manderins
- Thread starter dwint
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
ccCapt
SW 20 & Over Club
It's not the live rock they need, it's the pods that live in/around the rock. Unless you constantly buy live pods for them to eat, or can get it eating either frozen food or pellets, it will slowly starve to death.
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
the short answer is no. buying it is killing it. it would eat the equivalent of a bottle of pods a day. i think they are like 15-20 dollars a bottle....
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
they are extremely picky. some say that they have been able to get mandarins to eat prepared foods, but i think the odds are about 40 to 1. in other words, i have heard of 40 folks who failed to 1 that succeeded.
there is a company called ORA, that only sells to stores. they claim they have mandarins that eat prepared foods. they are much more expensive than the wild caught ones, but if it's true, it's well worth it. i would inquire at your local pet store to see if they order from ORA at all, and what the availability is on one of their fish.
sea apple? how long have you had that?
there is a company called ORA, that only sells to stores. they claim they have mandarins that eat prepared foods. they are much more expensive than the wild caught ones, but if it's true, it's well worth it. i would inquire at your local pet store to see if they order from ORA at all, and what the availability is on one of their fish.
sea apple? how long have you had that?
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carey
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have over 200lbs of LR in my 125g and a refugium in my sump as well and I have my doubts one could survive for that long in there. I have thousands upon thousands of pods everywhere, but as mentioned above they will literally eat all day and annilate the supply. Most tanks that have them have excessive amount of live rock for thepods to live in and have tanks that have been established for a good amount of time.
I ordered an ORA mandarin, those are supposed to eat prepared foods, BUT it's not a guarantee that it will not revert back to pods. It's just an edge you can have. I will be visiting the fish this week to make sure he eats prepared while the lfs holds him for me.
This is a great fish but an extremely difficult one to keep. Most people end up starving them without meaning to. I know you don't want that to happen.
carey
Aquarium Advice Addict
Maybe one day down the road. When I setup my tank at the beginning of this year I figured I'd have one sometime end of summer early fall. So I've been planning for him. lol I'm such a lame as*.
SHARPiE
Aquarium Advice Freak
Disagree! You aren't lame for preparing to care for a fish
