Feeding captive bred mandarins

[mmw64]

I have had an Ora mandarin for a few months and it seems to be doing well other than still very small. Do others with this type of fish still feed pods? I would like to feed pods a couple of times a week rather than more often but worry that won't be enough. Any advice.

 

[Reafer]

If you have a healthy population in your tank there's no need to feed pods. What size tank do you have?

 

[DSC reef]

I have had an Ora mandarin for a few months and it seems to be doing well other than still very small. Do others with this type of fish still feed pods? I would like to feed pods a couple of times a week rather than more often but worry that won't be enough. Any advice.

No matter if it's captive bred you should always dose pods in the tank. It's a misconception when buying captive bred mandarins that they don't need pods. Our pair loved reef nutrition TDO chroma boost pellets, roe, LRS reef frenzy, etc, but we always dosed pods every couple months no matter what. 6 years of a very happy colorful mandarin.

 

[jayala12]

I have a mandarin that eats pellets but as soon as I see no significant sign of pods creeping around on my glass I dose some .

 

[eatbreakfast]

Even if they accept other foods, a mandarin's digestive tract is so inefficient, they still need to eat almost constantly. So they still need an adequately sized system that is mature enough to support it's pod demands.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Ton of pods in my system, but feeding time my Mandy can eat small particle LRS reef frenzy. He’s a fat little boy! Lol

 

[40B Knasty]

What you are giving is something. It is definitely not enough. Buy a bottle of Reef Nutrition Tigger pods, 5g tank, bag of raw organic spirulina powder, an air line, adjustable valve for the air line, a 5g Top Fin pump, and start your own colony. That one bottle of 2k pods will turn into 300k pods in 3 months. While it is growing in population. You can be pulling 2k pods out a week easy after a month. Better to do two 5g tanks. So you have a back up. Start the second tank with some pods from your 1st tank started after a month and a half. Let that grow. After 6 months you could be in the 600k range of pods. Checkout the videography forum. I did a thread on it. After doing two 5g tanks of Tisbe and Tigger pods for 9 months. I wanted to go bigger. So I fired up a 20g.

 

[davocean]

1-3 pods per minute on the average, that is what they need all day.
Unless you have a fuge and big enough tank w/ enough LR, you're going to have to replicate that in some way, regardless of tank bred or wild caught

 

[Clownfish2]

What you are giving is something. It is definitely not enough. Buy a bottle of Reef Nutrition Tigger pods, 5g tank, bag of raw organic spirulina powder, an air line, adjustable valve for the air line, a 5g Top Fin pump, and start your own colony. That one bottle of 2k pods will turn into 300k pods in 3 months. While it is growing in population. You can be pulling 2k pods out a week easy after a month. Better to do two 5g tanks. So you have a back up. Start the second tank with some pods from your 1st tank started after a month and a half. Let that grow. After 6 months you could be in the 600k range of pods. Checkout the videography forum. I did a thread on it. After doing two 5g tanks of Tisbe and Tigger pods for 9 months. I wanted to go bigger. So I fired up a 20g.

How’s your tigger pod culturing been lately with spirulina? Are you feeding them anything else?

I recently bought 2 bottles of reef nutrition tiggerpods to culture in separate tanks. Currently I feed them live nannochloropsis and reef chili because that’s what I have, but I’ve ordered spirulina powder, thanks to you, and also brown phytoplankton isochrysis galbana.

 

[Eggpaul]

I have had an Ora mandarin for a few months and it seems to be doing well other than still very small. Do others with this type of fish still feed pods? I would like to feed pods a couple of times a week rather than more often but worry that won't be enough. Any advice.

Did you get it from Live aquaria? I am thinking of getting one from there. $89. Is it still alive? did you QT it?

 

[VR28man]

Good thread!

In people’s experience, it’s a refugium generally enough for Mandarin? Or is it really better to start a culture or two? For a culture, how often is it fed into the main tank?

 

[reef lover]

Good thread!

