Bioata Mandarin

[jrill]

If they claim to have them on the foods listed above how are they eating them if they can’t eat mysis? I know copepods and maybe BBS would be an option.

Mysis are pretty big for their little mouths.

 

[jrill]

Nice to know you've had success in a new system. How many times a day are you feeding them, and do they pellets need to sink to the bottom before they'll eat?

I feed mine twice a day. He will come up to the surface to grab pellets and/or eat the ones that sink.

 

[DHill6]

Let your tank mature first. I have a captive Biota bred male. He eats LRS nano frozen, TDO pellets and AGB pods when I throw them in. I've watched him eat both the LRS nano and pellets without a problem.

 

[cww81]

I have a big guy and he was sold to me eating frozen mysis. He eats brine shrimp as well as calanus and foods like those. He also has a 125G full of pods but competes with multiple wrasses. It is definitely possible but also very possible that some won’t even look at frozen food.

 

[Jedi1199]

I found frozen copapods at my lfs recently. I plan to start a live colony as soon as I get my new tank set up. I wonder if the frozen ones will suffice though.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

For what it's worth and take my opinion with zero cents I personally think wild mandarins should be band.......would that hurt my business yes but it's alot better then all the ones you see at the LFS dieing of starvation. It takes time to build copepod populations and it's just something not mentioned in purchasing this fish unfortunately

 

[Chortanator]

I found frozen copapods at my lfs recently. I plan to start a live colony as soon as I get my new tank set up. I wonder if the frozen ones will suffice though.

I've never had captive mandarins, only wild-caught, but I've never seen them eat frozen pods, they act like they're not even there. You'd think with water agitation they'd be fooled into thinking they're alive, but that hasn't been the case in my experience.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

I've never had captive mandarins, only wild-caught, but I've never seen them eat frozen pods, they act like they're not even there. You'd think with water agitation they'd be fooled into thinking they're alive, but that hasn't been the case in my experience.

Same experience but my LPS corals do like them so I continue to use them as more of a coral food

 

[Slocke]

I've never had captive mandarins, only wild-caught, but I've never seen them eat frozen pods, they act like they're not even there. You'd think with water agitation they'd be fooled into thinking they're alive, but that hasn't been the case in my experience.

Do you see what your Mandarins eat?
I’ve had a couple tiny biota’s for about a month and I see them peck at the rocks but I have no idea what they’re eating. They’ve doubled in size but I have no idea what of the many foods I toss in there they are eating as it’s all too small to see.

 

[john92708]

Nice to know you've had success in a new system. How many times a day are you feeding them, and do they pellets need to sink to the bottom before they'll eat?

I feed them twice a day and I use a plastic pipettes to put the pellets on the seashell. this way I can monitor how much they'r eating and they know exactly where to go for food.

 

[Chortanator]

Do you see what your Mandarins eat?
I’ve had a couple tiny biota’s for about a month and I see them peck at the rocks but I have no idea what they’re eating. They’ve doubled in size but I have no idea what of the many foods I toss in there they are eating as it’s all too small to see.

When they pick at the rocks, they're eating live copepods off of them, and they usually don't pick at the rocks if there's nothing there - just make sure you keep an eye on their weight, and if the spine down the middle of their body starts to get pronounced, make sure you buy live pods from your LFS. I usually put half the bottle in my refugium and the other half in the display tank

 

[Slocke]

When they pick at the rocks, they're eating live copepods off of them, and they usually don't pick at the rocks if there's nothing there - just make sure you keep an eye on their weight, and if the spine down the middle of their body starts to get pronounced, make sure you buy live pods from your LFS. I usually put half the bottle in my refugium and the other half in the display tank

Thanks for the advice!!

I think they love the live baby brine shrimp I add but I'm thinking I'll buy another 5280 pods and phytoplankton to add some variety to the pods.

My male is far more vibrant than the female. Im not sure if its because she's less healthy or because the male is being a male and trying to show off?

Anyway I do really like these guys, biota is awesome, and do recommend them to people though I do think my tank is far too large for such small fish. Especially as I have other small pod eating fish in my wrasse. They are quite stressful when it comes to feeding them.

 

[JohnA26]

When referring to let your tank establish. How old is that? I’ve cycles 6 months ago, half the rock is from old tank and about 4 plus years, the other half was new in October.

 

[Tchung23]

I got mine after my tank was only a few months old. I did put some love tigger pods in but they were tiny. Crushed up pellet food and spot fed them. I was so happy once I saw them eating prepared food!! They are one of the most beautiful fish and have a captive bred has made my dream of owning one in a small tank a reality. Got mine and they were less than 1” now about 2.5”. Lost a female to because the male didn’t like her

 

[SeaHorseQueen]

I got mine after my tank was only a few months old. I did put some love tigger pods in but they were tiny. Crushed up pellet food and spot fed them. I was so happy once I saw them eating prepared food!! They are one of the most beautiful fish and have a captive bred has made my dream of owning one in a small tank a reality. Got mine and they were less than 1” now about 2.5”. Lost a female to because the male didn’t like her

How long have you had him?

 

[JohnA26]

I got mine after my tank was only a few months old. I did put some love tigger pods in but they were tiny. Crushed up pellet food and spot fed them. I was so happy once I saw them eating prepared food!! They are one of the most beautiful fish and have a captive bred has made my dream of owning one in a small tank a reality. Got mine and they were less than 1” now about 2.5”. Lost a female to because the male didn’t like her

Spot feeling is tough with a crazy cleaner shrimp. He goes after my hand anytime in the tank no matter what I’m doing. I would guess he would scare the small mandarin away from the food

 

[Tchung23]

How long have you had him?

I’ve had him for just over 1 year

 

[Tchung23]

Spot feeling is tough with a crazy cleaner shrimp. He goes after my hand anytime in the tank no matter what I’m doing. I would guess he would scare the small mandarin away from the food

Yes i tend to spot feed my cleaner so that he’s busy eating while I feed my mandarin.

 

[leo12345]

Hey I got biotas a couple months in from biota too. They are doing great but I feed them a bunch of different things including live food.
-live baby brine everyday (ocean nutrition- INSTANT baby brine shrimp)
-Mirco pellets
-frozen baby brine
-add pods every few weeks

Also don't have a melanarus wrasse like me

They're a handful and its really hard to tell if they eat but they're also awesome fish when happy.

Are they still doing well

 

[leo12345]

Posiden reef makes a phyto and pod culture setup. If you do it right you buy 1x and every week harvest lots of pods and phyto that you would dump into your tank. For small systems I feel something like this is only way to go to ensure enough pods for mandarins

Do you know how much they cost?