Wt Can I Use To Enhance A Manderin

[black molly3]

what can i use to inhence my new manderin to eat. i got him on moday and im not quite sure if he is eating. the man at the shop told me he accepted brin but im not too sure. i have tried brine bloodworm and even mussle. i dont think he has ate any of them although when i feed the tank i do see him moving around alot more. what are their feeding behaviours and do they eat of a night. he is only a baby 2" max and is so pretty

thanks

 

[mark7616]

I dont know why you bother to post on here you ask for advice and dont bother taking it. This new tank you have setup you have rushed from the start. If you bothered to do research you would of realised that your tank is FAR to small for a mandarin and even if it was large enough would of needed to be setup for around 12 months before you got one. Most people end up loosing there mandarins because they cant get them to feed and dont have enough food in the substrate for them to eat. My advice would be to rehome it.

 

[shibby]

mandarins can live in smaller tanks IF they eat frozen, usuaully its best for them to have a large well matured tank but thats only since they usually feed of copepods.

did u actually see it eat frozen in the lfs? or did u just take the guys word for it?

 

[kkyyllee]

ur lfs most likely lied to you, when you buy madarins u have to ask to SEE it eating food

 

[Dorkhedeos]

mandarins usually only eat copepods. im still not sure why you bought this fish when you didnt even bother looking it up.

 

[Musho3210]

how long have you had the tank, have you ever seen copepods? Do you have a refugium? What kills me is that people are buying these fish even though the survival rate is low and they dont breed in captivity, sure many people have kept them long term but even more has killed them. They are beautiful fish and very rairly beautiful fish are easy to take care of. I suggest you buy a lot of LIVE copepods and put them in your tank and get a refugium. If its in your 6 gallon then take it back to the lfs, no fish should be put in tanks this small, i find it cruel although others say its ok to put a small goby or something in one (i dont say anything since true gobies are easy to take care of, are small and are not as active). But deffinately not a mandarin (there not gobies)

Your tank should be 12 months old as was said before.

http/www.reefcentral.com/modules.php?s=&...wpage&pid=3

I doubt you have 75 pounds of live rock....

 

[n3ont3tra]

Also, just because they eat brine, doesn't mean they'll live off of it. Brine shrimp aren't the most nutritious food. Newly hatched brine shrimp are better because they still have the yolk sacs (i think that's what it's called )

 

[kkyyllee]

you will have too enrich and vary its food anywayas and it still will eventually suffer form malnitrition, maybe im wrong but your already looks pretty skinny as it is

 

[SkiFletch]

In addition to all the above posts, the only other means I've seen of enticing mandarins to eat is with fish roe (fish eggs from your asian market). If you can't get it to eat, well you were prolly lied to by your LFS. Remember, they don't always have your best interests, or animal's best interests at heart in the face of making money and/or staying in business...

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Remember, they don't always have your best interests, or animal's best interests at heart in the face of making money and/or staying in business...

you cant blame them though. the shops around here that actually care about their fish going to a good home more than making money all went out of business. the good shops around here are about 50/50 though. if you offer them a good price, they will sell anything.

 

[Musho3210]

thats why people who care about fish should support there local businesses more rather than going to petsmart or dfs or something.