Finally taking the great Mandarin jump

[pinky]

So its official I finally got my very first mandarin dragonet. I like so so many others wanted one the moment I laid my eyes on it well before I ever got my tank. But I had read all the very sad stories of them starving to death, so I never got one. But last year I started reading the few success stories. So first thing I found baby brine shrimp was a good option but they had to be freshly hatched, then I heard about prawn roe but sadly could never find a bag to buy. Then I found info on worms, and bought a starter culture online and have been struggling to increase my population to more than the size of like two thumb nails. But my success came last week when I was in Florida and I was able to get a few ponds of fresh mullet roe straight off the boat, so I sectioned it out into portions and froze them.

So here we are I saw this little girl on Monday and felt so compelled to buy her but I knew my best option would be to get a new one ordered in so it was already starving to death. But they had her in the one tank with live rock to the max and I had In the past seen pods in there so I was hopeful, I went back two more days and finally broke down I just figured hey maybe it was meant to be. and she was still actively hunting so i took a leap of faith.

Well after a lengthy acclimation process she is in a DIY holding tank that is in my main tank but lets me watch her eat and try training if necessary. She is currently resting on the bit of live rock I have for her, I put some roe in with her and a few of my dry pellets just to see but it was a long stressful day for her so we will start feeding lessons tomorrow!

 

[NanaReefer]

I wish you the best. Personally I believe if you feel the only way to keep a "special needs" fish is to "train" it to eat something that is not a part of its natural diet, just so that it will live, than that fish should not be kept.

 

[kfoerster]

Following along to see how she does. Good luck and looking forward to hearing progress.

 

[vic67]

How big is your DT? Mandarins are one of my favorite fishes. I'm always worried about mine being hungry so I still "dose" pods from time to time. Good luck on the training!

 

[pinky]

I know there is mixed opinions about keepingthem, and that is one of the main reasons I have refrained from buying oneyears ago. But now I’m taking the stand point that this is an ever learningever changing hobby, and just because we couldn’t keep something in the past doesn’tmean we can’t learn about them and then change how things are done. Thisappears to be the case with the mandarin, and in fact many other fish and coralin the past few decades, they are even being bread in captivity now! Before wehad no clue of their diets and habits, now we know they live off an assortmentof pods, which is something I have in my tank and she will be able to enjoyjust like she would in the wild. But we have also learned through othersexperiments that they do well with a little help in the form of additionalwhole foods such as the baby brine shrimp, and the fish eggs. Soalthough that may not be essentially the most natural diet in the wild that doesn’tmean it is not good for her. I don’t think fish flakes and dried pellets are “natural”in the wild, but many many people only provide these types of food for theirfish and yet they live happy healthy lives, and although I am firm in my standagainst most flake foods (it’s like highly processed juke food nothing can livea healthy life on just junk food) I do see a need for a easy form of a healthyfood source. I have always advocated a varied of foods to provide a well woundeddiet for our fish that’s why my current fish have had its choice of a constantlyrotating menu, some days it was a fast shake of the high quality pellets andothers it was a fresh hunk of shrimp or clam, or whatever looked good at thefish market. This is what I plan to do with my mandarin I hope to provide herwith not only her most natural food source the pods, but always healthy alternativessuch as the baby brine and fish eggs. So it may not be perfectly natural for herbut at least it’s still a healthy option!

 

[pinky]

Oh sorry I didn’t post all that info to beginwith that was silly of me I have a 29 gallon bio cube, I have had it up andrunning for 3 years now and it was set up 3 to 4 years before I got it so wellestablished, I have other the years added pods to help my population out, as ofnow I have a nice population of the really tiny pods you can barely see on theglass but the population of larger species doesn’t ever seem to take off Ithink that’s cause my cube doesn’t have a real sump for them to breed in. Ithink I’ll continue to add pods and I will be hatching brine shrimp for her also,and I am letting my green hair algae grow to its hearts content, well sort of,to help provide a breeding grounds for the pods I have.

So farall is going well I witnessed her eating the fish eggs today and did a happydance, the eggs should provide large amounts of fats and vitamins to help hergain the weight she needs, and the brine shrimp and pods should keep her happyin snacks while I’m not home to give her the eggs, or at least that’s the plan. Shehas shown no interest in the pellets but I never expected her to, and she didn’tgo for the live worms which was a surprise they wiggle around so much I thoughtfor sure she wouldn’t be able to resist, but ill try again.

