Where Do I Find An ORA Green Mandarin?

[CleverBs]

Were would the best place be to get a true ORA Green mandarin?

[CleverBs]

I'm actually looking for a blue mandarin I guess.

[sim1killa]

have you tried your local fish store? I haven't had any luck finding any online. only spotted.

[CleverBs]

I honestly don't trust a lfs to actually get me a true Ora mandarin and not just get one and tell me it's an Ora. I guess I can ask them to feed it and see how it eats.

[Rutrag]

Saltwaterfish.com has the ORA target mandarin and a red mandarin right now. I'd keep an eye on their site to see if they throw some up in the near future.

[sim1killa]

I did some research and I don't think ORA breeds green one's all I see on there site is red,blue and spotted

[redsea]

Just keep in mind that even if you purchase an ORA Mandarin, there is still a chance it will only eat pods on arrival, or eventually revert back to only pods in the future, so be certain that you have an established pod population.

[CleverBs]

I decided to see if I can train a Green mandarin to eat prepfoods first. So I got a large one that looks extremely healthy, and hes fat. I will keep him in his own 25g Tank for awhile to get him to eat. Its an established-ish reef tank then once hes eating well ill move him to my 75g reef. I have gotten scooters to eat without a problem and helped my buddy get his target mandarin to eat. this will be my first Blue mandarin to get to eat. Heres a little Picture of him while he drip acclimates

[Sniperhank]

Beautiful fish. Hope to have one someday.

[CleverBs]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Beautiful fish. Hope to have one someday.

I agree they are amazing little creatures and hope he does well during our training. I'm going to try to get him to feed out of a feeding station. Something like a short PVC tube with a cap on the back that he will be able to go into and eat away from the other fish.

[carey]

I found shutting off all the water flow and direct feeding with a turkey baster to be the best method of weaning onto frozen. I managed to get my mandy and my scooter to eat that way. But it did take a month each for them to be switched over and luckily I had enough pods in my tank to tide them over til then.

Good luck!

ps.- did you ask to see the fish eat at the store? I ALWAYS do that, even with regular "easy" fish. Good habit to get into.

[CleverBs]

Originally Posted by carey

I found shutting off all the water flow and direct feeding with a turkey baster to be the best method of weaning onto frozen. I managed to get my mandy and my scooter to eat that way. But it did take a month each for them to be switched over and luckily I had enough pods in my tank to tide them over til then.

Good luck!

ps.- did you ask to see the fish eat at the store? I ALWAYS do that, even with regular "easy" fish. Good habit to get into.

With fish that eat of course this fish I knew wasn't going to eat for a few reasons 1. It's a mandarin 2. They got them in last night so they have been a bit shy. I was at the store for about an hour watching them in the tanks seeing how they acted. Three were males and two of the males were in their large shallow reef tanks and one was in a 20g the one in the 20g wasn't moving ever and looked extremely stressed so I passed on him. Then I watched the other two and they were both a little active not extremely however so I asked them to catch them both for me for two reasons. 1 to see how active they were in trying to escape being caught or how fast they moved when being caught and 2 to get a close look at them for any issues. One had a small wound on his side right next to his fin and was a big thinner then the other. The one I bought was in great shape. He was very active and hard for them to catch so I liked that. Also he was displaying himself in the tank and in the container after he was caught the other one wasn't. He's about 3-4 inches long very thick and looks full grown or close to it. I hear the older they are the less picky they can be who knows if there's any truth to that.

[redsea]

Originally Posted by CleverBs

I decided to see if I can train a Green mandarin to eat prepfoods first. So I got a large one that looks extremely healthy, and hes fat. I will keep him in his own 25g Tank for awhile to get him to eat. Its an established-ish reef tank then once hes eating well ill move him to my 75g reef. I have gotten scooters to eat without a problem and helped my buddy get his target mandarin to eat. this will be my first Blue mandarin to get to eat. Heres a little Picture of him while he drip acclimates

Beautiful Mandarin! I cannot wait to get mine someday!

[CleverBs]

Yeah I have been holding out for awhile and just couldn't take it anymore.

[TigerBarbs]

Hows the mandarin?

[CleverBs]

Originally Posted by TigerBarbs

Hows the mandarin?

good, I am trying to figure out if I should put him in a breeder box to get him to feed. because he just swims away when I put food in front of him now. I am also going to raise some Brine shrimp to maybe help him a bit. I just need to figure out what to feed the brine shrimp.

[TigerBarbs]

Are you talking about raising them to adults or just gut loading them as babies?

[CleverBs]

Originally Posted by TigerBarbs

Are you talking about raising them to adults or just gut loading them as babies?

Well I have no intentions on gut loading. I want to raise them a bit to have them be big enough to mix frozen brine shrimp in with to get him to eat. Iv heard mandarins go nuts for some types of fish egg or oyster eggs. I just need to figure out what he will except. Anyone have any thoughts on other things I can try other then brine shrimp in the time being while I raise some?