Alternative Food For Mandarins?

[Tennyson]

So I had tried a Scooter Blenny as my second fish maybe 6 months ago. It only lived about a month because it had starved from my short supply of copepods. I remember that occasionally it would eat left over earthworms that my shrimp wouldn't eat (I only fed earthworms every two weeks or so)

So I was just wondering if earthworms could be a good alternative food for these guys? I would really love to keep these beautiful fish. If earthworms aren't good, what other frozen foods besides mysid could I feed to keep them full and happy?

Thanks

[Chibils]

Mandarins need pods to survive. They eat continuously, and never in large quantities. Unless you can provide live, protein-enriched bbs or rotifers, he needs pods.

[rydr119]

A thriving copepod population is what they need to survive. I have one in my 65 with about 100lbs of LR and a fuge, shes always picking at the rocks. Unless you have a fully matured tank with a good supply of pods don't get one of these guys. Their worth the wait, let your tank mature first.

[Radioheadx14]

Yeah, I wish more people would be patient/smart when considering these fish. some people say the are disappearing in nature.

[Tennyson]

How long should it mature for then? Its been running for around 9 months, 6 months after the scooter blenny died.

So I should buy one and only depend on the fact that they will eat copepods only? Can't they be fed mysid or pellets? My LFS carries ones that also accept mysid and other small foods.

Thanks, your replies were kind of the answers I was expecting.

[reef_doug]

Nutramar OVA prawn eggs are gobbled up by mandarins and scooters.

[kes_reef]

I would also limit the other fish that could potentially compete for pods such as six line or other smaller wrasses.

[snorvich]

The problem is that these fish are grazers and eat 12 hours per day. In addition, they are very poor hunters when they have to compete with other fish. i am sure you are not going to feed your tank 10 times per day or overfeed since both would be detrimental to your biological filteration.

If mandarins do not have a moderate size tank with lots of live rock, they simply will not survive long term. Whether they eat mysis (2 of my four do) is irrelevant.

[rydr119]

I would have the tank up and running for at least 1 year before even considering adding a mandarin. What size tank to do have? and how many pounds of LR are in it?

[snorvich]

+1

[Tennyson]

Its a 46 Gallon. And I don't think there are any competitive fish to a mandarin. I think I have around 40-50

[rydr119]

I would add at least another 20lbs and wait a few months for the pod population to become strong.

[Arati]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12495210#post12495210 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kes_reef
I would also limit the other fish that could potentially compete for pods such as six line or other smaller wrasses.

Aso sifter type gobies ,any kind of shrimp, and yellow wrasse.

Do you have a fuge? If not try getting a plastic quart container like the ones strawberries come in, one with a small grid. Flip it over and put a ball of cheato under it and use rocks to hold it down. this makes a small "refugium" type of are for the pods to be safe.

Also get your tank ready for some serious over feeding, IF you can get it to take food live or frozen. In most case's a new mandarin will be in critical condition and needs to be nursed back to life. Many sadly are cynadie collected and will only lay in a corner and die.

Also I would choose a spotted mandarin since they are smaller and you have a small tank.

You are challenging yourself buy getting one of these fish, lets hope you can post pics of it a year from now. ya never really see pics of peoples old mandarins, just new mandarins ...

[Tennyson]

Yeah, the fact that these guys are so difficult to take care of has been such a heartbreak to me and I'm sure many others.

I will try the mini-fuge thing. But would this go anywhere in the tank? Does it necessarily have to be an area of high flow becuase I wouldn't really want to see some bin thing in my tank, a place in the back would be better. And what is cheato? Never heard of it.

And you said that shrimp will compete for pods, and sand sifters. I have a huge collection of different shrimps, and a two sand sifting goby and I might get a jawfish. Am I being crazy by wanting to add a mandarin to such a "busy" tank. How exactly do shrimp compete with a mandarin?

And I already said that my lfs carries mandarins, and scooters that will accept mysid and probably cyclopeeze too.

And rydr, I will try to add more rock. and I guess wait maybe 3 or more months for the pods pop. to increase? I'll try the mini-fuge once I get a little more info and find out if my competitive fish will be a problem. And will post back here.

Thanks!

