getting a mandarin to eat

[Skimmer Juice]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

yah I'm not willing to risk aborting the QT period. My tank is actually C. irritans free and has been for a year. It's not just at low levels, it's not present, which has taken a ridiculous amount of work. If I were to introduce it now, I'd probably have massive losses because my fish likely have very little immunity. And even if I didn't have losses, I have a powder blue that I just returned to full health with perfect, unmarred skin. It would suck nuts to watch him deal with repeated outbreaks. I can't see any visible pustules on this fish, and there weren't on any others in the tank he came from, but I've seen ich in that tank in the past (I've seen ich in pretty much every tank in every store in the city at some point really), so it's just not worth the risk.

and I'm not sure if this guy is going to make it. If anything he's even more lethargic today. I've seen mandarins hunt before, and he's not doing anything like that. There's tons of pods in the tank now, but he's just ignoring them. Someone has offered to bring me some larger pods which I'm going to try out and see if those will entice him, but I'm starting to suspect that this fish may have been captured using one of the more questionable methods. This sort of a thing smells a little like a cyanide caught fish to me, I should have asked where the order came from.

Anyway, he's still alive, but I can't do anything if he won't even eat live food, so the best I can do is keep presenting them until he either starts eating, or he expires.

smart to not take the chance , especially with a cowfish in the tank. Cowfish can get ich super easy and other diseases ...

[Myka]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Anyway, he's still alive, but I can't do anything if he won't even eat live food, so the best I can do is keep presenting them until he either starts eating, or he expires.

If they are already skinny they are REALLY difficult to get eating - any kind of food. I've had the best experiences buying Mandarins the day after they arrive at the store, and only from shipments when they are still fat. If he's not hunting that is not a good sign - questionable collection method or not (could be disease too).

[halwake]

I'm 2for2 now mandarin training. Put in breeder net for 2 weeks suspended in tank. Add some frozen brine couple times a day, usually takes a couple days for them to start picking at it. It sticks to the mesh and moves with the current, think this helps the feeding response. Start to introduce mysis. Usually takes a few more days before they will take it. Then they should almost take any frozen like bloodworms and such. Have not had luck with pellets yet. After 2 weeks, into tank. Spot feed with baster, mandarin comes right up to it. Problem now is all fish recognize the baster as a source of food and come in. Had my first mandarin trained to go into a small jar where his food was it to protect it from the other fish "mandarin diner". New one will go here and there but not regularly. Mine is the psych. Red mandarin. He hunts for pods all day and gobbles up any frozen I can get to him. He is a slow eater so it's tough to get him fed before the other fish move in.

Good luck, beautiful fish

[darkreef]

It took me 6 months to train mine he was near death in my 33 with 20 g sump with 60 lbs of live rock ( no swimming room lol ) he was a blue dragonet . Used chemiclean and the frozen just wasn't enough he died. Even when there on frozen they are grazers and need to be fed every few hours a tiny bit . So having a huge aquarium is the best.

Iv heard of using a little container , poke a few holes in it . And hatch brine shrimp and they will swim out of the holes . Never used it though .

The best time to feed was when he was hunting the sand bed in the back . Spray some mysis and not watch . They no when your watching! Eventually they will flap there fins and make the mysis swim sucking them up in the water

Goodluck

[Myka]

Sorry to hear. I don't think it was your fault though. It sounds like he wasn't in good shape to begin with. Next time make sure you pick a very fat one. Je should seem oddly fat for his length - that's a healthy Mandy.

Sent from my Dungeon using mad Ninja Skillz.

[jason604]

Just got. Psychedelic green mandarin today. Tossed him in the DT. Making brine shrimp eggs. Hopes he eats

[asylumdown]

Well I couldn't resist and bought a second one. Same species and from the same order, but this time, I actually watched the little guy eat frozen PE mysis in the store. He (or she, not really sure how to sex them) is a lot smaller and not as flashy in the fins, but he's about 40 times more active than the last one, and actually moves around in the QT tank. He's still on what I'd call the skinny side compared to 'fat' mandarin photos I can find on the web, but he was in a small tank with a bunch of fire fish and some other gobies, so there wasn't much food hitting the floor for him. Over the course of the day he's eaten about half a frozen cube of mysis shrimp.

I've been paying careful attention to how much food actually hits the ground when I feed, and I'm pretty sure he'll be fine so long as my tank is producing as many pods as I think it is. At feeding time I kill the return pump and put all vortech's in feed mode, so probably 1/4 of the frozen food sinks straight to the sand bed. I'll extend the feed cycle from 5 to 10 minutes to give him extra time to graze.

In any case, the behaviour difference between this fish and the last one is literally night and day. The last one was so lethargic I could literally just reach down and scoop him up with my hand, while this guy is feisty as all get out. I'm feeling a lot more confident about it this time.

[jason604]

Damn half cube of mysis all to himself? I think all 7 of my fishes share half a cube when I actually feed them it.

[Myka]

Hey that's great! You can also make a little rubble pile in the corner of your display where pods can hide inside and breed in a place where the Mandarin can't get to them.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by jason604

Damn half cube of mysis all to himself? I think all 7 of my fishes share half a cube when I actually feed them it.

Well this was over the course of 10 hours. The QT tank is bare bottom and he's the only thing in it, so it can take it's time.

And between my 21 fish, every day I feed:
3 cubes of hikari mysis
2 cubes of PE mysis
1 cube of frozen adult brine
1 cube of spirulina brine
1 (sometimes 2) cube of ocean nutrition formula 1
A decent chunk (about 2 cubes worth) of Pacifica plankton
2 mantilla clams
2 or 3 sheets of nori
A healthy portion of crushed aegis flakes and freeze dried cyclopeeze via an auto-feeder

Clams in the morning, nori and flakes in the afternoon (if I'm not home I sometimes skip the nori), frozen in the evening.

My fish are fat. Hopefully the mandarin does well in the display.