How do you quarantine fish that need live food?

[nikki_kaiser]

I was on another thread and didn't want to take away from that persons original question but I'm wanting to know more about the Mandarin Goby.

How do you QT them and do you need live rock?
Can you pretreat for parasites or illness and not kill copepods put in for food?

What about a clean up crew? Will they eat coral banded shrimp and fire shrimp? If so, what do you use for CUC?

Can they be housed in a reef tank with corals?

I know I have a lot of questions and I've read some stuff but I'm more interested in personal experience. Thank you!!!

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

I was on another thread and didn't want to take away from that persons original question but I'm wanting to know more about the Mandarin Goby.

How do you QT them and do you need live rock?
Can you pretreat for parasites or illness and not kill copepods put in for food?

What about a clean up crew? Will they eat coral banded shrimp and fire shrimp? If so, what do you use for CUC?

Can they be housed in a reef tank with corals?

I know I have a lot of questions and I've read some stuff but I'm more interested in personal experience. Thank you!!!

Are you asking about quarenting a mandarin before you add it to the DT, or so that you can teach it to eat frozen food? If you do QT the fish you dont NEED live rock, but you will need a ton of pods to keep it from starving in a small tank. (i suggest you buy one that eats frozen or teach it to if you can).

That are fine with a CUC, that wont harm the hermits, snails, or shrimp, but if the mandarin is small enough and the coral banded is big enough it could be bad :/

They are a great fit for reef tanks, coral safe.

Sorry i dont own one, hopefully what i said was worth your time

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I would QT it to treat for parasites but during that time frame would also want to train it to eat frozen foods as well...or whatever it would eat that's not alive. I would keep the copepods in my tank I put him in but I would be nervous if that's all he would eat.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

Hmmmm...I have a coral banded that's a pretty good size. You know, they are cool looking but he's starting to infringe upon my fish selection...0_o

 

[nikki_kaiser]

In addition, if you wanted a male and a female, is it better to introduce them at the same time or at different times?

 

[crister13]

Don't get a male and female unless you have atleast a 125 gallon tank with A TON of pods. If you qt an try to train frozen, and it doesn't take, it's going to almost starve. A lot of people don't qt mandarins for that reason. How old is your tank? Get rid of the CBS. They eat more pods than you think. Thousands a day.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I was thinking about transferring the coral banded to my 20 gallon that I'm cycling now to use as a nano reef tank (this is my first attempt at corals in this small of a tank! Scarrrreeedd! LOL!) once the cycle is complete and the tank is up for at least a few months... I also have a fire shrimp. From what I've read and seen to date he really isn't aggressive towards my other inhabitants. So if I attempted one fish, and seeded my tank a few months in advance prior to putting him in with copepods, trained him while in QT (or at least attempted to) to eat some frozen foods, would I be ok? How many copepods do they eat in one day out of curiosity?

 

[crister13]

Over 1000. Don't try to train one if you don't have the pods, because if the training fails (some will never train) than he's dead.

 

[carey]

I did not qt either of my dragonets and put them directly in the tank.

It's correct that you shouldnt add on until you know you have enough pods to keep one fed for a month or longer whike you wean them onto frozen food. I also bought an ORA mandarin which was supposed to eat pellets but when I got him home he wouldnt eat anything but pods. So the ORA ones aren't a guarantee either. It took about a month to train each fish and I really spent alot of time doing it. Had to feed several times a day with a turkey baster to target feed and shut down the flow to the tank so they could actually hunt the food. In addition you have to have a ton of different foods to try, I started with baby brine and cyclopeeze and worked my way up with them to brine, mysis and bloodworms. I still like to shut down the flow though for them they are very delicate and slow eaters. I got really lucky I think and even more fortunate that the mandarin is now eating pellets, I think it's the luck of the fish as well as the time and attention you devote that can make the difference.

I've had both the dragonets for almost a year and they have done really well for me but thats' not always the result you get with them. The majority of them end up starving over a 2-3 month period. :-(

I would also wouldn't get a pair of them, that's just setting you up for failure in my opinion with at least one of them.

But for your other questions, yes, they are reef safe and they play well with the other fish. Even with my obnoxious clownfish that are slightly aggressive, if the mandarin gets any grief from them he just goes about his business and doesn't seem afraid even one little bit. I feel they are a hardy fish once they are acclimated to a system.
They dont bother any inverts either, mine really just minds their own business and just flutters around the tank hunting all day.

Hope that helps!

 

[nikki_kaiser]

All of that helps quite a bit! I'm patient and not in a rush. I think I'm going to add live rock to my tank and start working on my pod population once I can get my 20 gallon cycled and put the coral banded in there. That will take some time as I want to make sure everything is ok since I've had him the longest. Are these Gobys not bred in captivity? I'm asking because if they are, why wouldn't the breeder teach them to eat frozen foods? Just curious...

 

[carey]

ORA mandarins are not wild ones and they supposedly eat pellets. But from my experience they can stop eating once you get them in your tank. :-( I'm sure being an ORA one helped me in weaning him onto frozen, maybe gave me a small advantage.

Some people don't want to spend the extra cash for an ORA one and would rather spend the $15 for a wild one. Big mistake in my opinion as a few more bucks can give you a better chance of keeping one successfully.

 

[rupp3322]

I want one of those mandarins also! But i need to wait quite a while until my tank is more established.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I would rather spend the extra money and wait if I have to if it means it will survive or have a much better chance at survival.

Ive wanted one of these since i was in college and had my first SW tank!! So here is my plan. Please feel free to advise otherwise as I REALLY want to get this right!

*Get more live rock and QT
*Finish establishing 20 gallon reef tank and get MR. grumpy out-the coral banded shrimp
* purchase some additional copepods...ALOT of them and start establishing a nice colony of those.
* start looking for mandarin once copepod population takes off well.

What else do I need to do? Can the copepods hurt corals if I decide to put a few in? How many do the Mandarin eat a day? Also, male or female or does it matter? If I get a larger tank later, which would need to be added first? Besides starvation, what are the main causes of death (parasites...fungal infections...etc)?

I know I have a lot of questions. I just like to know everything I can before I buy something.

 

[crister13]

Don't qt. he may starve if he doesn't take to frozen quickly. Copepods do not hurt corals.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

No QT...0_o? What if he has parasites though?

 

[KSum89]

I bought a mandarin that was eating foods at the lfs. I saw hi feed Brine shrimp and pellets, the mandarin poked at each of them.

Then when i got it home.. It starved to death. I tried all frozen foods available, even went as far to buy squid and one other frozen carnivore food. He wouldnt touch anything, he waa good and fat for a couple of days then died. So they can stop eatin prepared foods all at once... These fish are beautiful, but hard to keep alive.

Also, the mandarin has a very thick coating of mucus.. So it takes ALOT of stress and is rare for them to get ick but it is still possible it can get ick.