Mandarin dragonets should i give up

[Reefer302]

Wild caught Mandarin easiest fish I have ever kept.
I have not fed him for over three years now.
Mandys are hunters, mine just watches everything else float by, he wants to hunt live food.
Any tank, with lots of live rock, mature 1 year, and no other exclusive pod eaters. I have been keep mandys for 30 years.
I have never added a pod from day one.

What size tanks do you keep em in I've heard they're kinda hit or miss some people can keep em no problem while others can't.

 

[Reefer302]

if he had a “great pod population” the first one probably wouldn’t have died.


The OP’s tank is 30g what size is yours?

Idk if he died from starvation he wasn't skinny I put up a post with a video of him and everyone said he looked healthy and in two days he was dead

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Question do you have pods in your tank?
If the answer is no
Or if your tank doesn’t have a healthy population now I would wait until you know you have more than you can count.
Buy pods put them in the tank do this several times. Also make sure your dosing phytoplankton.

I just recently saw pods on my glass and this has me excited. I have a mandarin i dose phyto daily to feed the pod population this keeps there numbers up in my fuge and dt.

dose different kinds of pods tibse , tiger, apex, all of them.

make your glass crawl and then you know you have enough pods to not have to worry about your Mandy.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Biota's mandarins come eating frozen foods and pellets from day 1. They're raised on them.

Pods are a complete non-issue for them.

Being captive bred doesn't change the fact that these fish eat constantly.
All day. It is all they do.
If your system cannot support enough pods to feed them, you basically need to be able to feed frozen/pellets for 8 to 10 hours a day. That is not realistic for anyone.

If you can't support a pod population these fish will die, how long it takes will vary if they eat the frozen/pellets, when you are able to feed them.
Captive bred does not mean they don't need the same basic care as wild. It literally just means the wild ones aren't being decimated for the hobby.

 

[92Miata]

Being captive bred doesn't change the fact that these fish eat constantly.
All day. It is all they do.
If your system cannot support enough pods to feed them, you basically need to be able to feed frozen/pellets for 8 to 10 hours a day. That is not realistic for anyone.

If you can't support a pod population these fish will die, how long it takes will vary if they eat the frozen/pellets, when you are able to feed them.
Captive bred does not mean they don't need the same basic care as wild. It literally just means the wild ones aren't being decimated for the hobby.

Mandarins eat so often because copepods are a terrible food source. They simple don't have enough mass.

A single mysis shrimp has more protein, fat, and sugars than thousands of copepods.

Being captive bred means they can supply the vast majority of their caloric needs via prepared food in one or two feedings a day.

I have a couple. It absolutely means they don't have the same needs as wild.

They grow like weeds on frozen, and are incredibly hardy, even in small tanks (like our 28 gallon display Nuvo40s)

 

[Reefer302]

Question do you have pods in your tank?
If the answer is no
Or if your tank doesn’t have a healthy population now I would wait until you know you have more than you can count.
Buy pods put them in the tank do this several times. Also make sure your dosing phytoplankton.

I just recently saw pods on my glass and this has me excited. I have a mandarin i dose phyto daily to feed the pod population this keeps there numbers up in my fuge and dt.

dose different kinds of pods tibse , tiger, apex, all of them.

make your glass crawl and then you know you have enough pods to not have to worry about your Mandy.

Ok so here's the situation I have been culturing and adding those pods in about every week for around 2 months recently my phyto crashed so I'm ordering some more but my pod production has slowed. In my tank there are alot in the fuge and I see some critters on glass like pods but also some flat worms and stuff I have no fish in the tank but I'm planning on getting a biota mandarin as the first fish when the pods are completely exploding.

 

[Reefer302]

Mandarins eat so often because copepods are a terrible food source. They simple don't have enough mass.

A single mysis shrimp has more protein, fat, and sugars than thousands of copepods.

Being captive bred means they can supply the vast majority of their caloric needs via prepared food in one or two feedings a day.

I have a couple. It absolutely means they don't have the same needs as wild.

They grow like weeds on frozen, and are incredibly hardy, even in small tanks (like our 28 gallon display Nuvo40s)

The captive bred ones come in tiny sizes what should I be feeding them at that size

 

[Reefing_addiction]

The captive bred ones come in tiny sizes what should I be feeding them at that size

Look up PaulBs brine shrimp feeder

 

[92Miata]

The captive bred ones come in tiny sizes what should I be feeding them at that size

Ours ate frozen brine, calanus, fish eggs, and a handful of other things. They weren't super picky. Biota recommended some pellets, but we never got them to eat them. We feed so much frozen that they're probably just not that appetizing.

When they got a little bigger they started taking mysis.

I don't know anything about ORAs mandarins.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Mandarins eat so often because copepods are a terrible food source. They simple don't have enough mass.

