Feeding Mandarins

[Trevyn]

Hi so I just picked up a green extra large mandarin at my lfs, I acclimated him and put a cube of frozen brine shrimp into the tank as I released him, Then I noticed he started to actually eat the frozen brine.... Am I lucky?? Or should I still introduce the 8 oz bottle of tisbe pods I just picked up for him, I noticed he ate at least 5 full brine shrimps, so... now do I just stick with the brine? Will adding the tisbe pods tonight make him not eat the brine anymore? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Sfplaya1]

Still introduce them. Diversity is the key.

 

[Trevyn]

Still introduce them. Diversity is the key.

So add all the different types and still feed mysis and brine and then he shouldnt run out of a food source?

 

[Sashaka]

Please add the tisbe pods! It's great that your mandarin is eating frozen food. Mine does too! ;Joyful Still, these fish hunt all day long for live food living in the rocks and sand. IMHO, they need tisbe pods and/or other live foods even when they eat frozen foods to remain healthy due their need to pick at foods from the rock all day long.

P.S. I float the tisbe bottle for 10 minutes or so in the tank, and then after lights out, I turn off my pumps and slowly squeeze the contents into all the rock crevasses to give the tisbe pods a chance to grab on and not be eaten right away. I save a little for the sump too. Just feed tank as normal for the fish and the tisbe pods will eat too. No need to feed extra, and if your tank parameters are in line, they'll multiply naturally. Some people say they die out eventually. My guess is they only need restocking when inbreeding thins them out. I have no proof of that, just a guess. Maybe the mandarins just eat them all up. I restock tisbe pods about two or three times a year and my mandarin is fat and healthy. I do the same for my ruby red dragonets.

 

[Trevyn]

Please add the tisbe pods! It's great that your mandarin is eating frozen food. Mine does too! ;Joyful Still, these fish hunt all day long for live food living in the rocks and sand. IMHO, they need tisbe pods and/or other live foods even when they eat frozen foods to remain healthy due their need to pick at foods from the rock all day long.

Alright I'll add them, I have a 30g with 32 lbs of LR, thats been up for over a month now, how many bottles of the pods should I add weekly or monthly to make sure the population is up? Just want to make sure hes happy and always full

 

[Trevyn]

Please add the tisbe pods! It's great that your mandarin is eating frozen food. Mine does too! ;Joyful Still, these fish hunt all day long for live food living in the rocks and sand. IMHO, they need tisbe pods and/or other live foods even when they eat frozen foods to remain healthy due their need to pick at foods from the rock all day long.

Also Im going to have a supply of live brine in a little 2 1/2g im starting tmmrw will he like the live brine too?

 

[Sashaka]

You probably don't want me to bust your bubble (been there), but I, personally, would not have added a mandarin to a tank that had only been cycled one month due to the sensitive nature of this fish and the usual fluctuations in the parameters in a new tank. Still, if you watch your temp, salinity, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate every week and then adjust with water changes as needed, your fish has a good chance of adjusting to tank life because it is eating frozen foods already. Was the fish tank raised? If so, your chances for success goes up even more.

There really is not much nourishment in brine shrimp unless gut loaded. Better to culture some white and/or black worms.

When my tank lights come on first thing in the morning and I no longer see pods running for cover into the rock, that's when I add a new bottle of tisbe pods. Good luck with your new fish. I love watching my Mandarin climbing all over the rocks. She provides lots of movement in the tank. My three ruby red dragonets flash each other every time they cross paths. Quite a cute display. No fighting, just a quick flash and then they go their separate ways. LOL

 

[Trevyn]

You probably don't want me to bust your bubble (been there), but I, personally, would not have added a mandarin to a tank that had only been cycled one month due to the sensitive nature of this fish and the usual fluctuations in the parameters in a new tank. Still, if you watch your temp, salinity, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate every week and then adjust with water changes as needed, your fish has a good chance of adjusting to tank life because it is eating frozen foods already. Was the fish tank raised? If so, your chances for success goes up even more.

There really is not much nourishment in brine shrimp unless gut loaded. Better to culture some white and/or black worms.

