Mandarin dragonets
- Thread starter ajwalker261985
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Good luck, culturing pods for them is a good idea but will take a lot of space and work, and it'll probably be a good month before you have a dense enough pod culture to harvest for them. A couple 10 gallon tanks, with a big phyto growing station would be a good start. Also make sure you start with the right type of copepod, the free swimming species aren't so good for mandarins since the mandarins hunt for pods that stay on the rockwork/aquarium sides.
Do you know how to tell if a mandarin isn't doing good? Some things to watch out for: an unhealthy mandarin will still be out and hunting pretty much like a healthy mandarin, behavior isn't a good indication of health. What you need to look for is their stomach. A healthy mandarin looks like a fat blimp, nicely rounded all the way from head to base of their tail. If you can see their stomach/side caved in, that's a really bad sign of starvation. Observing them from the side or below is best to tell, from above it can be hard to tell.
Unhealthy mandarin, note how sunken its side is, the very visible horizontal line through it:
Healthy mandarin, round all the way:
Do you know how to tell if a mandarin isn't doing good? Some things to watch out for: an unhealthy mandarin will still be out and hunting pretty much like a healthy mandarin, behavior isn't a good indication of health. What you need to look for is their stomach. A healthy mandarin looks like a fat blimp, nicely rounded all the way from head to base of their tail. If you can see their stomach/side caved in, that's a really bad sign of starvation. Observing them from the side or below is best to tell, from above it can be hard to tell.
Unhealthy mandarin, note how sunken its side is, the very visible horizontal line through it:
Healthy mandarin, round all the way:
ReefFrenzy
Shrimp Pimp
As someone who specializes in marine nutrition full time, I can say this post is 100% spot on. We have a mandarin as our branded icon, but they require specialized care and an abundance of nutrients to fare well in a home aquarium. A single mandarin can eat 1,000 pods a day, so trying to train them to eat frozen foods is very wise. Many have done it by shutting off their power heads and providing a feeding station created from a soda bottle.
Good Luck!
OP
OP
ajwalker261985
Active Member
Hi,
I have shut off my powerheads and target fed frozen to the bottom and I can now conform they seem to be eating it,also iv set up a 10 litre copepod hatchery to start until I can see success with that and then I will expand it.
thank you all for your help.
I have shut off my powerheads and target fed frozen to the bottom and I can now conform they seem to be eating it,also iv set up a 10 litre copepod hatchery to start until I can see success with that and then I will expand it.
thank you all for your help.
MondoBongo
Community Member
with how their digestive systems are setup up, they need to be grazing all the time.
40 gallons is far too small for one, let alone two.
if you're going to try it though, get yourself some nutramar as others have suggested. these guys cannot and will not live on frozen alone though.
culturing pods is a good supplement, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to culture enough to keep them fed, without going to extremes.
i would recommend also starting brine shrimp cultures, and building a feeder for them. mine will also eat live black worms.
check out my more detailed posts here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-discussion/140175-help-mandarin-goby-3.html
these guys should look like technicolor sausages with fins when they're well fed.
40 gallons is far too small for one, let alone two.
if you're going to try it though, get yourself some nutramar as others have suggested. these guys cannot and will not live on frozen alone though.
culturing pods is a good supplement, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to culture enough to keep them fed, without going to extremes.
i would recommend also starting brine shrimp cultures, and building a feeder for them. mine will also eat live black worms.
check out my more detailed posts here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-discussion/140175-help-mandarin-goby-3.html
these guys should look like technicolor sausages with fins when they're well fed.
I will post this again as it seems you missed it the first time.
www.livecopepods.com
Copepods are her speciality! She tells you exactly how to set up for breeding your own. She can also tell you which ones are best. Feel free to email her, she answers quickly! I've been buying from her for 3yrs.
www.livecopepods.com
Copepods are her speciality! She tells you exactly how to set up for breeding your own. She can also tell you which ones are best. Feel free to email her, she answers quickly! I've been buying from her for 3yrs.
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If you're still looking for a feeding solution, here's an easy DIY target feeder to use until you can get them onto frozen (or even long-term): DIY Target Feeder for Mandarinfish (and Pipefish)
Nutramar ova is awesome... I trained my mandarin to eat frozen on that suff, now she comes for the mysys feedings...
With that being said I have one in a 75G tank and shes thriving, however two in a 40 is asking for trouble as it will be extremely hard for you to maintain a hefty pod population for one mandarin, let alone two.... Hold old is your tank?
I would also suggest a bottle feeding method and hope the mandarins are the smallest fish you have in the tank and get acquainted to the bottle. With that being said, also note mandarins are cool but weird fish... they hunt and eat pods all day so you will have to feed frozen quite often to satisfy their appetite. Also keep in mind some wrasses are pod eaters as well so they can still be out-compete if pods are constantly added to the tank.
I strongly suggest a proper hang on back refugium or sump for the cultivation of these pods. I have a refguium in my sump and have pod condos in there which i swap every two weeks with a pod condo from the display. Google "pod condo".
With that being said I have one in a 75G tank and shes thriving, however two in a 40 is asking for trouble as it will be extremely hard for you to maintain a hefty pod population for one mandarin, let alone two.... Hold old is your tank?
I would also suggest a bottle feeding method and hope the mandarins are the smallest fish you have in the tank and get acquainted to the bottle. With that being said, also note mandarins are cool but weird fish... they hunt and eat pods all day so you will have to feed frozen quite often to satisfy their appetite. Also keep in mind some wrasses are pod eaters as well so they can still be out-compete if pods are constantly added to the tank.
I strongly suggest a proper hang on back refugium or sump for the cultivation of these pods. I have a refguium in my sump and have pod condos in there which i swap every two weeks with a pod condo from the display. Google "pod condo".
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tuna_bullet
Valuable Member
by the look of the tank and alge you have a good established tank lots of hiding pods, I would also look at a fuge for growing pods like a hang on the back type.. so much easier than buying....just my .02 they look healthy
reefwatcher
Well-Known Member
my dragonet
My dragonet also eats frozen brine shrimp.