In people’s experience, it’s a refugium generally enough for Mandarin? Or is it really better to start a culture or two? For a culture, how often is it fed into the main tank?

Hello. Ive tried with just a fuge before with no success...now i have 2 cultures going so i can dose the tank every 3-4 days as needed. With 1 culture you would only be able to harvest once a week...hope this helps.

 

[Reafer]

Hello. Ive tried with just a fuge before with no success...now i have 2 cultures going so i can dose the tank every 3-4 days as needed. With 1 culture you would only be able to harvest once a week...hope this helps.

I don't really understand the misconception that the Mandarin is a difficult fish to keep, In my experience it's one of the easiest. You need to have ample live rock and a refugium where pods are able to reproduce. I have had a Mandarin in my system for years with 0 pods being added.

What size is your system that the fuge was unsuccessful in keeping one? Live rock amount?

You need to verify that you in fact have a healthy pod population before the Mandarin enters the system. You can do this by looking at your tank/fuge at night, if you do not see any, then you shouldn't get a Mandarin.

 

[reef lover]

I don't really understand the misconception that the Mandarin is a difficult fish to keep, In my experience it's one of the easiest. You need to have ample live rock and a refugium where pods are able to reproduce. I have had a Mandarin in my system for years with 0 pods being added.

What size is your system that the fuge was unsuccessful in keeping one? Live rock amount?

You need to verify that you in fact have a healthy pod population before the Mandarin enters the system. You can do this by looking at your tank/fuge at night, if you do not see any, then you shouldn't get a Mandarin.

I had a thriving pod population in a 120 gallon tank with a 20 gal fuge area...waited forever before buying a pair of dragonets ,that would even eat mysis, they decimated the pod pop quickly and i couldnt keep up ordering. And you also have to factor in other inhabitants...you probably dont have wrasses in your tank to compete. My new mandy is in a 50 gal and shes the only pod consumer so between the fuge and me dosing pods weekly she should live a long happy life.

 

[Reafer]

I had a thriving pod population in a 120 gallon tank with a 20 gal fuge area...waited forever before buying a pair of dragonets ,that would even eat mysis, they decimated the pod pop quickly and i couldnt keep up ordering. And you also have to factor in other inhabitants...you probably dont have wrasses in your tank to compete. My new mandy is in a 50 gal and shes the only pod consumer so between the fuge and me dosing pods weekly she should live a long happy life.

You would obviously need to use common sense in adding tank inhabitants. If you have several fish that rely on a limited food supply, and you do not check or notice the depleted food source, then you will have a difficult time keeping a Mandarin, and a number of other fish I would assume.

 

[reef lover]

You would obviously need to use common sense in adding tank inhabitants. If you have several fish that rely on a limited food supply, and you do not check or notice the depleted food source, then you will have a difficult time keeping a Mandarin, and a number of other fish I would assume.

Obviously but when you have said inhabitants and also a thriving pod pop you would be mislead into believing that it would be safe to add a.mandy. IMO without continually adding said food sources even with a fuge, unless its an extremely large system, it will.only be a matter of time before the mandy out competes the pod population...IMO

 

[Reafer]

Obviously but when you have said inhabitants and also a thriving pod pop you would be mislead into believing that it would be safe to add a.mandy. IMO without continually adding said food sources even with a fuge, unless its an extremely large system, it will.only be a matter of time before the mandy out competes the pod population...IMO

Just my experiences. Lots of rock+fuge+healthy pods=success. But you probably wouldn't want to add 20 Mandarin in a 30 gallon tank. If the tank has a Large Volitan Lionfish, you should avoid the goby as well..

 

[reef lover]

Ummm....ok....moving on...;Meh

 

[Reafer]

Ummm....ok....moving on...;Meh

Haha jk, no worries.

 

[jtl]

I have never had a lot of success with keeping a Mandarin but I will likely try again. The last one was picking and eating and looking healthy then one day it up and died. I had a good pod population and the mandy was the only pod eater in the tank. This time I may just start a culture to be safe.