How to prep for a Mandarin?

[Kirschy17]

Also what i noticed when training mine with frozen food: i got told to try small particle food like cyclops or plankton. What they ended up eating the most were regular brine shrimp. I feed plenty of different stuff and thats what they like the most.

 

[Mombo]

Did the population stabilize and have you added the mandarin.....1 year, that is patience!

I guess by stabilize I meant that I always see tons of them everywhere at all times of the day in the beginning I would see some at night, then none, then more. Slowly everywhere always. I still think that is not good enough. My tank is only about 4 months old so still very young. So I haven't added a Mandarin yet. I am not really interested in buying pods monthly so I am waiting for my tank to age so I can hopefully support a mandarin. Not really interested in watching it slowly starve to death over 6 months.

You mentioned you have multiple tang's in your 75g tank. Which ones?

 

[Steve1500]

That makes sense.

I have a yellow and a blue. Unfortunately, I will have to trade in the blue in a year or so. He is small now but will outgrow the tank. Won't make that mistake again because it will be hard to part with the little guy.

 

[Ferrell]

I seeded mine right after the cycle and fed/feed phytoplankton regularly. I’ve noticed lately more and more of them are congregating on the glass eating algae. Never too early to start seeding from the ground up

 

[carbene]

i added my mandarin 3 months after tank cycled. didnt add pods because they came with it on frags. mine came in skinny and after 2 months in the tank, it became too fat!

 

[Brad Knight]

I actually found a place that sold me a Mandarin that would eat the brine shrimp and everything I fed my other fish. I recommend that one highly.
I had purchased a regular Mandarin but it only lasted about two months and I felt horrible. I had started a pod farm also, but what you have to realize is that all the other fish eat those pods too. My current Mandarin has been in the tank now for 8 months and going strong.

 

[Hawkeyebeek8]

Can never have enough pods

 

[Reefing-Around]

How big is the fuge you mentioned? Best practice is to have a "safe" place for your population to live, breed, and prosper. They will constantly be transported from the fuge area into the display. However, the main population will remain in the fuge thriving and reproducing. With the propper space/enviroment, 5k could be all you needed.

You may luck out and get one that feeds on frozen, but you may not.. You should do everythjng within your power to prepare for the fish you plan to keep. Should you luck out, you won't have to worry about replenishment at all..

Not all set ups are capable of supporting all the differnt types of fish we would like to keep and we all have to accept this sometimes for the sake of the fish..

You could always plumb a 20 gal into your current setup and grow all the pods you could ever need. Either way, good luck!

 

[Razz]

On a lighter note, you will also need to come up with a name...My Green Mandarin is named Padre...You know... "Pod Ray"

 

[Clarksski]

I have two very tiny captive bred biota mandarins that I bought from algae barn. I’ve had them for three weeks now and feed them newly hatched bbs, frozen calanus, chroma boost, and r.o.e. I’ve also bought tens of thousands of pods from algae barn too and continually seed the refugium. They are in a acclimation box in my established reefer 525 so I can monitor their feeding and keep them safe. I’ve ordered a custom bigger acclimation box from @cromag27 that they’ll probably be in for a few more months until they get bigger. It’s really hard to tell what they actually eating but they are growing and thriving.
I’m thinking that they like the bbs the most and then maybe the r.o.e... and of course the pods that I pour in their box a couple times a day. They are a lot of work and expense but I’m committed to them. They hunt all day and sleep side by side at night.
I think I might try and start my own pod farm.
As far as a lfs mandarin, I think sometimes you just get lucky that they’ll eat additional food that you give them, and sometimes you don’t. But a pod farm wouldn’t hurt.

 

[KMench]

I too have a mandarin I got from Biota. He came in and was tiny! It’s been months now with my mandarin and he has grown a ton. I culture pods that I add when I feel like it and dose photo into my tank daily. My mandarin is fat and happy. He’s also in a 75G tank with two clowns, a goby, ornate leopard wrasse, and a yellow longnose butterfly.

 

[Clarksski]

Not to hi jack the thread, but pod farming and mandarins should go hand-in-hand.
Could you elaborate on your pod farming?

 

[DanConnor]

Start raising white worms and set up a brine shrimp hatchery. You can make many times as much food with those as you can with pods. My mandarin has many competitors (leopard wrasses, other dragonets, dottybacks etc) and it still is obese.

