mandarins

[timrandlerv10]

where can i go for very specific mandarin information? I've read the faqs and the first four or five google results.

one thing i'm looking for is specific food sources, so i can start culturing a few.

thanks!

tim

[uscharalph]

They eat amphiopods and copeopods or just pods in general.

[timrandlerv10]

yeah, but what kind?

[risika67]

All of them...

Mine ate live brine shimp babies too

[tinmanny]

I was told that shrimp offer no nutritional value

but an established tank of 90g or more will host one nicely without feeding it ever

Good Luck
Manny

[reefergeorge]

You need to train it to eat prepared foods. This is a good read.http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30207&highlight=eaters

[uscharalph]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10995542#post10995542 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefergeorge
You need to train it to eat prepared foods. This is a good read.http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30207&highlight=eaters
My 50 gallon has been up for a year and a half. I have had my mandarin for about a year. The tank has sutained him. When i check out my tank at night I still see pods all over the place. My mandarin has never eaten prepared foods.

[K' Family Reef]

have a mandarin in the main display of my tank
it has over 200# of live rock and this mandarin has grown from a small 'juvenile' into a robust 'plump' adult - but there were times when i wasnt sure if the guy was thriving or not - seems like all of a sudden he started growing like crazy and was all of a sudden big one day lol

without a dout adding a 50gal fuge contributed to the success w/ this mandarin! - i have never seen it eat prepared foods nor ever tried to feed it this way

i recently added a green dragonet
into the 50gal fuge from another reefers system - was starving and emaciated - stomach shrunk in and well we didnt think it was going to make it... my thought was it could stay in the fuge as long as it took to fatten up.. and if it never did then it could stay there permanently - 2 mos later this dragonet is showing good signs of life and even started showing signs of a full protruding belly the other day which means its eating well and its stay in my fuge is over - coincidentally whereas one used to always see pods along the walls of the fuge sometimes even thick - they seem to be scarce now - either getting eaten or running for cover! (doesnt seem possible that one mandarin could eat all the visible on the glass pods out of a 50 gall)

also when first added she didnt 'hunt'
w/ the typical persuasion that the mandarins typically hunt with (iow she was slow looking acting like forest gump)... but the other day i was watching her and its no surprise the pods look like they are disappearing - she is a hunting/killing machine once again!... again her stay in my sump has been long enough!

regards

[shabreeson]

i found that the easiest route that you might not be able to take is to get one from the lfs. usually if they have been there for a few weeks they show signs of starvation. My girlfriend got one from a lfs and put it in her 20 gal tank w/ a 10 gal refugium (that I made),I was telling her the whole time that it was probably going to die because i knew some of the history of these beautiful fish. but it does seem to eat many things, not only frozen fish food and copeopods but also obscure things like small bristle worms,and left over food waste from her orange tube anemone.
It's been a few months and it looks fat and happy.

[kidchill]

Hmmm...I think sometimes mandarins can be a hit or miss kinda thing. I've had 3, 1 of which failed to thrive, another which died secondary to ICH wreaking havoc, and my 3rd is doing great!! All I did was throw in some copepods, I think I did like 2 bottles in 2 months and I haven't added any in over a year. He's always out chillin pickin at the rocks. I don't get crazy about spot feeding and shrimp and all that. The point of a tank is to set up an ecosystem that provides for your fish. Don't get too crazy about it!! Just find a mandarin that's doing well and throw in a bottle of copepods!!

[Trigeek]

Here is a good resource that has a link to another good article. You can email marc with specific questions on his tank thread and he'll answer them. Melev is a very good resource on mandy's(and many other things).

melev's article on mandys (http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html)

[Sepeku]

All good information I think.

My advice would be to setup a refugium specifically for him. It's what I did. I let the Cheato over grow a bit more than what you would normally want for nitrate export and kept it relatively thick.

The little guy usually looks like he swallowed a golf ball.

[Subliminal]

I don't believe mandarins can get ich. They have a slime coating which usually keeps it off them.

If you don't think your tank is big enough for a mandarin, and still like them, consider a scooter blenny. It's like the mandarins lil brother.

[K' Family Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10997340#post10997340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kidchill
Hmmm...I think sometimes mandarins can be a hit or miss kinda thing. I've had 3, 1 of which failed to thrive, another which died secondary to ICH wreaking havoc, and my 3rd is doing great!! All I did was throw in some copepods, I think I did like 2 bottles in 2 months and I haven't added any in over a year. He's always out chillin pickin at the rocks. I don't get crazy about spot feeding and shrimp and all that. The point of a tank is to set up an ecosystem that provides for your fish. Don't get too crazy about it!! Just find a mandarin that's doing well and throw in a bottle of copepods!!


mandarins do not get ich! - must have been something else

[EyeCandy]

Mine eats anything.....flake, pellets, mysis, brine, clam meat. I think I got lucky.

