I agree with all the above statements. A fuge is a must. Mine was stocked with pods and then given 2 months for them to establish. I wasn't going to put the mandarin in for another few months. One day I was in a shop right at feeding time and as soon as the mysis hit the water one of the fish was eating it. I bought him. He eats mysis, brine, cycops eeze. About once a week I hatch out some bbs for him and he goes nuts for an hour or two.
That being said the longterm survivability of the fish still concerns me. He is doing well now but are his nutritional needs being met by the frozen foods and pods coming from the fuge? Keeping a fish for just a month or two is not a great accomplishment. If he survives a couple years that will begin to be an accomplishment. I spend waaayyy too much time with my tanks, if I'm not doing something with them I'm reading about them. If you can give the commitment required to the fish you should be alright. Some time and effort getting one to eat frozen should be rewarded with years of enjoyment of the fish. You need to decide for yourself if you want the fish enough to give it the commitment to keeping it health and happy.
When you do decide to get one ask the shopkeep to feed them as you watch. If one eats buy him and like Greg says half the battle is already won. Good luck with it.
HTH
Oh yeah, my fussy little fella only eats if the food is soaked in a couple drops of Selcon first. He just spits it out if it isn't presoaked. Small price to pay for such an awesome fish.
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