When my tank lights come on first thing in the morning and I no longer see pods running for cover into the rock, that's when I add a new bottle of tisbe pods. Good luck with your new fish. I love watching my Mandarin climbing all over the rocks. She provides lots of movement in the tank. My three ruby red dragonets flash each other every time they cross paths. Quite a cute display. No fighting, just a quick flash and then they go their separate ways. LOL

My parameters have been perfect for 3 weeks, had aged water from a 8 yo tank along with the filter bacteria, anyways, should I add a sponge into the tank near the surface and pour the pods onto it so they can reproduce in the sponge or just pour directly into the tank?

 

[Apotack]

Fresh hatched baby brine shrimp is an excellent food source however you need a feeder for the mandarin. Check the Paul B feeder it works great

 

[Sashaka]

Awesome! Aged water and filter bacteria will certainly quickly cycle a tank. Just remember new tank syndrome often hits even when using cycled materials to jump start a cycle because rock, decorations, and substrate also have to fully cycle. Keeping water temperature stable was always my problem in my nano tanks 30 gallons and under. I ended up getting an air conditioner to keep my three nano tanks stable.

If you've been in this hobby awhile, you know there is not just one way to do things and be successful. Other's here may have additional suggestions. While I have sponges in my sump, I don't actively encourage pod cultivation in them because a sponge is hard to clean without squishing all the pods. The sponge will become populated with helpful bacteria, but it will also collect detritus, fish food floating around in your tank, and nitrates will rise unless the sponge is rinsed regularly...just as a sump sock or other filter media needs to be rinsed and changed to keep nitrates in check. Nitrates, in my experience, are not a problem in a tank of only 1 month, but if your tank is cycled well, the nitrates will start climbing and need to be addressed in some way, especially in a small tank. Regular tank maintenance/cleaning of sponges is necessary. I like to let the pods populate the live rock, sand, and the rubble I have in my tank and sump. Of course, you can do what you think is best for you and yours.

 

[OriginalUserName]

I had a scooter blenny that ate brine shrimp just fine. He did great until my pod population was decimated by some residual Bayer dip. Seemed like the brine shrimp weren't quite enough.

 

[Ley3198]

Once they start eating brine, you can introduce different frozen food in to the mix like mysis shrimp and fish eggs. Like mentioned above, the key to success is variety in the diet.

 

[Clownfish2]

Hi so I just picked up a green extra large mandarin at my lfs, I acclimated him and put a cube of frozen brine shrimp into the tank as I released him, Then I noticed he started to actually eat the frozen brine.... Am I lucky?? Or should I still introduce the 8 oz bottle of tisbe pods I just picked up for him, I noticed he ate at least 5 full brine shrimps, so... now do I just stick with the brine? Will adding the tisbe pods tonight make him not eat the brine anymore? Any help is appreciated.

If you have a mandarin that eats frozen food, you are in luck. I’d still recommend adding live food such as copepods for food diversity.

 

[Ley3198]

Just because he is eating frozen doesn't mean he will fatten up. They will still need to be fed multiple times a day in order to keep up their condition. The pods will be there for when you aren't around to feed him.

 

[Clownfish2]

I will admit my mistake so maybe it will help you keep your mandarin alive and thriving.

I added a mandarin a while back to my 6 month old tank. I bought a bottle of copepods and I was confident that bottle as well as my 6 month aged rock had plenty of microfauna on it for the mandarin. I was wrong. The mandarin never accepted frozen food either. I tried to cultivate pods in a separate bucket but I couldn’t get the population to increase fast enough.

6 months later around the holidays, I noticed the mandarin looked malnourished. I caught him and placed in a breeder box with a bottle of pods. He was eating but then I ran out of pods.

Of course I run out of pods at the worse time when the LFS closes for the holiday and I have to leave for a family trip. I put the mandarin in my QT tank along with some rocks I had from my copepod bucket and I started a brine shrimp culture before leaving for 2 day family trip. Unfortunately, when I returned home the brine shrimp were ready, but the mandarin was too weak to eat. He died that night.

Looking back, I wish I knew how important established live rock with microfauna is for a mandarin!

