mandarin goby

spinx

spinx

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Nov 6, 2006
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:) Hi guys. My girlfriend totally freaked when she saw a mandarin at the lfs. So i bought it. First of all my 15 galon reef tank is almost 4 months old and i have seen copodes on the move in my tank. I atleast considderd that prior buying.
My question is; will they eat frozen mysis, artemia etc. aswell. :confused:
I really like the newbie and would like to be sure that it'll be ok.:) Many people are from the opinion that you ant keep the mandarin in a nano, mostly because of food availibilty. How can i increase my copodes?
 
mandarin`s are harder to keep than scooters because of there love for pods etc but they`l accept dried/frozen/live foods in time they can be picky & takes time to start to eat this food.
some times if there's not a lot of pods within the tank & there not taking normal food they can die from hunger so try introduce your food to him asap

you can add more pods by re newing your live rock every so often & put the old live rock together in a tank along for a few months & then they`l soon be loaded again with pods so swop over again..

they maybe other ways but new live rock is always pod fulled...
 
You can order bottles of live pods from Copepod.Com. Just add a new bottle every month or so. I am ordering 2 bottles, one for my main tank and the other so I can raise some in a seperate tank.
 
i am goign to have to disagree with both of the above statements...
very very few mandarins will accept frozen foods no matter how often they are introduced to it. very very few will ever eat it. if you dont believe me go to your LFS and see how skinny they all are. i have had one for about a ayear and constantly try. it isnt even interested in cyclopse eez (frozen copepods)
even swapping out live rock is not a good idea. it will take a while for your pod population to get back and you will quickly see how fast a mandarin will clean up a 15 gallon tank. trust me, ive seen it happen on a 29 when i first started.
and you can also order bottled pods, but that isnt realistic. once again, you will be spending 15 bucks at LEAST (probably more) ever week to feed this fish if you jsut keep buying bottled pods because of hos many the mandarin will eat. these things hunt for food all day long
just out of curiousity: how many pounds of lr do you have? and they all big pieces or small?
 
I have to agree with fishiness 100% here ,"as is s.o.p." I wouldn't attempt to keep mandrins in anything less than a well established fourty gallon tank with at least 40 lbs of live rock,"that assumes there are no other pod eaters and that the tank has been established for at least 6 months." Sometimes you can train they to except mysis but, even in situations like that keep in mind that Dragonettes like to nibble all the time and need to have a little buda belly. I would so return the fish you don't have the set up and you'll have to spend $90 a month to keep a $15 fish alive.
cheers
Max
 
hey max, what does "as is S.O.P." mean?



i would say that even 40 pounds of lr is too little. i supose it would be possibe if you also had a fuge, but these guys really do move quickly form place to place. i have mine in a 40 breeder with 95-100 pounds of lr. all of it 3 poudns or less with most around 1-2 pounds so i have a heck of a lot more surface area than most people with a lot more rock
 
i have to agree working in an aquarium store that it wont work well. but at my store they are always fat and full of brine and mysis. both my scooter and mandarin have been doing fine for over 2 ears and i spot feed them 2 times a day with frozen mysis and they stay fat and healthy. a 15 gallon is just to small though. it can be done in a larger older system but it takes great care and a handpicked fish from a good supplier.
 
Thanks guys i appreciate the help. The little guy is very active. im sure he's cleaned out most of my copodes in the last 3 days. I will still try my best to accomodate him, but will have to take it back if it doesnt take the bait. ill be monitoring it closely.:)
 
:) Hi guys i have some news on the little guy.. he's been in the 15 gal for a whole week now. He is forever picking at LF and substrate, as far as his physical appearance is concerned he's a bit thined out. When i feed my fish i switch off the powerhead and wait for him to scout the food as the swimmers in my tank makes a killing when food is sensed. Ive tried placing a small heap between the rocks for him but he only seems interested in very fine particles.I'm not one hundred percent sure that he does eat the homemade frozen mix, but im hoping so. (he's definately feeding, but by now my copepodes should all be cosumed.):confused:
How long would you guys think a mandarin would starve for before dying? (if at all he is starving):confused:
 
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