Mandarin Food Source ?

[wsboyette]

I once successfully kept a Mandarin fish in a 45 gallon fish-only tank setup that I had 15 years ago. This I had accomplished by establishing a colony of tiny, filamentatious white worms in the substrate with a sample that I luckily obtained from what was then my local aquarium shop. The mandarin thrived for a couple of years until I used some (supposed to have been RO) water from an unverified source which somehow killed off the worm colony. Unfortunately I had moved to another city and my old aquarium shop no longer existed at the time, so the Mandarin starved and I became discouraged and put the tank away. After all those years I am finally getting around to doing a Berlin reef setup with the tank. I now do not have a decent aquarium shop closer than 60 miles. I want to keep another Mandarin as well this time, and am wondering what my options are for creating a successful food source for a Mandarin (as I do not know if I can again obtain some of those worms). Does cured live rock maybe contain the worms I used, or other tiny organisms on which the fish will feed - or is that something that I will need to procure separately and add to the setup ?

[epstein]

those worms you describe were prolly pods......madarins love pods......and even with an established tank you will have to replenish them or they will starve.......

Tigger pods and artic pods come to mind from reef nutrition

Brian

[wsboyette]

Ahh, I was always under the impression that the worms were self-propagating; is Reef Nutrition a supplier for this sort of thing with a website ?

[epstein]

they arebut if in the tank with the mandarin ...the food source will deminish and he will starve

[Vauche]

Well there is some truth to what was mentioned above, a mandarin can wipe out a pod population quickly it is not a fore gone conclusion that it will. Many people have mandarins in set-ups and do not supplement their tanks with pods. If the pods are given areas that any predator can't get them they can continue to breed and populate the tank. If you add a refugium they can breed and populate that and find there way into the display.
The key with a mandarin (from my readings and limited expirence) are to have a lot, and I mean a lot of live rock (I have 140lb in a 90G), have a refugium for competition free reproduction, little or no competition for it's food source, and time (at least 6mo-1yr after tank creation to let pods breed and reproduce and grow in numbers).
The down side is even this doesn't necessarily guarantee that epstein's thoughts won't come true. You still need to be vigilent and observant with the mandarin and take action quickly with the above mentioned products if you see a decline in the mandarins appearance.
As a last note, a 45G for a mandarin is on the small side many would say. It can be done, but small. The truth is even the 90G I have some would say is too small. The smaller the tank the more likely you will have to supplement the pods.

[jamest0o0]

A few months ago I made a post asking if a mandarin would do fine in a 39g as long as I had a well populated fuge. From what I remember most people said that the mandarin would do fine.

[Sk8r]

they may really have been worms, too.

But the sure fire way to set up for a mandarin is to get at least a 50g tank, and get a 20 g fuge going. WOn't take too long. It's recommended to have a 75 g tank 8 months old, officially: but a healthy 20g fuge WITH reef experience running it should be able to handle one mandy handsomely. I had to do a move-resetup with a mandy in house, and with new sand, and pretty well devastated rock, BUT with a 20g fuge just set up, the mandy survived and to this hour is getting fat. A 54g with 30g sump/fuge is pretty bulletproof, and the reason I say 54 is because they prowl rockwork all day long, and you want to give the pod population time to settle in before they're back going over the same rock. That gives you the chance to have quite a few other noncompetitive fishes: gobies, blennies, etc (no wrasses) dartfish, damsels, all good. Plus corals. I'm sure my corals nab some pods themselves, but the mandy is not complaining.

[sml41]

my experience is you definitely need a refugium to give pods a chance to multiply; the mandarin even one will clean out the tank in no time; I didn't get a chance to set one up prior to leaving my tank in the hands of someone during my 5 weeks away in Europe and I came back to no mandarin; I was supplementing like crazy even though I maintained a somewhat population in the tank; he was cleaning up (with the help of the other fish as well) but since he lived on pods he was in competition for survival; supplementing pods is so costly, as fast as you throw them in , the fish are devouring them so a refug would give you a fair shot at building up your own supply for feeding ; the mandarin was a beautiful fish and I am sorry that I lost him; I will be better prepared when I get another and be careful who you have taking care of your fish if you go on vacation; I would have spotted that he was getting thin and supplemented; instructions on paper were just that ; good luck

[Playa-1]

Many Mandarins will supplement their diet with frozen foods. So once you get a tank w/ sump and fuge well established. Try and find a Mandarin that will take frozen food. That will make your life easier. My Mandarin sneaks up on frozen blood worms when they're not looking :lol:

[wsboyette]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13276978#post13276978 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Vauche

As a last note, a 45G for a mandarin is on the small side many would say. It can be done, but small. The truth is even the 90G I have some would say is too small. The smaller the tank the more likely you will have to supplement the pods.

I did indeed manage it in a 45, for a couple of years - and in a fish-only setup at that ! The prolly pod worms I am certain propagated in sufficient numbers to maintain an adequate food supply (they lived mainly in the substrate, so that the Mandarin could not wipe them out).