[snorvich]

Just because they eat mysis and cyclopeeze does NOT mean they will survive. Your tank is a marginal home for this fish. If you do not improve the odds with a refugium you will simply be killing that fish.

[Tennyson]

Yeah I am aware of that, but I am willing to try to try one again once I am sure I have a good pod population. Can someone answer my questions from my other post?

[petoonia]

Tennyson, honestly I would wait until you have a larger tank with more rock to get the mandarin. Im not trying to give you a hard time. These guys are hard to keep especially in a smaller tank, I just wouldnt try it. You need an ample amount of live rock, and a never ending supply of pods to keep these fish healthy. Even if they eat prepared foods that is not enough to keep them healthy, they still need the pods to survive long term.

If you really want to keep a madarin I would wait until you can provide a tank set up to keep one happy and healthy.

[petoonia]

Also to answer your previous question. My mandarin would eat spirulina enriched brine shrimp soaked in selcon. Sadly it wasnt enough to keep him alive.

[Arati]

Cheato as misspelled by me, is a macro algea that pods like to live in. the lil fuge can go anywhere the idea is to have a safe haven for pods to breed.

As for sifter gobys, what do you think they are sifting for? they are eating worms and pods and whever else.

As for shrimp , If you can get your mandarin to eat prepared foods, he will not be able to out compete most shrimp for it. Once the shrimp realize you are pointing a little straw in to feed it they will be on that straw live crayz. Cleaner shrimp will chase chase him around and pester him from time to time trying to clean him also.

as has been said already mandarin are bad at eating, the dont compete well with anything.

Mandarins mouth is so small I cant see one eating an earthworm, mine eats blood worms and brine. Those two have no real nutritional value at all... :(

[tbittner]

Unless your willing to buy bottles of pods weekly and dump them into your tank, a mandarin most likely won't survive. They can wipe out the pod population very quickly. Then they starve to death.

I sense that the mandarin is at the top of your favorite fish list. It's at the top of mine too. I built a 100g fuge specifically for flooding my 120g reef with pods. I actually have two mandarins. I've had the female for a year, the male for 2 months. Both are plump and happy. They've even paired up.

[95accord]

i have a scooter blenny in my 55gal who survived a tank crash (but a couple chromis died)
my tank is less than 1 year old and he's doing great. but i have tons of pods in my tank. Im almost tempted to add a mandarine goby.....but debating if it would deplete the pods too quickly or not.......i'll see with time....

[abereefur]

nutramar... frozen mysis... and a good pod population are what will keep a mandarin alive. you need to wait a while for your pod population to grow and stabilize though, if your scooter blennie died, then there was not enough food... in the end your mandarin will catach up with the pod pupolation and you will probably have to start adding pods, either bought or from your fuge.

[cl2ysta1]

tank raised mandarins are on the way :)
There is a guy in florida who successfully raised his first batch he tried. something like 180 babies

[tbittner]

I read about that. He has them eating frozen and dry food too. Well, some of them at least.

[Zaita]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12515051#post12515051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cl2ysta1
tank raised mandarins are on the way :)
There is a guy in florida who successfully raised his first batch he tried. something like 180 babies

Matt Witt :) He is a very well known author on marine breeding. Very talented breeder.

[Tennyson]

Thanks for the info every one. Anyway, I am thinking about replacing my carbon filter that doesn't do anything for my tank, and getting a small refugium. So I think it will help increase my pod population. So would I wait a couple months for the pods to increase with the refuigium, then would I be able to get a mandarin or a psychadelic goby?

Heres the refugium Im getting:
http://www.aquadirect.com/store/product.php?productid=17616&cat=0&page=2

[petoonia]

I would wait a minimum of 6 months to let the refuge really get established, the longer you wait the better. The sand sifting goby does eat pods out of the sand bed so that could also have an impact on the pod population. I would also consider adding more live rock to your display. A minimum of 75 pounds of rock is generally best to sustain a mandarin. I would also suggest creating small rubble piles in your display, maybe behind the rock work. This creates even more places for pods to hide, and reproduce. Even if you can get a mandarin that eats prepared food, you still need an ample amount of pods throughout the tank for the mandarin to survive.

Here is a link to the FAQ on the home page:

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