Ssdangeranger
Active Member
My mandarin eats live baby brine shrimp. am I able to gut load them and let it eat that until my tigger pods get a good population going?
Green mandarin
- Thread starter Ssdangeranger
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Need more data to tell if it might be a viable solution. How big of a tank do you have? What are you going to enrich the BBS with? How often are you feeding the mandarin BBS, and how much?
Ssdangeranger
Active Member
55 gallon. I feed the brine shrimp spralina powder and Kent's phytoplex. I usually feed brine shrimp to my fish about 2 twice a week until I found a way of just feeding them to my mandarin and scooter blenny. But before that I usually put bbs in about 2 times a week after the lights go out
So are you feeding the mandarins once a day? Twice a day? Brine enriched with that isn't an ideal food, not enough HUFA/DHA for them like they get from their natural diet of copepods. Unless you can get one of them to eat frozen food (mysis and ova are great foods with the fats they need), and feed frozen at least once a day for them (preferrably 2x/day), a 55 gallon will not be anywhere near able to support 2 mandarins living on pods alone. That and tigger pods are more freeswimming, and mandarins prefer the pods that stay on the rock/sand to pick at. Tisbe are great for them. Really, for your size tank and the longterm health of the fish, it would be best to only keep one of the mandarins and find a home for the other.
Eienna
5000 Club Member
Yeah...brine really doesn't have the required nutrient density.
Most fish seem to love Ova. A little on the pricier side but it goes over VERY well with the dragonets.
Both of the ones I've had also took to new life spectrum small fish pellets.
Mysis is good, but younger dragonets don't have a big enough mouth. Yours may need to grow a little before you try this.
Most fish seem to love Ova. A little on the pricier side but it goes over VERY well with the dragonets.
Both of the ones I've had also took to new life spectrum small fish pellets.
Mysis is good, but younger dragonets don't have a big enough mouth. Yours may need to grow a little before you try this.
agreed..If mandarin Is eating prepared food consider yourself lucky, HOWEVER its main source of food is pods...so try and get them going and introduced to the tank.
Not necessarily. Mandarins have very specialized diets, it is quite possible for them to be eating but still die if what they're eating isn't giving them what they need to survive.
manny mandarin
Community Member
I feed my brine shrimp flake food then feed them to my mandarins its not very scientific but they turn pink and the mandies don't complain
