Green mandarin

[carey]

It could help start a pod population but that won't be enough to feed a mandarin. They would eat about a bag a day LOL

When I set up my fuge and refugium I added a bag to each to jumpstart them.

 

[Lowsdime]

Well I guess I can forget about keeping one I only have my main tank no sump or fuge :-/

 

[Thegrumpyfish]

Ok i have a question im planning on getting a Mandarin for my 200 gallon tank im not sure the actual amount of lr in my tank i have no pods yet if i get them and "seed my tank" with them and wait about 2 months will this fish still eat them all?? Also i only have 3 damsels and 3 hermits right now

 

[Thegrumpyfish]

Oh also i have no fuge only a wet/dry trickle filter with bio balls my tanks been up and running for 4 months only so far

 

[carey]

A couple months in a new tank will not be enough to support one in my opinion. The seeding bottle will be eaten long before it can jumpstart a population. The refugium is a safe place so they can grow and multiply. Depending on your system and the amount of pods that do group up you might have a shot. But you have to make sure there is an ample supply.

I am keeping mine in my cube for now so I can keep an eye on her and keep trying to get her totally on frozen 100%. In the 125g even though my pods are plentiful I am not convinced she wont eat her way through them and then she will starve as she will have reverted totally back to pods and will refuse regular food.

It's definitely not an undertaking for the week of heart. I check mine everyday and watch her like a hawk when I feed herd her to make sure she is in fact actually eating.

So far mine only eats cyclops and plankton which doesnt make a very solid diet in my opinion.

 

[Thegrumpyfish]

Ok so your saying that i might need to take a few peices of my most porous rock that i have and kinda hide them so that it canot get to them. Kinda like putting them in a small crate maybe and concealing them with my other live rock so you cant see it just looking in(to keep a natural look) and giving the pods ample room/time to multiply before picking up a mandarin maybe about 3 to 4 months? Is that sound like a viable plan or do you feel this idae will fail also thanks for you input im still new to this hobby. I inherited the tank from my dad who had it running for about 10 years and have had it sitting in storage for almost the same amount of time and finally had enough room to start it. And am looking forward to keeping this tank running for a long time and not starving out any fish i put in it.

 

[slitherbomb]

What's a good diet for a mandarin? My lfs said that they've only fed it frozen mysid shrimp. That being said, I have a refugium that is full of pods, and my main tank has A LOT as well. In the morning, when I turn on the lights, I see hundreds of little bugs go flying back into the LR. It's really creepy. And yes, i got a mandarin. It is so beautiful, but shy.

 

[ilostnemo]

What's a good diet for a mandarin? My lfs said that they've only fed it frozen mysid shrimp. That being said, I have a refugium that is full of pods, and my main tank has A LOT as well. In the morning, when I turn on the lights, I see hundreds of little bugs go flying back into the LR. It's really creepy. And yes, i got a mandarin. It is so beautiful, but shy.

If you want to take him to frozen best bet is mysis shrimp.

 

[slitherbomb]

If you want to take him to frozen best bet is mysis shrimp.

Ok, I feed my fish mysis every couple of days.

 

[carey]

Mine won't even touch the mysis. It might be because shes so tiny though and the mysis is so big lol I've had good luck so far with cyclops and plankton. She seems to prefer tiny food. Hoping once she gets bigger than an inch she'll start to take other food.

I also bought garlic extreme today and will try that and see if it entices her to eat anything else. experimentation time for mandy! hehe

 

[slitherbomb]

Plankton? Where do you buy that lol

 

[carey]

I bought frozen plankton, its orange little cubes. i also feed her frozen cyclops cubes. I literally bought every food possible when I was weaning my scooter off pods. I have over 15 different kinds in my freezer LOL

I also use a turkey baster to get the food right to her. You can watch her peck at it as it floats around her.

 

[Lowsdime]

So she's doing ok without pods?? Do you have any pics I'd love to see her!

 

[carey]

here is a shot of Mandy the mandarin. She was a little thin on the belly when I got her but it's filled out quite nicely the last few weeks. I also started soaking food in garlic today and hope that will help her appetite for other frozen foods and hopefully pellets. She was raised on pellets but wont touch them now. She is a blue one as well, I kinda find the green spotted ones not as attractive so I waited a month almost for her.

 

[Lowsdime]

Wow love those colors!! Very nice! Why are they so picky with the food!!

 

[carey]

Dragonets food source in nature is just pods, its their thing. ORA has been trying for years to breed and feed them prepared I guess so they can make money and not have them starve as they usually do. I saw a blue ora mandarin for $99 today, geez.....I only paid $45 and I thought that was alot. especially for a fish that has no guarantee that it will eat prepared. Just a better shot at it.

I also have to constantly feed the tank, as two dragonets is alot to handle. I'm thankful every day that it only took a few weeks to get my scooter on frozen foods. he still hunts for pods though....as does the mandarin. actually that's ALL they do all day is hunt for food.

I'll be putting more pods into the fuge soon to replenish what I have in the tank as I bet the population is way down...I don't see them clinging to the glass anymore like I used to.

 

[slitherbomb]

Mine was only $15..

 

[SHERRIES.REEF]

HI folks...I am brand new to the site. I have some basic questions, like "What are the best books out there for Salt water and Reef Aquariums?" I want the most bang for my buck, so I appreciate y'all's recommendations.
Also, I can't decide between buying some copepods or setting up my own home grown with two mason jars, starter pods, and an air stone. What do you all think would be best? I have a green spot mandarin, and he/she is just beautiful, doing well, getting fat, and he does eat brine shrimp (frozen) sometimes. I just can't see the darn pods...just lots of little white dots, smaller than a grain of sand. Thanks for the help!

 

[carey]

I tried growing out pods in a 10g tank with live rock, live sand from my LFS and chaeto as well as two bags of pods to seed it and I got marginal results. Def not enough to sustain a mandarin. How much rock do you have and how big is the tank? Do you have a sump or refugium setup as those are the best methods to get a population going.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

[Lowsdime]

They have a cb green mandarin at the lfs from Ora it eats cyclop but it's 100 bucks I think that's a little much or is that the price you pay for captive bred?