Saltwater & Reef

**Gti_Leo** · 02-07-2012, 08:09 PM

no problem

Smithcinema · 02-08-2012, 07:49 AM

Back to mandarins purchased mine about 2 weeks ago (online ) lol he is doing great , his color is fantastic and nice and plump he is all over the tank picking of of the rock work but he don't eat with the other fish hope he starts eating soon the tank he's in has only been up for 3 months

**cmor1701d** · 02-08-2012, 08:47 AM

Back ON TOPIC - YAY. Sorry, I really should have split the lfs vs. online to a separate thread.

Glad to hear that it is still doing great, but in an 80 gallon tank with LR and good pod population I doubt you will wean the mandarin off live food. By now the pod population should be stable and capable of supplying it with food. You should also create a pod pile as a breeding area in the tank or sump.

Mandarins don't eat with other fish. They are slow deliberate hunters. Other fish will always out compete a mandarin for food unless they are trained. Even then there are too many anecdotal stories of mandarins suddenly no longer eating frozen.

The methods and science for feeding mandarins are changing, and for those who are truly dedicated to keeping this fish alive in an environment incapable of meeting its normal feeding demands, they may live a long life.

I have not seen proof of that yet. In the meantime many people hear about these cutting edge methods, don't dedicate the necessary time and the fish perishes.

**Gti_Leo** · 02-08-2012, 12:00 PM

i've heard of using live brine shrimp then slowly mixing frozen with the live and then mixing a bit of mysis with it. i would probably end up thawing out the frozen and then soak it in garlic juice so that it has a similar smell and taste so if i wanted to get them on to pellets i could do the same

**cmor1701d** · 02-08-2012, 12:58 PM

Live brine have very little nutritional value unless you gut load them with Selcon or similar. The weaning instructions as I recall from Coral Magazine were to place the mandarin in a netted enclosure so that the current flowing through it pushed the gut loaded brine along with the frozen against one end where the mandarin could go hunt and peck for food. Some of ti would be frozen instead of live and eventually the fish would develop a taste for it.

But if you have a pod population why in the world would the mandarin even consider anything else?

**Gti_Leo** · 02-08-2012, 01:50 PM

well thats the thing i have a 26g and i would want to put a mandarin, i just bout an HOB fuge and would liek to start growing pods in it to feed a mandarin but i'm not sure how long a 4 gallon refugium would keep a manadrin going for so i would like to get it to eat prepared food mainly mysis shrimp because there is more of a nutritional value to it, i also feed NLS pellets so i would liek to get it to eat those also

**Gregcoyote** · 02-08-2012, 02:15 PM

I've tried for over 20 years to keep them alive for at least half their natural lifespan and have failed every time even with a robust pod population, I will watch with interest the progress here as I also love these fish.

**Gti_Leo** · 02-08-2012, 02:22 PM

exactly why i would want to try and keep one, they are so beautiful its so hard to resist not wantign to try.

how long have you kept them alive greg?

**Gregcoyote** · 02-08-2012, 03:16 PM

About a year. I got so depressed when they died that I vowed to never buy any again. It is why I have been such a pain to the new forum members that announce they have added mandarins to their two week old system. IMO they shouldn't even be collected as I would bet 99.9% of them die an early death.