mandarin eats..

[mayjong]

wife went out and got one, now have to feed him/her!
he constantly swims around, "picking" at the rocks. does this mean he is eating?
i'm going to try to "baste" him tonight...

[mdntrdr]

what size is your tank?

how much live rock?

mandarins need a large established colony of pods

[EllieSuz]

Yes, he is eating. What remains to be seen is whether he eats faster than the pods reproduce. He can wipe out a colony of pods in short order. That's why it depends on the size of tank, amount of live rock, existence of a refugium and age of the system.

[snorvich]

Yes, he is eating. What remains to be seen is whether he eats faster than the pods reproduce. He can wipe out a colony of pods in short order. That's why it depends on the size of tank, amount of live rock, existence of a refugium and age of the system.

Yes Indeed. That is the way it is. But be happy he is picking or that would be a bad thing.

[redsea reefer]

Try Bloodworms, turn off all pumps and squirt them in one spot with a baster while he is watching.

[mayjong]

thanks..
150 gallon tank, 8 months old. has at least 100lb of live rock, and unknown lbs of live sand. no refugium.

thanks!

[iamwhatiam52]

Mandarin should be fine.

[mayjong]

he's not...
i can't see any copapods at night in my tank, none.
i was watching him yesterday, his tummy is concave on the sides. he wasn't like that when we bought him, it has been two weeks.
i ordered copapods today, will get them tomorrow.
thank goodness this is one my wife picked. i get to tell her the $20 fish just turned into a $120 fish...

[romsoccer12]

you wont be able to keep him on bottles of copepods, he will eat them faster than they can reproduce. i would return him now, get a fuge going with lots of macro algae, start dosing phyto, maybe add some more liverock, add some of those copepod bottles, make sure there are no other competetors for pods and than when you have a large colony of them try again. also, i would suggest trying to teach it how to eat mysis before putting it in. try keeping it in a breeder net and putting live mysis in, it will resemble pods for him when they wiggle on the sides and hopefully he will soon learn to eat them, than you can switch to frozen mysis and than release him

[redsea reefer]

Try Bloodworms, turn off all pumps and squirt them in one spot with a baster while he is watching.

did you try this yet.

[ShrimpChipGal]

If you start a fuge, this is the pack I used to seed my tanks http://www.ipsf.com/refugiumstartup.html. This product works really well in a fuge; however, I have never tried to use it to seed the main tank instead.

The most recent one I bought (a red mandarin, Pterosynchiropus splendidus var.) really like spirulina brine from Hikari. I have a clear tube turkey baster and slowly pushes the spirulina brine out for her to eat (on the bottom of tank). She goes right after them or sometimes even takes it out of the baster tube. Good luck with the mandarin!

[mayjong]

haven't tried the bloobworms yet...
i'll try to find some today! live or dried? i assume live?
thanks!

[landers96]

You could try prawn eggs. Mine won't touch mysis or brine, but will tear up prawn eggs. Their frozen, thaw out in small glass and take a turkey baster and "waft" them by him. The only problem I've run into with this is my clowns go crazy for them to.

[davocean]

Really you need a fuge of some kind so pods can repopulate w/out predation.
This really should be done before purchase of a mandarin.
Even if a mandy eats prep'd food, it's almost impossible to replicate what they need.
They have an extremely high metabolism, and eat like 1-3 pods per minute.
You may be able to bring it back using something like melevs diner method, but usually once you notice them getting sucked in it's too late.
Good luck.

[mayjong]

cripes, i now know why i can't see anything at night. i recieved my pods today, they are almost invisible...
putting on 4000 tonight, after lights out...

[mcliffy2]

cripes, i now know why i can't see anything at night. i recieved my pods today, they are almost invisible...
putting on 4000 tonight, after lights out...

Chances are you have plenty and don't know it. With a 150g tank stocked with LR, he'll be fine if he is going to make it. Sometimes they are past the point of no return when you get them, but other than that, your tank is established enough.

[ShrimpChipGal]

I second the Prawn eggs suggestion (Nutramar ova is what I use). Daphna seems like another one they may eat. A fuge is really the best way.

With Melev's diner method there is only really the problem of snails and crabs getting in and eating the food. My nassarius snails are very good at sniffing out food as soon as I put it in.

[snorvich]

Is the fish hunting? (picking at rocks) If not, it may be cyanide captured and unsaveable. I suspect that this is the case as your environment should be sufficient.

[redsea reefer]

haven't tried the bloobworms yet...
i'll try to find some today! live or dried? i assume live?
thanks!

Frozen

[mayjong]

i'll try anything at this point.thanks...
he's picking at the rocks, moving around, seems healthy. just his stomach is "sucked in" on the sides, looks like he's wasting away...