mandarin

[CHEMCHEF]

I purchased a set up 6gal nano from fish town fully stocked (overstocked).
there was a mandarin in the tank. i took him home and put him in my aquapod 24 he is eating mysis shrimp everyday. is this ok? will it be enough nutrition for him? he seems active and happy.

thanks for any feedback

 

[jackson6745]

eating frozen mysis?

 

[marki24]

i thought they eat pods.

 

[DCG1286]

AHHH The myth of the Mandarin...No way it could survive in a 6G...a 24G is pushing it...People say so many different things about this fish...I have seen the smallest tank 37G...they recommend 45-55...as long as you can get them to eat prepared foods...plus it's need for pods...you should have no trouble...I have a Scooter Dragonet in my 45...eats anything and everything...and is such a little piggy! But he didn't eat prepared foods for like 2 weeks...just the pods around the tank...well...personally i wouldn't take the risk in such a small tank even if he is eating prepared foods (mysis etc.etc.) he still needs a plentiful natural food source for optimum health.

Good luck!!!!

-DCG

 

[marki24]

YOur blenny might survive on the food now but i have a feeling sooner or later he will become picky and die out of starvation. I had the same thing with mine and it lived for 7 months and then it died out of starvation, he ate like a pig in the beginning and then one month started to just got on a permanent diet. RIP blenny

 

[DCG1286]

YOur blenny might survive on the food now but i have a feeling sooner or later he will become picky and die out of starvation. I had the same thing with mine and it lived for 7 months and then it died out of starvation, he ate like a pig in the beginning and then one month started to just got on a permanent diet. RIP blenny

+1 A 24G is too small to maintain a pod population that is required to care for one of these creatures.

 

[MikeyZO]

Check out this website. He gives a whole rundown of keeping a mandarin in a nano tank.

http://joshday.com/mandaringoby.htm

 

[jhale]

they had a mandarin in a 6 gallon tank?

 

[MikeyZO]

they had a mandarin in a 6 gallon tank?

I've seen that tank, but I never noticed a mandarin in it before. (btw, Im not a fan of that store, but its conveniently on the way home when I'm in dire need of certain dry goods.) Regardless, I know that they havent had any mandarins as of late, so it may have been a new fish they just got and put in there. Did you ask how long it was in there and what it was eating?

i thought they eat pods.

Apparently its not uncommon for some LFS's to feed them things other than pods. Suffolk County Fish and Reef in Ronkonkoma has told me that when they get mandarins, they keep them well fed with pods but try to get them to eat other kinds of foods before they sell them. I've seen theirs eat frozen mysis, brine, and cyclopese. Im not saying this is a complete substitute, but if you can get it to continue to feed on live brine or frozen mysis/cyclopese, it will be better off then one that wont. If you read that article that I posted above, he got his to start eating roe (fish eggs) that he bought from an asian food store. You can also buy bottles of pods and add them once a month or so to keep the pod population up.

 

[KathyC]

I still wouldn't put one in a tank less than 100 g's..and only then if it has a place ..fuge, pod pile..to grow more pods naturally.
I did read that guys entire blog and the second part too and he went through at least 3 Mandarins before the blog stopped. Assuming he was successful I'd bet he would have continued the blog. He filled it up with a lot of assumptions and 'this should work' info and then failed to prove what he wrote. If those fish were all eating the things he said none would have starved to death..but that's pretty much how he does describe the deaths of them, and then goes back to say well 'maybe they weren't healthy when I got them'.

Chemchef..the issue with these fish is they graze..all day and (it seems)
night long. If you don't have the proper pod population --the little tiny ones that look like no more than specks -- or can't provide them on an ongoing basis multiple times per day, the chances are good that you will lose the fish. Mandarins have a bad habit of once they begin to starve, no matter how much food you add, they will not resume eating and just waste away.

There are always exceptions to the rule and I certainly hope that your guy is one of them but without a large enough tank that creates it's own sustaining pod population, the chances of successfully keep one of these fish is slim at best.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Thanks everybody for the advice. i am going to kep him for a while and se what happens. hes eating all the time and although i am new to this whole reef thing, i have had fresh water tanks for 30 years and this fish is eating and content.
i am wondering since somebody mentioned it if roe is a possibility because being a chef i have alot of acces to unproccesed roe ie lobster and cod. also wondering if other fish would eat it.

 

[h20 freak]

You should enrich the diet with selcon and garlic for good measure.

 

[boardryder]

I agree they are very picky and difficult to keep, but if you can get them eating prepared foods and have the patience to spend the extra time feeding them I see no problems. If that is.

I've had a scooter blenny in my 46G and he has doing very well for 5 months now. I initially started with live brine to entice him to the frozen foods which worked very well. Frozen shrimp is about all he'll eat other than the pods. Tried pellets and flake with no luck. I feed him brine a lot and soak it in selecon for the nutrition since brine alone isn't very nutritious.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

i am also feeding the tank cyclopeeze 2 to 3 times a week
marine snow, and bought a bottle of pods. thinkng about a small refugium 5 gal or so..
ive only been doing this about 3 months.
i have about 6 corals mushrooms xenia feather dusters. so its safe to say i got the bug baad man.
im sure the 72 bowfront with 2 oscars and a pacu in it (yeh my wife likes pacus) 8 mo. old time to give him a bettr home. im sure that will be a reef by xmas
what about roe is it good to feed the tank?

thanks

 

[KathyC]

Just be sure you are keeping up with lots of water changes..you are adding a lot of 'small' food in there and it can foul your water quickly especially in a 24g tank
I like the way your wife thinks Love my reef tanks but I have my Oscars now for 7 years..they're my babies :inlove:

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

roe is good but watch your water parameters though, uneaten ones will qickly fouls your water plus you already ading a lot food in the first place.

If you are keeping your 72G FW, I may have couple parrot fish free for you. I am breaking down my FW 150G.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I my experience, you can't "get" a mandarin to eat foods of convenience....every now and then, you get one that will eat mysis, brine shrimp, etc...I even had one that ate frozen Formula 2. But the majority of them will ignore anything other than pods...they just pick the rocks and sift the sand all day. My sandbed is loaded with tiny worms...but mandarins will spit them out along with the sifted sand. Also, keep in mind a mandarin's tank mates....small wrasses and gobies will eat the same foods, and outcompete them.

 

[jhale]

what about roe is it good to feed the tank?

thanks

the fresh roe is great, I'm sure you use that. the packaged stuff that is preserved I would not use.

 

[jhale]

e being a chef i have alot of acces to unproccesed roe ie lobster and cod. also wondering if other fish would eat it.

if you can get uni/urchin try that as well, mix it in with the other food, my fish loved it.

as a chef you can make your own mixed fish food that would blow away anything else you could buy in the stores. people take all kinds of fish, shell fish, and other fresh ingredients to make there own frozen fish food.
As Kathy said just be careful how much you feed in a small tank.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I knoe i feed the tank alot but i do 20% water changes religously every monday (easy to remember only day off) and im sure i will slow it down eventually. the only other fish in the tank is a gold stripe maroon clown (thanks to Ryan @ A.A. great fish) He reminds me of an oscar in his behavior.
I also aquired another bottle of copepods today, so i will add them tonight after the lights go out.
I have been turning off the pumps when i add them, is this the right thing to do.
As for uni or urchin roe (very rare for me) mostly lobster, salmon, and paddlefish, All Unproccesed
I am going to start prepareing different recipes of frozen goodies. i will keep MR. posted if I discover anything good.
This site has been alot of help
thanks