mandirian dragonette
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boricua1213
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I put tigger pods in my tank. How do you know if they r colonizing? I don't see them at all. Hope my fish didn't eat them all. I put them in late at night. When fish are asleep. Clown, fire fish and another one that is purple and yellow.
lando
Aquarium Advice Addict
Can you explain your set-up a bit more? How big is it, how old, how much LR, do you have a fuge or sump? This will help determine the overall survivability of the manderin.
lando
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ahh yes..."night diving" in your tank will be a whole new experience. However, most Mandarins need at least 100 plus lbs of LR and a very mature tank to do well long term. You can certainly keep feeding the pods and see what happens. The best option is to add a fuge to the tank to give the pods a "refuge" to populate in. Good luck and keep us posted!
lando
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yes, that should be the goal. However, without a safe refuge for the pos to populate in it may be difficult. A sump, fuge or even a HOB filter would certainly help. Pods dumped directly into the tank will be made quick work of by the eaters. It seems to be a very expesive meal.
tmkx3
Aquarium Advice Freak
I just got a mandrin too!!!!! I have 125g w/125lbs of lr and I don't see any pods either. I just bought a bottle tiger pods and added it about 2 weeks ago. I have read that it takes about a month for them to start reproducing. I have also heard that a mandrin can wipe out my whole bottle in a couple of days. I am gonna try to grow some in a ten gallon tank and a hob refuge. $20 a week is way to much to spend on a $15 dollar fish so I will have to find a cheaper route. I have read some threads that tell how to teach your mandrin how to eat prepared foods ( I will go tru may old post and find them ) Basically They don't know what the prepared food is and they can't find out because the other fish eat it to fast. I have been trying to get my mandrin to eat out of a small bottle that the other fish can't get into. So far, he has went in the bottle twice but I am not sure if he actually ate any thing. I am putting frozen blood worms and brine in the bottle. I love my mandrin he is my favorite fish.
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html Here is what an expert wrote me......
Reefland
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05-29-2007, 09:16 PM #3
leebca
Moderator - LEE
Join Date: May 2006
Location: So CA
Posts: 1,588 Re: pods for mandrin
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Thanks for posting, tmkx3. No one should count upon a pod population in the display tank to feed any fish, Mandarins included.
You see, not only is the tank pod population limited in numbers, but the diversity isn't there that dependent marine fishes find in their natural habitat. I can't believe how many people think their aquarium is comparable to the ocean in this respect. There is no pod population in the aquarium that can match the diversity in the ocean. Fishes that depend upon pods will slowly die in our display tanks, even if the display tanks have plenty of pods. BUT, we still keep pod-eaters quite successfully.
The sometimes difficult Copperband Butterflyfish is a pod-eater and they will live quite well in our aquariums BUT, this takes some planning, patience, and effort on the part of the aquarist. From what you wrote, it sounds like you have patience.
First, I am very glad to hear that you have allowed the tank to mature. Only mature marine systems should house any fish, IMHO. So kudos for that!
Next, setup a quarantine tank (QT). When it is ready, then put the newly acquired Mandarin into the QT and go through the quarantine process. All the details are here for that:
A Fish Quarantine Process
In my post of how to present foods, I specially covered on how to train the Mandarin to eat prepared foods. PLEASE read and follow this advice:
Food Presentation
These are articles on some other ideas on Mandarins eating other foods:
Mandarin Diner by Marc Levenson - Reefkeeping.com
Melevsreef.com - Melev's Mandarin Diner
Don’t ever believe a mandarin is not possible to quarantine; don’t ever believe that a mandarin is totally impervious to Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans).
It is very important to train the Mandarin before it gets into the display. Once in the display the Mandarin will fall back on its natural habits of finding and eating available pods (and slowly die). As explained above, those pods and not diverse enough, even IF they were in big numbers.
Good luck!
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html Here is what an expert wrote me......
Reefland
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05-29-2007, 09:16 PM #3
leebca
Moderator - LEE
Join Date: May 2006
Location: So CA
Posts: 1,588 Re: pods for mandrin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for posting, tmkx3. No one should count upon a pod population in the display tank to feed any fish, Mandarins included.
You see, not only is the tank pod population limited in numbers, but the diversity isn't there that dependent marine fishes find in their natural habitat. I can't believe how many people think their aquarium is comparable to the ocean in this respect. There is no pod population in the aquarium that can match the diversity in the ocean. Fishes that depend upon pods will slowly die in our display tanks, even if the display tanks have plenty of pods. BUT, we still keep pod-eaters quite successfully.
The sometimes difficult Copperband Butterflyfish is a pod-eater and they will live quite well in our aquariums BUT, this takes some planning, patience, and effort on the part of the aquarist. From what you wrote, it sounds like you have patience.
First, I am very glad to hear that you have allowed the tank to mature. Only mature marine systems should house any fish, IMHO. So kudos for that!
Next, setup a quarantine tank (QT). When it is ready, then put the newly acquired Mandarin into the QT and go through the quarantine process. All the details are here for that:
A Fish Quarantine Process
In my post of how to present foods, I specially covered on how to train the Mandarin to eat prepared foods. PLEASE read and follow this advice:
Food Presentation
These are articles on some other ideas on Mandarins eating other foods:
Mandarin Diner by Marc Levenson - Reefkeeping.com
Melevsreef.com - Melev's Mandarin Diner
Don’t ever believe a mandarin is not possible to quarantine; don’t ever believe that a mandarin is totally impervious to Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans).
It is very important to train the Mandarin before it gets into the display. Once in the display the Mandarin will fall back on its natural habits of finding and eating available pods (and slowly die). As explained above, those pods and not diverse enough, even IF they were in big numbers.
Good luck!
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
You mihgt look into getting a detrivore kit from Inland Aquatics or Indo Pacific Sea Farms (ipsf.com). You can also check on eBay.
Build a pod pile in a back corner out of small bits of rock, shells, etc. You want a pile of rubble that the pods can grow in, safe from the predators around them. Feed the pod pile.
My mandarin has plenty of rock to forage on. I do see him on the pod pile looking for snacks on a daily basis.
Build a pod pile in a back corner out of small bits of rock, shells, etc. You want a pile of rubble that the pods can grow in, safe from the predators around them. Feed the pod pile.
My mandarin has plenty of rock to forage on. I do see him on the pod pile looking for snacks on a daily basis.