 

[pinky]

here she is checking out the eggs

 

[pinky]

not sure why my two posts pushed together words, i did type it on word first so maybe when i transferred it over something went wrong i dont know im sorry. also i cant seem to find an edit option to fix it does anyone know if there is one?

 

[KoleTang]

These may be helpful:

DIY Target Feeder for Mandarinfish (and Pipefish)

Melev's Mandarin Diner | Melev's Reef

 

[asandbox]

One of my first, it really liked cyclop-eeze slow simmers and eaters so turn of your pumps till it gets used to you feeding it

 

[pinky]

thank koletang, thats the exact two feeders i plan to use!!


so far so good she is still in my little dyi cage and im adding eggs twice a day, i have seen her eating the eggs numerous times, but it still seems like she doesnt fully see them as food yet she will be on the hunt with eggs right next to her yet moves on and pecks somewhere else. but when i get home in the afternoon they are almost all gone so i hope that means she is eating most of them, some do escape but still im hoping its more her eating then them escaping. im not really sure how much she should be eating in a day so im still concerned but im happy to see her eating.

i tried the white worms again she still showed no interest in them so i guess i have a little picky girl on my hands. i wish i had a source for the california black worms i have read they stay alive longer which might get her attention, but as of now im attempting to hatch my first batch of baby brine shrimp. this is take two as my first attempt with a cut soda bottle was knocked over by the cat... that was fun... so this batch is in a good solid mason jar, im sure this is gonna make separating the shells harder but oh well.

at this point im starting to wounder how long i should keep her in the cage, i was hoping to pump her full of foods so when she is let free she will have some experience with them and maybe go towards the diners. i just dont want to let her out and then not be able to get food right next to her.

 

[Calmbeast]

Good luck! I'll be following along. Is there any other livestock in the tank?

 

[pinky]

there is a few mushrooms, hermit crabs, snails, and a damsel fish that i will be getting out if it kills me lol. i really just want to focus on the mandarin

 

[pinky]

just figured i would pop in and say were still going strong. my little mandarin is still alive and still eating so im very happy so far.

 

[Reefersutherland_]

Getyourpods has Copepods and amphipods for sale cheap! Buy one get one on most packs!

 

[Solwolf45]

Good luck! Im following as well, as id like to keep a pair of these someday as well!

 

[pinky]

we're still here going strong i finally got a good look at her belly today and i am happy to say there is no longer an indent she was never extremely skinny but i could see a clear indent in her stomach when i first got her!!!!!:rofl: this has me doing the happy dance she eats from both the BBS feeder and the diner that is full of a mix of frozen's and pellets everyday. she is so comfortable with the diner that i have found her multiple times in the morning sleeping in it. So this is just great. She is slowly and i mean slower than a snail slowly getting use to me, i can sit still and she will do her thing while i watch but once i move she darts to the back but only on medium speed. i havent been able to get any real good pics recently but here she is in the diner.

 

[kacrocorals581]

very cool love when people do there due diligence before putting a new fish in there tank and follows threw to insure there health great job!

 

[NanaReefer]

Comparing the earlier pics to now, she seems to have lost weight.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but I've been exactly where you are, twice! Ruined my tank with all the excess nutrients I was adding daily, 3-4x a day. It was heart breaking to say the least.
Trying to manually feed these fish is virtually impossible. Sadly, prepared foods alone just won't sustain them and a 29g cannot maintain a pod population large enough, nor long enough for them.

 

[pinky]

Im sorry yoy had such bad experiences in that past that is heartbreaking, I wonder if they were wild caught, I have read that they can die later after capture due to complications from the process. Or they can carry parasites. But this picture is from about 2 weeks ago that's why I said I haven't been able to get a good pic that was the 2nd day she was released into the display tank. She is noticeably bigger now than day 1. I never got a good pic from underneath her but she had a clearly suncken in tummy when I brought her home, and yesterday I was sitting low looking at her when she swarm up that sunken in tummy was no more. I know she is far from out of the woods but I have seen improvement. And she gobbles down the BBS and cyclops and article plankton and roe which are all very nutritionally rich foods so unless there is some negative long term affect of these foods compared to pods I don't see how they can't be sustained. I'm OK with a high nutrient tank I like algeas and don't mind water changes so its almost ideal for me I think. But I'm taking this one day at a time I have read where they can't just take a dive out to of nowhere and I hope that doesn't happen with us. I know a month is not long enough to call successful but I lots much less delicate fish in the first week before so I'm glad we made it over a month. But I will stay vigilant and if I ever see that sunken belly come back I will take action.