Question for Mandarin owners....

[Krypt]

How did you guys go about QTing them before you placed them in your DT after you bought them? With any other fish, I do 6 weeks of observation total with a 4 week period of Hypo during that time. Since Mandarins eat pods, and hypo pretty much wipes out all inverts including them, how could I go about feeding him while in QT?

 

[austinsdad]

I was able to watch mine at the lfs for weeks. Didn't QT mine. If I remember, they don't do well in copper treated tanks either. That and the fact there'd be nothing for him to eat in a QT tank, I didn't QT it.

Curious if anyone has ever experienced ick on a mandarin anyway.

 

[Jimbo7]

They are usually one of the very few fish you are suggested not to quarantine. If you stock your tank heavily with pods and it is established, you shouldn't have any problems.

Make sure you buy a fat one, the skinnier they are their survival rate drops exponentially.

 

[Fishguy2727]

They are one of many shining examples of how quarantining can be a death sentence. Unless your qt is just as good as your display they will not do as well. Success with fish is to reduce stress and cramming them in to undersized, underdecorated, baren tanks is not the way to do it.

Put them straight in and get them on pellets asap. If you can't get them on pellets at least get them on a variety of frozen foods.

 

[Greenmaster]

First I don't have a Mandarin yet but once my tank gets going I will have a pair at least.
I have seen people swear that you can't QT a Mandarin but I have seen some that say, "the QT is the best place to train them to eat prepared foods." Basically you need to make your tank pristine and not treat for anything, you are just watching to make sure that the fish is healthy. It is suggested that you have live pods that you can add to the tank (live brine shrimp is one that you can hatch yourself) If your fish is healthy but you can't get it to eat anything after a week then you should put it into your main tank but if things are going well you might be able to train it to eat frozen or dried foods.

 

[SAAVE853]

Just a quick question, how can you tell if you have pods? I have small astras stars showing up already but i'm wondering if the pods are there too.

 

[Ziggy953]

Mandarins are not subject to ich like other fish. Do not QT it. I would suggest having the LFS feed them before you buy and it you see it eat buy the food it is eating and use that until you can get it on something else or keep feeding that. If the fish is not eating in the store chances are it's not going to eat for you either. They are tough fish to have and you need to have a very established system for them.

Oh and do not try and feed them brine shrimp. Cyclops or very tiny pellet (sinking kind) works well.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I have seen them with white spot disease (not ich since this is saltwater) so they can get it.

 

[Ziggy953]

I have seen them with white spot disease (not ich since this is saltwater) so they can get it.

Let me rephrase that:

They are resistant to it but not immune.

 

[Innovator]

Any fish can succumb to ich if the environment promotes it. Mandarins are best QT'd using Chloroquine and, as usual, dewormed. Most mobile invertebrates such as amphipods, copepods, and brine shrimp are not going to instantaneously perish when introduced into a medicated tank (even copper) and you should be performing 50% water changes daily at the least to remove any waste/uneaten food. I prefer to house mandarins with other passive fish so it can urge additional food intake along with gut-loading adult brine.

 

[Krypt]

Thanks for all the tips guys. The Mandarin I'm looking at has been at my lfs for about 2 weeks now and is a fat one at that. I do have a great population of pods, I was lucky in that my LR came with a TON of amphipods and copepods. Plenty of food to go around. Also I've seen it eat some mysis when I've been there so its also eating prepared foods.

I'm just being a little gun shy after my ich out break and I dont want that stuff around again.