Mandarin taking mysis

[Luis A M]

My mandarin (S.splendidus) male just began taking Hikari frozen mysis with gusto after almost five months of subsisting exclusively on bs. Mysis was offered everyday all the time.This shows one must not give up with the feeding training and how individualistic these fish are.Reportedly some were weaned to Formula pellets.
The lady is still on her bs diet:)

[Kathy55g]

Perhaps she will learn from him! Great news! Are they breeding?

[mwp]

Luis - congrats - sorry it took so long to get one taking mysis! Regarding weaning them to pellets, I know that both Mandarins in my #2 pair take Formula 1 pellets now...

Matt

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8814692#post8814692 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kathy55g
Perhaps she will learn from him! Great news! Are they breeding?
They were.See http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=913387&highlight=spawning+mandarin
Funny thing that the smaller female,which was submissive,now became dominant and attacks the male every time they meet.
Good think a new food is taken.Guess that´s the way to get them into pellets,(Formula1 or Otohime).The more the merrier! :cool:

[David M]

I had the same experience, where all of a sudden and for no obvious reason a mandarin will suddenly start eating mysis like they are going out of style. It was like a lightswitch, never touched one before and then one day she simply couldn't get enough. From that day on the (PE) mysis was her food of choice.

Rsman always claimed they would take pellets. Personally I've never seen that but I've only kept a few of them.

[mwp]

While I mentioned it above, I know my 2nd pair of Mandarins is taking pellets, but I've never seen my older FIRST pair take 'em down. I've tried adding pellets to the cup coral they eat out of, but it seems the pellets aren't prefered.

My pair that takes pellets only takes Formula 1; it appears they leave formula 2 alone, and won't touch others either. Haven't had any really willing to take any gel formulas either.

Matt

[mwp]

BTW, if you look up vids of Malev's Mandarin Diner, there's undisputable proof of Mandarins eating pellet foods. I think the key is taking the time to introduce the pellets daily even though they may not touch them for months. Of course, utilizing a feeding station gets the fish used to the idea that food shows up "there"...thus any new food you want to introduce shows up in the same spot.

It's definitely not an exact science ;)

Matt

[slojmn]

The male in my pair regularly took mysis and Formula 1 with gusto, the female never took a thing. They regularly spawned as well, I eventually lost the female, never knew what happened, she just disappeared. The male recently died after having him for almost 5 years...he was bullied by a long time tank mate that never bothered him in the larger tank. They had co-existed for years together. I guess the smaller tank brought out more territorial stuff. I was very bummed at his loss.

[spawner]

I had one that would pound new life spectrum pelets.