[snorvich]

LFS sell fish. I cannot speak to the ethics of a particular LFS but they may or may not even know this is the case. Because of how mandarins live in the wild, they are often captured using cyanide. These fish simply do not survive. I too have had the misfortune of buying a mandarin captured with cyanide (mail order, I could not inspect it). They NEVER survive.

The correct way to capture/collect mandarins is to wait until sunset and then simply scoop them up as they mate.

Many of the mandarins will eat mysis but it is not enough, in the absence of copepods to sustain them.