 

[davocean]

W/out enough LR or a fuge to keep pods available, you'll have to provide something like paul B's diner.

1-3 pods per minute, all day, every day, that needs to be replicated somehow or provided.

It's about their metabolism, think like a hummingbird, non stop feeding to deal w/ metabolism.

Regular frozen brine has almost no nutritional value

 

[Ley3198]

I will admit my mistake so maybe it will help you keep your mandarin alive and thriving.

I added a mandarin a while back to my 6 month old tank. I bought a bottle of copepods and I was confident that bottle as well as my 6 month aged rock had plenty of microfauna on it for the mandarin. I was wrong. The mandarin never accepted frozen food either. I tried to cultivate pods in a separate bucket but I couldn’t get the population to increase fast enough.

6 months later around the holidays, I noticed the mandarin looked malnourished. I caught him and placed in a breeder box with a bottle of pods. He was eating but then I ran out of pods.

Of course I run out of pods at the worse time when the LFS closes for the holiday and I have to leave for a family trip. I put the mandarin in my QT tank along with some rocks I had from my copepod bucket and I started a brine shrimp culture before leaving for 2 day family trip. Unfortunately, when I returned home the brine shrimp were ready, but the mandarin was too weak to eat. He died that night.

Looking back, I wish I knew how important established live rock with microfauna is for a mandarin!

Very sorry to hear about your experience. It can be tough to convince these guys to even get near frozen food. I think the only way Iv managed to train most of mine is because there has always been one dragonet that is already used to the food and he motivates the others to go after it.

W/out enough LR or a fuge to keep pods available, you'll have to provide something like paul B's diner.

1-3 pods per minute, all day, every day, that needs to be replicated somehow or provided.

It's about their metabolism, think like a hummingbird, non stop feeding to deal w/ metabolism.

Regular frozen brine has almost no nutritional value

Pods are a must in the environment, but just pods wont keep your mandarin thriving. Mandarins need a variety of nutrients and fatty acids and unless your pods are being fed phyto-feast on the regular, (because its a mix of the most important phytos) its hard to provide that level of nutrition when cultivating your own. Most people only use Nanno. Id be curious to see if someone cultivating pods with a mix of phytos had mandarin in better shape than someone feeding them frozen.

You are correct when you say brine shrimp have no nutritional value, but when your fish wont eat anything, its a great start to begin them on eating frozen. There are also spirulina brine shrimp and omega enriched brine if your that concerned about it.

Mine have always taken to the spirulina brine, from there you can start introducing stuff like fish eggs. Reef Oceon Eggs should be more nutritional than a pod IMO, but I have yet to compare nutritional values between both to verify for sure.

Here's a picture of my spotted.

 

[davocean]

I have to disagree, they are fine as long as they have pods, trying to train to eat prep'd foods would be from people's attempt to accomidate their needs, usually when their tank is not large enough or no fuge, or both.

I've had a number of mandarins over the years, including several mating pairs, they were never fed by me, I just gave them plenty of live rock area that provided pods, and a fuge is a must have as well.

The only way to overcome that is culture or buy and provide pods, or supply something like Paul B's diner which provides for their metabolism needs.

 

[savetheocean]

My mandarin ONLY eats pods. He's healthy and a little fat.

 

[Ley3198]

I have to disagree, they are fine as long as they have pods, trying to train to eat prep'd foods would be from people's attempt to accommodate their needs, usually when their tank is not large enough or no fuge, or both.

I've had a number of mandarins over the years, including several mating pairs, they were never fed by me, I just gave them plenty of live rock area that provided pods, and a fuge is a must have as well.

The only way to overcome that is culture or buy and provide pods, or supply something like Paul B's diner which provides for their metabolism needs.

Fine is not thriving though. Its great that you have the space for a bigger system and can maintain them without effort or having to do anything, but the majority of people who have problems with them aren't as fortunate.

If we ever want these fish to stop being taking from their natural environment, we have to be able to teach people how to keep them and feed them appropriately in any size system. Hopefully creating some successful breeding initiatives along the way.

Teaching people to culture pods is the beginning, but shouldn't be the end of the road.