Quarantining a new ORA Mandarin

[BobNY]

I pre ordered a ORA Blue Mandarin that I will be picking up at the swap.
I have read mixed opinion's on weather or not to QT a Mandarin.
Since it is from ORA it should be eating prepared food, so lack of Pod's in the QT tank shouldn't be a problem.
What are your thoughts? Is there any other reasons not to QT that I may not know about?

 

[motortrendz]

they are not suseptable to most parasites bc they are scaleless.. and there is a great article in reef magazine abt mandarins this month.. abt using a breeder net to train them and make sure they eat frozen before you let them out into your tank..

 

[qy7400]

I'd still keep it isolated for a few days to fatten him up and give the once over especially if there is a live guarantee, no need fishing should something happen.

Curious how yours does with prepared foods, heard a few comments how these fish just sit and wait for food vs constant hunting.

 

[BobNY]

Thanks for the info guy's.
I will keep him in QT for a bit before adding him to my DT.

Motortrendz,, Thanks for pointing me to the Reef Magazine article. I will give a read.

 

[cybermeez]

I wouldn't QT and Mandarin wild or otherwise. My experience with ORA Mandarins eating prepared food is not great. Out of 3 that I had, only one would eat food that wasn't live, so yours may not have been eating for a while before he gets to you. They seem to forget their training as soon as they are moved from their original environment. They were also really, REALLY small. I would pick up the current issue of Coral Magazine and follow their training recommendations like Mototrendz suggested. Even once their trained you'll need to make them a Mandarin Diner to make sure they get enough food. Other fish easily out compete them for any food in the tank.

 

[motortrendz]

coral magazine.. im sorry i said reef magazine.. i was close.. it was a great read i learned alot and know exactly how im going to prepaire my next mandarin.. it helps you understand their eating habbits as well as how to get the to switch over it frozen from live.. and it makes perfect sense.. and best of all its easy to do.. for once! lol

 

[BobNY]

I have the Coral Mag app. on my iphone, but the Dragonet Issue isnt on there yet. Does anyone local carry the magazine for purchase? I will subscribe tonight, but would love to have the issue immediately.

Thanks,

 

[motortrendz]

if i was closer i would give you mine..

 

[adamizy]

I have the Coral Mag app. on my iphone, but the Dragonet Issue isnt on there yet. Does anyone local carry the magazine for purchase? I will subscribe tonight, but would love to have the issue immediately.

Thanks,

Check again, its there now...


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[BobNY]

if i was closer i would give you mine..

Thanks motortendz.

Adamizy, Thanks. It just showed up on mine. Oddly it wasn't there when I just checked. So I did a search for "Mandarin" and it found the article in the new issue. When I went back to see the iisues it was there

 

[FrankieBones]

not all ORA mandarins will survive IME, I had a few that just didnt eat . i have one blue male mandarin for 10 months and is very healthy with zero copepods in a nano tank. he eats cyclops and pe mysis. they are very peaceful fish.

 

[motortrendz]

not all ORA mandarins will survive IME, I had a few that just didnt eat . i have one blue male mandarin for 10 months and is very healthy with zero copepods in a nano tank. he eats cyclops and pe mysis. they are very peaceful fish.

thats y we refered him to the article in reefs.. abt how to train the mandarins

 

[BobNY]

It's been almost a month since I got my Manderin, so I figured I'd give an update on how the first month went.
I did end up putting him in my quarantine tank. I figured it would be easier to keep an eye on him making sure he eats.
My expirience was the same as others. By the time he got to my house he forgot that he is supposed to eat prepared foods. I tried lots of different things...Baby Brine, Chopped Blood Worms, Mysis, brine, flake and Cyclop-eeze. He may have eaten some cyclop-eeze, but I am not sure. After a week of failing to get him to eat I started to put some tigger pods in there every couple of day's. That may have been a mistake, but I didn't want him to starve. Trying the method in Coral magazine, Mandarin diner didn't seem to have any effect.
The other day I decided to give up and move him to my DT. The DT has a great Pod population. As soon as he was released into the tank he got to work picking off pods as he found them. Even though the system has a good Pod population I plan to regularly add more to the fuge for a while just in case.
He does seem to be WAY happier in the DT. In QT he would hide when ever I got close to the tank. Also Aside from one rock and a few pieces of PVC, he didn't have much to explore. In the DT he is busy covering the whole tank all day and doesn't seem to be bothered if I am around fiddling with things.

 

[FrankieBones]

Some Mandarins unfortunately do not make it from ORA because they revert to their instinct of eating copepods(depends on the personality of the fish as you can train wild fish). i had success and failure with them. i would want to see them eat at the LFS and i look at their stomachs..... right now i just upgraded and my mandarin is getting a little skinny for my liking and its funny because in a smaller system he flourished (28 gallons). Now in my 57, i will have to find spots where food can sit on the ground for him to cruise by and eat to pick on all day. I might start copepods in this system for extra snacks.