between both. i was wondering for the psychedelic if it color changes since mine has not so beautiful green stripes along its body.

 

[milomlo]

I have another question.... Has anyone ever seen their mandarin start chomping on an amphipod (I assume that's what it is...large and I can see them all over) then spit it out? Is he eating it and spitting out the shell or what??

 

[milomlo]

bump

 

[tommer725]

loooool nice.

Jane,
My mandarin was recently transferred from a breeding container to net breeder and he would not touch anything including live brine, he would continue to swim against the current. I have masago on hand and my mandarin takes bloodworms quite well, but how did you teach your mandarin to take cyclopeeze? Mine still ignores it as it swims around him.

I was also thinking about that

 

[coondog]

I think a big part of getting a mandarin to eat is his comfort level. My mandarin is a wild caught that I've had for close to a year. He started out only picking at copepods, now when I feed he comes and sits on top of my rock. If something comes his way he'll nab it up, if not he will just go back to hunting. He's an opportunist that is so fat he looks like a blue bug.

 

[milomlo]

Is the Reef Caviar or capeline roe any bigger than the Nutramar OVA or are they the same size? I have some of the OVA but I am still not positive he is eating it. I am even trying Live BBS but I still dont' think he is eating them. I have two separate feeding stations set up, one being a jar that I put ova and froze brine in and the the other being a feeder that I place bbs in. He hasn't ventured to either