[specialkb]

no they can get it it's just harder.

[K' Family Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10998737#post10998737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by specialkb
no they can get it it's just harder.


where did you read they can get ich?

what i have read says they have a slime coat that prevents them from getting ich - i am no expert on mandarins but you are the first person i have heard say they can get it

[K' Family Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10998737#post10998737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by specialkb
no they can get it it's just harder.

in fact here is an article on RC home page
about mandarins

http://reefcentral.com/modules.php?s=&name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=3

here is the info from the link

These fish don't get Ich as they secrete an oily substance on their bodies. Their skin type and the oils secreted make them extremely sensitive to many medications. What may heal one species will more than likely kill a mandarin. So if your other fish develop ich, the mandarin is not to be put in to quarantine. Which is fortunate because it would starve to death if you did, assuming the medication didn't kill it first

if you have any info contrary then please post it

regards

[luke33]

They man not be able to get it........but they can carry it so its a chace you take adding one to your tank.

[curthendrix]

Mine would eat mysis right out of my hand. Pretty cool.

[nikon70]

mandarins are very fussy eaters unless hand fed from an early age, dont be tempted to buy one thinking you can feed it anything.

if you have lots of pods in your tank they will eat those first, and refuse to eat mysis etc.

imo do not try mandarins until you have at least a tank a year old (after cycling and all levels are 0 after stocking with a few fish, so your looking at 1.5 years to successfully keeping mandarins)

same goes for cleaner wrasses, unless you have a 200G tank with lots of fish they will run out of food to eat. (sorry was on a role there)

[timrandlerv10]

we're moving everything from a 44g DT w/10g fuge to 75g DT w/55g fuge.

if there are some pods that are more beneficial than others, i want to help seed the new fuge with those.

for those that have mandarins that eat 'whatever' congrats--thats not been my experience so far :( (jealous!)

does anyone have any ideas on specific pods?

thanks for the links--i'll be reading those tonight!

tim

[curthendrix]

One caveat.....mine did eat mysis but that was only after being in my tank for almost 1 year. Please make sure you have the tank size and pod population to support this fish. There is nothing sadder that seeing a fish slowly starve to death while in your care.

[reefergeorge]

Pod eaters, like the Mandarin fishes, live in a part of the ocean where there are not only a very large number of pods to eat, but a very large diversity of pods. Not only are there many different kinds of pods but those pods are eating a wide variety of foods. All this meets the nutritional needs of the pod eater. The marine system we put in the home can’t come close to the number and this wide diversity. The pod eaters can (and will) eat what is in the marine system, but the fish slowly dies. The fish survives for a while but doesn’t thrive. Quote from Lee Birch

[timrandlerv10]

maybe i'm asking in the wrong forum...does anyone know where this question might belong?

thanks!

tim

[EyeCandy]

I think everyone answered your question. Basically if you find a mandarin that is eating at the LFS, go for it. But if it is not, then you will need a larger tank with lots of live rock and maybe suppliment the pods like you said you would like to do. They eat basically ALL pods and small organisms on the live rock. I would set up a refugium and also get a small filter media bag, like one you would put carbon into, and fill it with small broken pieces live rock and hide it behide your rocks so the pods have a place inside the tank to reproduce with out any fish being able to get them, then they will leave the bag. :-) I don't know what else to tell ya.

[Sepeku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11007339#post11007339 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EyeCandy
I think everyone answered your question. Basically if you find a mandarin that is eating at the LFS, go for it. But if it is not, then you will need a larger tank with lots of live rock and maybe suppliment the pods like you said you would like to do. They eat basically ALL pods and small organisms on the live rock. I would set up a refugium and also get a small filter media bag, like one you would put carbon into, and fill it with small broken pieces live rock and hide it behide your rocks so the pods have a place inside the tank to reproduce with out any fish being able to get them, then they will leave the bag. :-) I don't know what else to tell ya.

Wow, good idea!

[dragonette]

check this link

I thought it was a good one.

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/feeding_mandarin_or_synchiropus_splendidus-2.html (http://)

[egirl]

I found they love frozen bloodworms. You have to use a pipette and squirt them in front of their mouths. I know they're not nutritious but if you mix them with frozen mysis shrimp soaked in garlic and entice they eventually eat them too, which of course is much better for them. I was a salt water manager for three years and I did this with every mandarin I got in and wouldn't sell one unless it was eating frozen. Make sure the food lands on the substrate and doesn't get suspended because you probably know they don't go after "swimming" food.