mandarin goby

Eventually in time you might see Mandarins eating frozen prepared foods, after all the advancements made in this hobby over the years. Maybe try to get him to eat frozen and prepared foods by using the mandarin diner, and just leave it in there for a while, changing the food every couple of days or so, to see if he will every go in there and try it. Maybe if you can lead pods into the diner, it might encourage the mandarin to possibly eat the prepared foods.

I think your best bet would be growing pods in a refugium and waiting for your tank to be established, before you get a mandarin, to really boost up the population.
 
I agree with the above post. I REALLY want one of these, but am forcing myself to wait at least until summer.

I hope your little guy works out for you.

:)
 
Guys ive tried everything.. mysis, daphnia, mussels, krill etc. Ive seen him taking mysis but then just spitts it out again. Yesterday i added some artemia and he has definately taken a liking to it. The only thing im still concerned about is his physical condition. it seems to be jo-jo-ing but most times i see the lateral line across his body. Anyway he's now been in my tank for almost 2 weeks.:)
 
I agree with most of the posts here, a mandarin is very difficult to keep in a small or new tank...with that being said; I allowed myself to circum to the desire of having one in my 'new 30G'...I was too dazzled by it wonderfully interesting look and patterns...I LUCKED OUT & HAVE ONE THAT EATS FROZEN FOODS (MYSIS)!!! As stated before, THIS IS RARE!!! I have noticed that SOME LFS are feeding MYSIS and the like to get dragonettes to accept a wider variety of readily available foods, I like this pratice. These are beautiful fish and if you 'HAPPEN' to get one who accepts frozen GREAT!!! The first question you should ask the salesperson is 'what' the specimen eats, don't lead him with 'does he eat...'....you want an honest answer!!!
Here's Fonzie...LOL
IMG_0608.jpg
 
Germanman said:
at my work we wont sell them unless they accept frozen food and they all do we get them from a special whole sale place that has the best mandarins they usully eat frozen a day or so after we get them...its not rare it just takes effort...most arnt willing to try or go the extra length.
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I wasn't trying to 'bash' you or any other LFS who feeds frozen/prepared foods to mandarins/dragonettes/etc. I was giving you a compliment, and yes it is rare b/c many owners do NOT take the time to do this, I believe that you & your store are doing a wonderful service in allowing more hobbists enjoy these typically hard to keep species!
 
I want one for my reef but the LFS told me to wait. With that said, I'm glad they told me that instead of just taking the $ and not really caring for its long-term health.
 
They will probably eat some foods other than pods, but how healthy and content it makes them is different. I don't know what they do in the wild, but I imagine that all they would eat is pods, since in their natural habitat, there is an endless amount for them to much on. Like I said, In TIME they will probably be used to foods such as mysis, but now the advancement is working slowly, if working truly and successfully at all.

If you really want to keep one, I would imagine as much Live Rock as your tank could hold, plenty of live sand, the established tank, marine plants for them to breed like mad, refugium to grow pods, and to make the mandarin the only pod eater in the tank. This is probably the best way to keep one in a smaller tank in my opinion. Still, this might not even be enough.

The WWM crew suggested to me that nothing less than a 75-100 gallon tank with no less than 80 pounds of live rock. A tank smaller would be difficult to keep a mandarin for the long run.

I believe too that these fish would eat the foods you give them, but like I said, how good is it for them to eat?

These fish are amazing, and yet I would love to add one in the future also. Except I might not ever be able to add one in my tank set up, or will have to wait a good long time for everything to get settled.
 
Hi guys artemia = magic. He is deffinately feasting on it. Im not getting my hopes up though, he has only been in my care for 2 weeks now. Could i have the one out of a hundred that will adapt to frozen bites and survive in a nano???? Well i certainly hope so:bowing: . Will keep you up to date:hang:
 
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