Captive bred Mandarins by Biota

[Ross]

I'm just running them in a 20 long with a few pieces of live rock from my sump. As of now I am just observing and hopefully no medication will be needed. They are said to be kept in their own system at biota with no exposure to wild fish, so risk of diseases should be almost none. Plus their thick slime coat keeps them resistant to Ich.

 

[Ross]

They are both picking at the rock. It's hard to say what this one picked off the glass, but I had just fed some frozen brine and rods coral food.

 

[Drao05]

Just ordered a pair myself. Don't forget to use coupon code 'reef2reef' for 15% off, or enter their current contest on here for a 25% off coupon emailed to you!

 

[Ross]

Awesome keep us posted on how they do!

 

[NanaReefer]

Thanks for the source. My wife would love a pair, but with shipping I am probably looking at probably $250 for two mandarins. I think ORA abandoned it because of the cost. Compared to my local price it is probably triple the price on a relatively cheap fish. I am all for the captive bred marine fish and can justify the increased cost, but I would think most consumers standing at their local fish store seeing what is to them the same fish with drastically different prices might be a turn off. I think that is where it comes down to the retailer educating their customer base which is hit or mis. Especially for the people just "looking".

Ora didn't abandon due to cost. But due to the overwhelming short life spans.
People were getting them believing they would thrive on prepared foods alone. This was not the case.
Although CB Mandarins were eating prepared they did not thrive. Their overall health was poor. Most succumbed to starvation and disease. Most were emaciated at time of shipping. Most refused to eat in new environments.
These fish were born into a very bare sterile environment. No rock, sand, equipment of any kind and definitely no other fish.
Now take one and add it to the average home aquarium [emoji17]

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Hi there, figured we should chime in after watching this thread develop. The fish are currently being shipped out of Florida Directly from Biota while we build out our own fish facility up here in CO. Kevin Gaines who was the CEO and a founding member of ORA is the one running Biota's Florida facility so we are very aware of the challenges that ORA faced and how to overcome them. Most importantly, AlgaeBarn can supply the live foods needed to keep these fish alive and being able to supplement their diet with frozen food becomes an added benefit. You can let your fish graze on live foods during the day and fatten them up on frozen foods, making their care a little easier. This is an exciting new offering for us and it fits in perfectly with our vision for sustainable aquaria! Hopefully there is more support from the hobby with these fish now than there was for ORA a few years back. I think (hope) people are finally catching on to the importance of buying captive bred fish and can justify the higher price. Also, we send a free combo of 5280 Pods and OceanMagik phyto, a $60 value with each fish order, so that should help too and get the fish eating healthy foods right away after their journey. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, thanks!

 

[raultsu]

They look amazing

 

[raultsu]

Is there a guarantee on the mandarins?

 

[NanaReefer]

IMO unless your tank can sustain a large healthy Copepod population you should not even consider keeping this fish. Keep in mind that just about every fish we keep readily eats Copepods.
Yes the CB Mandarins can be trained to eat prepared foods. But they do not glean much from these foods as they all pass very quickly through the fishes digestion. Feeding prepared 1-2x a day in a tank without a thriving Copepod population will not sustain the Mandarin. Buying Copepods monthly is expensive and IME useless.
Please research as to how many CB Mandarins are still alive and thriving today. Under what conditions they are being kept and how they are being fed.

 

[MCooper]

Ordered a pair and they arrived the other day. Unfortunately they are not eating anything.

 

[becks]

Ordered a pair and they arrived the other day. Unfortunately they are not eating anything.

I have a pink scooter that my lfs had for some time that ate frozen. In took him a few days to settle in my tank before he ate. I even added some copepods to the tank to see if he would eat them and they just floated past, then two days later he was actively hunting and eating frozen.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Ordered a pair and they arrived the other day. Unfortunately they are not eating anything.

Hi there, are they in your display or QT? Try feeding everyone else first and then come back with the food for the mandarins. Turn the pumps and circulation off and start placing the food in the same corner of the tank each time your feed. This is how they are trained by Biota and we will do something similar once our holding facility is built. Please keep us updated on the fish!

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Is there a guarantee on the mandarins?

Yes we are offering a 15 day guarantee on these fish. We guarantee them to to 100% Alive On Arrival, if they are DOA you can get all of your money back including shipping or a replacement free of charge. If they dont make it through the 15 day mark, we can refund the price of the fish less the shipping or we can replace the fish free of charge.

 

[Highgrade]

Hi there, figured we should chime in after watching this thread develop. The fish are currently being shipped out of Florida Directly from Biota while we build out our own fish facility up here in CO. Kevin Gaines who was the CEO and a founding member of ORA is the one running Biota's Florida facility so we are very aware of the challenges that ORA faced and how to overcome them. Most importantly, AlgaeBarn can supply the live foods needed to keep these fish alive and being able to supplement their diet with frozen food becomes an added benefit. You can let your fish graze on live foods during the day and fatten them up on frozen foods, making their care a little easier. This is an exciting new offering for us and it fits in perfectly with our vision for sustainable aquaria! Hopefully there is more support from the hobby with these fish now than there was for ORA a few years back. I think (hope) people are finally catching on to the importance of buying captive bred fish and can justify the higher price. Also, we send a free combo of 5280 Pods and OceanMagik phyto, a $60 value with each fish order, so that should help too and get the fish eating healthy foods right away after their journey. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, thanks!

Good stuff Lan. Keep up the good work!

 

[tj w]

Thanks for the replies guys, it's very much appreciated. It makes me want to do more business with those who keep up with these issues.

 

[tj w]

Any updates @ Dr Cooper

 

[Ross]

How are yalls doing?

Update on mine, I moved one over to my display after a few weeks In quarantine. He immediately was blown all over by the powerheads. I'm not sure he's big or strong enough to make it on my tank. I took him out and put him back in quarantine. He isn't looking very good. They are both still picking at the rock, but I've exhausted all the pods biota sent me. I have offered rods original, Rods herbivore, rods Coral blend, frozen brine shrimp, new spectrum tiny pellets, and frozen cyclops. It's hard to say for sure if they have eaten any. The frozen cyclops definitely appears to get the most interest. I am going to keep offering that and hope for success.

 

[gar732]

You can try something like this to try to get them to eat. http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/

The CB mandarins are nice because it keeps wild fish in the ocean but I don't believe its any easy to get them feeding than it is a wild one. You should only buy a mandarin, wild or captive bred, if you have an established pod population to support them. I spent the extra cash on a CB mandarin only to watch him slowly starve despite all the different foods I tried to feed him. I tried supplementing my pod population but I just couldn't keep up. From my research it seems my experience was not unique, it was basically the same story from most who purchased one.

 

[MCooper]

Moved mine into the display tank as was worried wouldn't eat in QT. Only saw them eat a bit in QT. Will check on them later. Super small

 

[Vaughn17]

I had a wild mandarin that kept for a year and a half in a 20 gallon tank. The tank (my QT) had very little rock, so the mandarin quickly ate all the pods and baby brittle stars. The fish grew skinny and ignored the frozen food I offered...then it began picking at Reef Roids that I was feeding to corals in the tank. Freeze dried Calanus is a bit larger, so I tried that and he loved it. And fattened up on it. Now the fish is in a 38 g with no other fish that eat pods. He's been in the tank for 6 months and the pod population is bigger than before I added him (just counted 15 on a single little frag plug). So, it is possible to keep mandarins in small tanks as long as there is no competition for the pods and you feed them (the pods). Also, freeze dried Canalus did seem to meet my mandarin's nutritional needs.