New Mandarin Fish

Sea Turtle · Oct 3, 2008

Hi all,

I just recently purchased a Mandarin Fish for my reef tank. I have about 80 pounds of live rock. I am afraid that he will eat up all the pods in the tank and starve to death. Is there a way that I can train him to eat frozen brine shrimp or cyclopeez? He doesn't seem to be skinny right now so I know he has been eating where ever he came from.

What do you think that I should do so that I have a higher success rate with the little guy. He sure is a nice fish and I would hate to see anything bad happen to him. I have heard people say that you can train them...

Thanx

IIITYIII · Oct 3, 2008

Sea Turtle said:
Hi all,

I just recently purchased a Mandarin Fish for my reef tank. I have about 80 pounds of live rock. I am afraid that he will eat up all the pods in the tank and starve to death. Is there a way that I can train him to eat frozen brine shrimp or cyclopeez? He doesn't seem to be skinny right now so I know he has been eating where ever he came from.

What do you think that I should do so that I have a higher success rate with the little guy. He sure is a nice fish and I would hate to see anything bad happen to him. I have heard people say that you can train them...

Thanx

im not too sure but i just fed my fish brine and after a few days he started eating brine as well. with 80 pounds of live rock though im not sure how fast he can eat that up. usually if you get a massive copepod civilization going they dont stop.

kj23502 · Oct 3, 2008

I guess it also depends on if you have any other fish in your tank that eat the pods too. I've read if you have a refugium w/cheato then there's a safe protected place for the pods to grow/multiply and some will naturally flow into the tank or you can try to get them into the big tank yourself.

Good luck. These are such beautiful fish. I'd love to have one some day too! Any chance of a picture :snap:

??

connorsbala · Oct 4, 2008

If you put a cube of frozen: brine shrimp, mysis, cyclops, rotifers etc into a jar of tank water with a lil bit of garlic...wait for it to defrost then direct the food toward the mandarin with a turkey baster, you may have luck! Turn off all the powerheads so that the food doesnt flow away.
My Mandarin was eating live Brine Shrimp when i got her and since then i have got her onto frozen brine and the above food, aswell as frozen lobster eggs.
If your afraid that it will eat all the copepods, then buy 2x bottles online. Pour one whole bottle into the tank and the other you can strart a culture in a jar on the window sill. Fill it with fresh SW and add live phytoplankton every other day...i add a load into her tank once a week and she remains plump all the time (i also feed her enrichened frozen brine once a day and the mixture i have said above every 3 days)

IIITYIII · Oct 4, 2008

kj23502 said:
I guess it also depends on if you have any other fish in your tank that eat the pods too. I've read if you have a refugium w/cheato then there's a safe protected place for the pods to grow/multiply and some will naturally flow into the tank or you can try to get them into the big tank yourself.

Good luck. These are such beautiful fish. I'd love to have one some day too! Any chance of a picture ??

A lot of fish eat copepods. my clowns eat copepods off my glass all day long so does my six line wrasse. but he is correct if you get a refugium and put cheato in there with pods you will have so many!

IIITYIII · Oct 4, 2008

IIITYIII said:
kj23502 said:

I guess it also depends on if you have any other fish in your tank that eat the pods too. I've read if you have a refugium w/cheato then there's a safe protected place for the pods to grow/multiply and some will naturally flow into the tank or you can try to get them into the big tank yourself.

Good luck. These are such beautiful fish. I'd love to have one some day too! Any chance of a picture ??

Click to expand...

A lot of fish eat copepods. my clowns eat copepods off my glass all day long so does my six line wrasse. but he is correct if you get a refugium and put cheato in there with pods you will have so many! best pic i could get of my mandarin.

IIITYIII · Oct 4, 2008

wouldnt let me put the 2 pics together i cropped it.

Sea Turtle · Oct 4, 2008

I will try to get some pics soon. She is hiding in the rocks right now but seems to be a little curious about what is going on in the tank. She keeps popping her little frog head out and looking around with those beady eyes. She is an awsome fish!!! Saw her the other night after the halides went out with just the moon light on. She was jumping around on the rocks like a lizard. Awsome fish!!!!

Thanks for the help. I will try getting the pods in a jar. I don't have a refuge though. Might try to grow them in a jar on the window. That seems good. Anyway, I got the frozen cyclopeez and I will continue to try that. I also tried the jar method. I think that it could work. Maybe I am just rushing this, I have only had her for a couple of days.

By the way, how much of that cyclopeez is too much to put in the tank (degrade water quality)? I have a 75 gallon with 80 pounds of live rock.

Thanks

humpy_the_humphead_wrasse · Oct 4, 2008

they r probably nocturnal feeders and her jumping around on the rocks is her searching for copepods i presume

IIITYIII · Oct 4, 2008

humpy_the_humphead_wrasse said:
they r probably nocturnal feeders and her jumping around on the rocks is her searching for copepods i presume

hmm not nocturnal exactly but her going around on the rock is searching for pods. if you buy a pack or 2 of pods to start out with add them during night so the fish dont see them and i bet you within a week youll have copepods all over your glass and your mandarin will be fat!

BigC · Oct 5, 2008

Alternatively hatch brineshrimp on a regular basis he should eat that. I have a smaller Dragonet for my nano and he loves the stuff.
Try it and lets know the results.
Regards
BigC

connorsbala · Oct 5, 2008

Mandarin's usually sleep at night??? You will see them lying on rock.the sand bed almost grey in colour...mine never moves at night.

IIITYIII · Oct 5, 2008

connorsbala said:
Mandarin's usually sleep at night??? You will see them lying on rock.the sand bed almost grey in colour...mine never moves at night.

yes they do

SkiFletch · Oct 6, 2008

Don't forget to try some Roe (fish eggs) from your local asian market. Many are reported to go nuts for that stuff

Sea Turtle · Oct 6, 2008

SkiFletch said:
Don't forget to try some Roe (fish eggs) from your local asian market. Many are reported to go nuts for that stuff

That's what I heard. I guess that they really like those fish eggs. I will try them once i get a chance, or once I find that local Asian market. I think that he just likes to come out for about 5 or 10 nimutes right after the light goes out. But then he seems to sleep throught the night.

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