Feeding Mandarin Dragonet/Goby

[timjoemak]

Hey guys, I don't know if this is the right place to post this but I have been trying to find ways and means and I don't know if you guys have any comments on this, but today I managed to purchase a mandarin goby to be placed in my 7 month old reef. I heard that some people have actually fed it with live brine shrimp. I did however try that, but I did not see it consume the live brine shrimp. I'm really clueless right now although it has been eating on the copepods in the tank and I'm really afraid that that won't be enough. Here in Melbourne, Australia, its really difficult to find live copepods or aquacultured ones, so yeah, does anyone have any clue as to how I might feed him well?

[sedor]

Unless your tank is already self sufficient in producing pods, unfortunately the mandarin is likely to starve. Mandarins are generally not the type of fish to get into the mix when its feeding time. Instead the like to kinda graze around, picking this and that. What you could try is using a mandarin diner, basically you use a small jar or something that you can put a little food in and just let it sit in the bottom of the tank. The hope is that eventually your fish will find the food in there and then stop back by everyday to get more.

[Nanz]

Brine shrimp are not a good source of food. They don't have much nutrition unless you soak them in phyto or selcon before you feed them. When I was breeding clownfish last year I substituted copepods for brine shrimp during the second week and I had a better yield form that batch. Copepods are much more nutritious than brine shrimp. Try to get the mandarin to eat formula 1 pellets. The best way to do this is consistently feed your tank exactly at the same time in the evening. Mandarins like to hunt at dusk just before the lights go out. Mine come right up to the glass and eat the pellets from the sand. I have trained 2 mandarins to eat pellets so far and they are fat and happy living off formula 1 pellets. Although they won't breed yet

The other option is to build a refugium for your tank and put some pods/cheato algea in there.

[rxonco]

You're likely going to have to rely on your pod population to feed it. If your tank isn't established enough to do so, you may want to consider taking him back and waiting a while.
Mine actually started eating frozen mysis that makes it to the bottom during feeding time. However, it took a couple of years for this to start happening.

[timjoemak]

Yeah, it really sounds hard to be exact! Well, I might try having mandarin diner... or maybe try feeding before the lights turn off... Do some of them not eat live brine for a start?

[timjoemak]

anyone else might have a clue for this? (:

[mthomp]

find a local guy and get some cheato from them. throw it in a 5gal bucket of saltwater and add a cheap clip on light. grow pods. not saying this will work but it is something to consider.

[timjoemak]

as in the cheato algae you mean? that sounds like a fantastic idea! hahaha never thought about that, but roughly how fast do copepods grow in such environment?

[mthomp]

I couldnt answer that question about how quickly the reproduce. but cheato i mean http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=490+2401&pcatid=2401

typically if you can get them from a reefer they come from a refuge and will be full of pods to start. feed phyto, you could also use like a 10gal tank.

[timjoemak]

I was actually checking around and was actually interested in this "pod pile", does anyone know what it actually is? And yes, i am definitely going to head out to the LFS tomorrow to find some cheato :) thanks mthomp(:

[mthomp]

honestly find someone local, you will get better stuff for much cheaper. maybe even free. plus it is more likely to have more goodies in it.

[timjoemak]

:) very true... hahaha thanks mthomp.. :) appreciate your comments...

[Nanz]

find a local guy and get some cheato from them. throw it in a 5gal bucket of saltwater and add a cheap clip on light. grow pods. not saying this will work but it is something to consider.

You might want to add an air pump with line into the bucket.

Its a good thing mandarins are such pretty fish otherwise reefers would not dedicate a separate tank to supply their finicky appetites, hehe.

Im still trying to get my pair to breed :)

[vikubz]

A number of people, myself included have had good luck with mandarins eating bloodworms. +1 on having some kind of fuge with chaeto and LR pieces. My 75g has more pods than my mandarin knows what to do with.

[bimmerzs]

I would also suggest returning the mandarin and ordering in the ORA captive bred mandarin's, they will cost a little more but they already eat frozen/pellet's.

Cheers,

[ritter6788]

A number of people, myself included have had good luck with mandarins eating bloodworms. +1 on having some kind of fuge with chaeto and LR pieces. My 75g has more pods than my mandarin knows what to do with.

There was a discussion in the mandarin primer about someone that had one eating bloodworms regularly and still got skinny and died. Maybe the worms don't have the nutrition that a mandarin needs, they still need to eat pods. Tangs will eat mysis but that alone will not keep them alive.

[fasteddie99]

A number of people, myself included have had good luck with mandarins eating bloodworms. +1 on having some kind of fuge with chaeto and LR pieces. My 75g has more pods than my mandarin knows what to do with.

+1 Bloodworms is the ONLY thing my mandarine will eat. He totaly consumed my entire pod population within a few months so thankfull he eats bloodworms.

Heres the catch, its gotta be small bloodworms or he wont even look at them. I tried larger frozen ones for a couple days and he'd never eat, went back to the smaller ones and hes back to normal.

[TripleT]

I have a scooter dragonet that loves small sinking granules. It's worth a shot for your mandarin.

And I think you've seen this... but in case you haven't:

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1204/feeding_bbs.jpg

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1204/mandarin_pellets.jpg

[TripleT]

The video version:

http://www.melevsreef.com/video/diner4.wmv

[Mattik]

A few things to try:

1) Make sure you have enough LR...well established
2) Add a refugium
3) Buy frozen BBS, Cyclopeeze, etc (may not eat it, but worth a try)
4) I liked the chaeto in a bucket idea, but if you could plumb it into your tank like a refugium I think it would be better
5) take it back to the store and wait longer