Green Mandarin

[anjiro]

I kinda stumbled into a green mandarin tonight, 16 bucks. From a friend, I couldnt pass it up. Currently he is in a ten gallon by himself with about 4 lbs of live rock and two balls of chaeto (baseball size) I use this for introducing new fish to watch them for a few days in case of problems. There are not any pods in there, I havent tried to feed him frozen and will not until tomorrow morning, is there anything I can pick up tomorrow that is live that he will eat, other than refrigerated pods. Nobody in my town has any right now. Will he eat bbs?:confused: :confused:

[ImprezaSTi]

Right now im feeding mine a product called "arcti pods".
http://www.reefnutrition.com/arctipods/index.htm

It'll probably eat live baby brine too.

[anjiro]

Nobody here has anything like that, There is only one shop in town that has a product simply called REEF PODS, its pods in a bag, in the fridge, they wont get anymore in until friday. Do you think it will be a terrible problem if I cant get him food for that long? Thats why I asked about baby brine shirmp I can get those and hatch them within the next 24 hrs

[jesseakruger]

He will eventually starve as they need a large established tank to survive. They are pigs of all things living. pods, mysis and such are needed.. IMO best thing to do is try to find him a big happy home in a well established reef. good luck

[NirvanaFan]

Brine shrimp take about 24 hours to hatch. You can speed up the process of hatching by keeping a heater in the water. Try dropping a few pellets in the tank near the mandarin, he may eat them. Some people have had success with Formula 1 and 2 pellets (myself, Melev, and a bunch of others).

If he's going in your 29g, he's gonna have a hard time surviving unless he eats frozen or pellets.

[anjiro]

my buddy said he would eat frozen mysis from time to time but not consistently, he has kept him in a 20 for about 6 months now, Also something no one in my area has, sadly things are a lil slow for the fish business here.

[stricknine]

While you wait for the pods from the LFS, try to teach it to eat frozen. It does happen. with your usual tank feedings, tempt it with whatever you feed your other tank, trying not to startle it. If you see any progress, dont throw 1000 pods into the 10G, maybe a few drops and keep up with the frozen regiment.

***man am I lucky to have a mandarin that eats frozen food!

[anjiro]

I do think I will try that. Do I need to go ahead and try to feed tonight or wait til tomorrow?

[anjiro]

He has been in this tank about 2 hrs btw

[kingsord0]

Try to feed it frozen mysid shrimp. That is what mine eats. I've got one in a 55 and it took him 3-4 days till he started eating frozen, so start feeding and just watch if he eats it. If not keep trying persistantly and he should start to accept it. If he gets hungry he will eat it.

[sunfish11]

You need to go to the Reef Fish Forum and read the Mandarin Primer thread that is stickied to the top of the forum.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1492650