Green Spotted Mandarine

[mbu man]

bought one of these from my lfs, they said that they were easy to look after.
after doing some research on the internet, they are not so easy to look after.
what do they feed on? very varied the info i am managing to find on the net??

 

[Musho3210]

how old is your tank, how large, does the mandarin accept frozen food? do you have a refugium, how much live rock. These things eat pods, bad lfs to say that tehy are "easy" to take care of.

 

[fishwatcher]

I've read from most places that unless you can get them to take prepared food (which is very difficult) that they typically just waste away after a couple of weeks/months. They eat a large amount of pods and most tanks don't produce enough consistently to maintain them. However, if your tank is large enough and you have a separate place to raise pods for him, you may can work it out.

 

[sophos9]

I've been researching mandarins for a while now as I'm looking to get one. As everyone else has said, they are not a 'beginners' fish (not saying you are a beginner!!)

I've spoken to several people that have been successful in feeding frozen foods such as brine shrimp - I was advised you may have to *slightly* over feed to make the food stuff known

I've read they get through a lot of pods but not sure what a lot is, I'm going to try a poor man's refugium in my Juwel tank.

As musho said, what tank size, how long has it been established and how much live rock etc....

 

[Lynden]

Well, the lfs wasn't exactly lying. If you have a huge tank and tons (sometimes literally) of live rock, they are easy to keep.

 

[littleme1969]

I have a scooter Blenny which is very similar. I wouldnt have even considered it if they hadnt fed it in front of me in the fish shop. Mine takes frozen foods as well as eating pods and brine shrimp, but I also turn of the power heads and filter at feeding time to make sure he gets enough to eat as they eat from rocks and the sand bed and wont pick food out of the water that is floating. I here they do well on frozen lobster eggs and people have managed to even wean fish that where only pod eaters over time. So I would switch off poweheads and drop food right in front of them, and make sure they eat ever meal time as they seem to require alot of calories as they are always on the move. A Fat mandarin is a happy mandarin

 

[mbu man]

ive got a 300 litre tank,their must be at least about 27kgs of live rock(tank is pretty full up with live rock) and tank has been going for about 2 and a half months.
he is very skinny,but he was when we got him.
it does say on http/www.marinecenter.com/fish/gobies/gr...icmandaringoby/ that they eat hair algae, ive got alot of that growing on one of my bits of rock.
Zoolife Reef Gel Daily Use is this worth the investment??? has anyone got or used this?

 

[AK77]

When I got mine he was actually very stocky, with a slight concave appearance to his stomach. He's constantly on the go for food. I don't see pods in the display tank like I used to (they used to be all over the glass even in the daytime). I also feed frozen lobster eggs. These are about 1mm diameter and spread all over the tank. A lot are eaten by the other fish, but many fall down to the substrate and the rocks below. He definitely looks to have put on more weigh since Ive had him. I also have refugium in the sump and rotate the cheato from there to the display tank.

Mandarins are hit an miss really. If you have one that's eating prepared foods, then they are no different from keeping any other fish. The difficulties arise if they aren't. Then you need to grow pods in a seperate tank to facilitate this, or as Lyden says.. have loads of rock but, even then that night not be enough.

 

[mbu man]

he is a bit thin,but he was like that when i got him. hes floating around alright and sort of sucking at the rocks.
their are some small pod things on certian rocks,but not the ones that it is hovering around, that i can see any way?

 

[AK77]

Pods are tiny little white dots, maybe 1-1.5mm across. They are small creatures and usually they are seen at night. My tank had been established for a few years prior to purchasing, so there was an abundance of cocepods. Literally I'd see dozens and dozens, even during the day time.

If you can, rearrange your rock piles so that there are parts that the mandarin cannot access. This will help sustain any pods therein. Also Cheato is great because it offers a great hiding place of a colony of pods.

Try getting some blister packs of lobster eggs. Out of all the frozen foods this is the only thing he takes. They are about the same size as pods and since the eggs contain yolk, I should imagine they pack a lot more protein than brine shrimp do.

 

[Robert247]

I was looking at getting one of these a while back but was put off by there fussy diet what other tank inhabitants will they tolerate do they have to be in a reef or will it be ok in a folwr and 2 clowns? (if i can find one that will take frozen or prepared of course)
you did say "If you have one that's eating prepared foods, then they are no different from keeping any other fish" right?

 

[mbu man]

Pods are tiny little white dots, maybe 1-1.5mm across. They are small creatures and usually they are seen at night. My tank had been established for a few years prior to purchasing, so there was an abundance of cocepods. Literally I'd see dozens and dozens, even during the day time.

If you can, rearrange your rock piles so that there are parts that the mandarin cannot access. This will help sustain any pods therein. Also Cheato is great because it offers a great hiding place of a colony of pods.

Try getting some blister packs of lobster eggs. Out of all the frozen foods this is the only thing he takes. They are about the same size as pods and since the eggs contain yolk, I should imagine they pack a lot more protein than brine shrimp do.

i dont think that ie ever seen lobster eggs for sale?

 

[AK77]

I'll pm you the details if you want to try them out.

 

[mbu man]

yes please mate if you could, cheers for helping out.

 

[mbu man]

lol, the link dont work?