 

[PiscesPower]

If you want the pods to thrive in your tank, you should consider adding live phyto. I started doing that and my pod populations soared. I think the bigger reason people have to keep adding pods after a few weeks isn't that the tiny mandarin ate them all, but it's because they weren't sustained with what THEY need to eat to populate.

I buy the combo from @AlgaeBarn. Pods & Phyto, its awesome. Never been disappointed.

 

[PhilT]

I too have a mandarin I got from Biota. He came in and was tiny! It’s been months now with my mandarin and he has grown a ton. I culture pods that I add when I feel like it and dose photo into my tank daily. My mandarin is fat and happy. He’s also in a 75G tank with two clowns, a goby, ornate leopard wrasse, and a yellow longnose butterfly.

How tiny is tiny? 1” long? Smaller?

 

[PhilT]

I put a little ocean baffle in my reefer 425xl sump as a fuge. Growing chaeto in it now and is doing well. So if I add the bag of pods to the chaeto, the water flows from the fuge to the skimmer section and then to the return pump. This is the only way the flow can be routed.

How much pods am I going to lose getting sucked up by the skimmer? Assuming they don’t end up in the collection cup, will they survive being sucked up by the skimmer’s pump, needle wheel and then spit out the return? Seems like the water would need to be swarming with pods for them to make it to the display. I guess I can always take a bunch of chaeto and shake it in the display.

 

[ESH]

Good discussion going on here! unless I missed it, did anyone touch on making sure their mandarin is fed while in the quarantine tank? Most Q tanks are bare bones. I didn't think about this till I got home, but simply moved one of the poly filter pads from the display tank overflow that was crawling in pods into the Q tank, along with a bunch of Chaeto I was going to cut and throw out anyways. I also seeded with a bottle of pods. Maybe overkill, not sure but I thought more pods the better. I only kept mine in there for 4 weeks.. shorter than recommended but I never saw anything show up, and all the tanks at the store appeared good too so I thought it was ready. He's been in the main display tank now for about 2 weeks and doing well. Mines named Ponyo.

 

[Orbela]

How tiny is tiny? 1” long? Smaller?

They usually come in at 1/4”

 

[Claus84]

What tangs do you have? IME experience you will not be able to target feed a mandarin with these in the tank. I was successfully target feeding my mandarin in my 90g for 18months until i added a tang, now my kole bulldozes its way in and eats any food I target at the mandarin so don't count on this working.

I'm pretty sure the kole has also had a noticeable impact on my pod population, particularly those on the glass due to its constant grazing on film algae. just something else to consider in a small tank (mandarin-wise) with 1 or more tangs.

Honestly IMO your tank may be a little 'busy' with multiple tangs and a flame in a 75g to keep a stress free mandarin. If you are set on keeping one be prepared to add pods at regular intervals AND set up an @PaulB feeder, which requires hatching of baby brine every day, if you aren't willing to do these things then honestly i would pass on a mandarin if i were you as your chances of keeping it alive will be slim.

I should point out that the above points still hold true for captive bred mandarins also, mine is ftom biota. They still need access to 100's/1000's of pods per day. I add pods occasionally in my 90 and also use the baby brine feeder as mentioned above daily.

 

[don74136]

What tangs do you have? IME experience you will not be able to target feed a mandarin with these in the tank. I was successfully target feeding my mandarin in my 90g for 18months until i added a tang, now my kole bulldozes its way in and eats any food I target at the mandarin so don't count on this working.

I'm pretty sure the kole has also had a noticeable impact on my pod population, particularly those on the glass due to its constant grazing on film algae. just something else to consider in a small tank (mandarin-wise) with 1 or more tangs.

Honestly IMO your tank may be a little 'busy' with multiple tangs and a flame in a 75g to keep a stress free mandarin. If you are set on keeping one be prepared to add pods at regular intervals AND set up an @PaulB feeder, which requires hatching of baby brine every day, if you aren't willing to do these things then honestly i would pass on a mandarin if i were you as your chances of keeping it alive will be slim.

I should point out that the above points still hold true for captive bred mandarins also, mine is ftom biota. They still need access to 100's/1000's of pods per day. I add pods occasionally in my 90 and also use the baby brine feeder as mentioned above daily.

How much phytoplankton do I need to dose and should you dose it in the refugium or both the refugium and the display tank? I have a RSM-250 with a LifeReef sump & refugium that I purchased from Jeff in Colorado. I have chaeto, grape caulerpa, fern caulerpa, and caulerpa prolifera (aka blade grass caulerpa) in the fuge along with some live rocks. My net water volume is approximately 60 gallons.