Manderin Fish

[Slangl6238]

Hi, probably spelled it wrong but one of my clients has a green manderin Goby or whatever it is called, and he has a trick that works for feeding him. He tied a string to a glass, puts carnavore pellets in the glass, and lowers the glass in the tank. The Manderin is the only fish that goes in there and he eats everything up. Then he pulls the glass out with the string. I may or may not try it when and if I get one in the future.

No replies on my Live Mysid Shrimp question?


Thanks,
Steve

 

[steelhealr]

Except for owners of large tanks...I have not heard of someone successfully keeping a mandarin. Someone bought one on this forum and the mandarin was shown to be eating enriched brine shrimp at the lfs. They went on to die. They require large tanks...mature LR with a large population of copepods. Anything less and many starve to death. Although the fish is drop dead gorgeous, I wouldn't recommend buying one. BTW, what size tank is your friend's? SH

 

[Def]

One recommended tactic for feeding these dragonets is to buy a extra live rock. Leave it in a dark part of your sump for a while and let the pods etc build up on it. After a while take it out the sump and put it on the floor of the main tank, and take a piece of rock out the main tank to put in the sump. Keep rotating rock like this (you might need more than a piece) and you should be able to keep up with food demand for the mandarin. Either that or make a gravity fed refugium...

 

[fraservet]

Actually, it has been shown to be a myth that pods get chewed up by impellers when return pumps are used from refugiums (they are small enough to mostly get through unharmed), so it really doesn't have to be gravity fed.

 

[Teelie]

My plan is a "copepod farm" in a refugium that will help keep the supply up once I get a saltwater tank set up and have it matured to the point of keeping a Green Mandarin. I've never seen anyone say they have problems with the impellers before either.