A single mysis shrimp has more protein, fat, and sugars than thousands of copepods.

Being captive bred means they can supply the vast majority of their caloric needs via prepared food in one or two feedings a day.

I have a couple. It absolutely means they don't have the same needs as wild.

They grow like weeds on frozen, and are incredibly hardy, even in small tanks (like our 28 gallon display Nuvo40s)

I am glad to see it works in a small tank as so many people have banked on this. I have 2 dragonets in a 380 gal tank and I don't see how it is possible in a large tank to make sure they get anything. Maybe that is where the compromise in. If you can see them eat.

I see many posts of these guys dying wild caught and captive, and I know ORA gave up on breeding them for a time because so many people got upset that their expensive, trained, captive mandarins kept dying. This conversation may end up the next "why does my BTA not bubble?" topic.

 

[92Miata]

I am glad to see it works in a small tank as so many people have banked on this. I have 2 dragonets in a 380 gal tank and I don't see how it is possible in a large tank to make sure they get anything. Maybe that is where the compromise in. If you can see them eat.

I see many posts of these guys dying wild caught and captive, and I know ORA gave up on breeding them for a time because so many people got upset that their expensive, trained, captive mandarins kept dying. This conversation may end up the next "why does my BTA not bubble?" topic.

Biota raises their mandarins on prepared food in bare bottom holding tanks. They eat like any other fish.

 

[Reef.]

Idk if he died from starvation he wasn't skinny I put up a post with a video of him and everyone said he looked healthy and in two days he was dead

yeah sorry about that, I actually wrote that then decided not to post it as it wasn’t fair, you only had the fish a week, the post got saved, when I came to post again it was included.
I was trying to make the argument when someone said get another, it will be fine getting another mandarin “if” you have a great pod population and “if” it eats frozen, is like saying I would be a millionaire if I had a million in the bank! A great pod population is not really going to do it....anyway seems like you are putting a lot of thought into this so good luck.

 

[EvanDeVita]

Hey, I have an IM 30 gallon (long) with a mid sized Ruby Mandarin Dragonet. He’s wild caught. Before anyone gets annoyed, I saw him eat mysis before I got him. He was the first one I tried, and he’s thriving! He now eats pellets too. Not all Mandarins will adapt to frozen or dead foods, but some can. If you chose to go for wild caught, either ensure you can feed him a ton of pods or make sure it eats prepared foods. Mines been with me for around 2 months.

happy feeding and good luck!

 

[Reefer302]

Hey, I have an IM 30 gallon (long) with a mid sized Ruby Mandarin Dragonet. He’s wild caught. Before anyone gets annoyed, I saw him eat mysis before I got him. He was the first one I tried, and he’s thriving! He now eats pellets too. Not all Mandarins will adapt to frozen or dead foods, but some can. If you chose to go for wild caught, either ensure you can feed him a ton of pods or make sure it eats prepared foods. Mines been with me for around 2 months.

happy feeding and good luck!

Thanks it seems captive bred ones can also be just as picky from the reviews so I might try and find one that I know its frozen if I can

 

[EvanDeVita]

Thanks it seems captive bred ones can also be just as picky from the reviews so I might try and find one that I know its frozen if I can

I’ve heard the same thing. Whatever you get, make sure it eats frozen first.
Btw if you end up getting more fish, you will need to spot feed. They are not aggressive eaters and are kinda dumb (they won’t know when the tank is being fed unless you shoot it at their faces )

 

[G Santana]

To attractive not to try. I wouldn't dream of getting one though until the tank matured, you can sustain pods or/and willing to supplement as needed.

 

[EvanDeVita]

To attractive not to try. I wouldn't dream of getting one though until the tank matured, you can sustain pods or/and willing to supplement as needed.

Agreed. Wait till you got a healthy amount of coralite- it’s a sign of a healthy and maturing tank.

 

[Uncle99]

What size tanks do you keep em in I've heard they're kinda hit or miss some people can keep em no problem while others can't.

50 min size, this one in 65g, is the only exclusive POD eater in the tank, lots of rock, marine pure blocks.
They are hunters and I have never put in PODS.
Most die within a month or so from the lack of appropriate food.
If you have a one year old tank with rock, they are simple and require no feeding.
They care less about the any other fish so are an easy add to the community.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

No offense but I feel like a 30 gallon is a bit small for a MD. I think an appropriate size is 55 gallons

 

[EvanDeVita]

No offense but I feel like a 30 gallon is a bit small for a MD. I think an appropriate size is 55 gallons

I’d disagree. Mandarins are not a fish that need lots of space, as they drift along the rock work most of the time. If they only eat pods (no frozen) then I agree- 30 gallons is absolutely not appropriate.