Mandarin fish food

[tony1988]

Can I feed my mandarin fish cyclop eeze instead of live copepods?

[Coelli]

Can I feed my mandarin fish cyclop eeze instead of live copepods?

Well, you can try; mine won't touch Cyclopeez though it will eat frozen mysis. In either case it is really only okay as a supplement, you need enough pods in the tank to sustain the fish.

[davocean]

Agree, must have pods, enough for 2-3 per minute, all day every day.

[MondoBongo]

you can try. some will take them, some won't.

they should never be the primary food source though. their staple should be the pods that they can forage for, not discrete feedings provided by the aquarist.

i like to supplement my dragonet's diets with all kinds of treats on a regular basis, but that's all it is, a supplement. they find their own food.

[e048]

Depends on the mandarin (red, target, etc)

I had an ora target mandarin that would eat everything lost him to a landslide caused by a pistol shrimp but he was the best fish in my tank he even ate pellets

I tried a pair of captive bred ora red mandarins these guys loved the frozen cubed reef plankton and mysis but not as much as the target had them for almost a year till my tank crashed and I lost all my livestock live and learn you could also try live brine shrimp

[ThRoewer]

culture tigger pods - it's easy and always good to have as a food addition for picky eaters. Right now I have 4 blue stripe pipefish in QT of which 3 currently 100% rely on cultured pods.

The other recommended food for mandarins and the like are live California black worms.