Mandarin fish and frozen food

[BDeVaney]

Ok so on Saturday I purchased a Mandarin goby because the owner of the store told me that most of his mandarins have been eating "H2O Life's Coral food mix" I checked out this food. Just like many fish foods it is frozen. Meant for corals, inverts, and bottom feeders. I saw that one of the handful of ingredients was in fact Copepods. I really really like the fish and it was a good deal so I got him. I purchased some of the food as well. He seems fine and healthy so far and I have been administering about half a cube of that food each day. The concern I have is, though he seems fine and healthy so far, how do I know he's actually eating this stuff? When this food is mixed in the water it becomes a very fine green mix. I use a syringe and squirt it his way in the water but of course it's a very fine mix and it disperses quickly. I figure the dispersion is ok because this guy moves around all over the place anyway. The big issue is that this stuff is very fine and cannot really be seen once in the tank. Any ideas of knowing if this food works?

 

[jeff2516]

Yeah that mush Coral food isn't going to do the trick. Here is what I have done in the past and it has always worked.

Start them on frozen bloodworms. You will have to turn the pumps down or off because they are slow eaters. Put your hand in the water and squirt some worms near them. Once their eating the bloodworms for a few weeks, you want to start mixing in mysis/pe mysis with the worms. Once you see him take in some mysis along with the worms, discontinue use of the worms since their not a natural food for the Mandarin and will not meet all his/her nutritional needs.

 

[BDeVaney]

Ok so your pretty sure he will eat frozen bloodworms? I know they're supposed to strictly eat live Copepods but I can't afford that all the time

 

[jeff2516]

Yes i'm pretty sure he will there's something about worms that just entices certain fish. Be sure to rinse them first.

Yes it is ideal for them to eat live Copepods, and if your tank is large enough to sustain an ample population then you got it made. But there's something about seeing them eat 5-6 pe mysis at a feeding that makes me feel better about their survivability.

 

[VIPReef]

Nutramar Ova works really good for them.

 

[Eienna]

Yes i'm pretty sure he will there's something about worms that just entices certain fish. Be sure to rinse them first.

Yes it is ideal for them to eat live Copepods, and if your tank is large enough to sustain an ample population then you got it made. But there's something about seeing them eat 5-6 pe mysis at a feeding that makes me feel better about their survivability.

My mandarin was never big enough to fit mysis in his mouth, but he did occasionally take bloodworms. He actually took to my new life spectrum small fish pellets as a staple (yeah, shocked me too.)

Nutramar Ova works really good for them.

It does. They seem to recognize it as food very quickly and it can help set the stage for other frozens. My new scooter (yes, it's a dragonet) wasn't eating at the store but as soon as I put that in front of her, she jumped on it.

 

[BDeVaney]

Ok cool so Blood worms andNutramar Ova seem to be the right food. I know i can get the frozen blood worms anywhere. IsNutramar Ova just as common at LFS'? Ive never really looked for it. Id like to go out and get some tomorrow.

 

[_Alex_]

You want to use small tiny food. Cyclopeez are good as well. And like mentioned the nls small fish pellets are good to but they do need meat.

How large is yor tank? And how old? You shouldn't have to buy live pods, they come from live rock and grow from rock once water conditions are good. It's just a matter of having a enough population to sustain with a predator that eats throughout the day. Basically if there swimming they are hunting for food.

I built pod areas in my tanks. By doing this I pile up all the loose shells for my hermit crab clean up crew, in the back corners of the tank. And always end up with pods living in them and amongst the shells because the fish can't get to them. Pieces of sponge work well to. Basically building pod huts, giving them a place to reproduce and hide.

The more te better in the tank, gives the fish areas to hunt. I also used a baby food jar and the nls small fish pellts. Put 10-15 pellets in the jar, and a small amount of tank water. Let sit 2-3 minutes to soften the pellets and so they stay down towards te bottom. Then slowly, lower the jar down into te tank in an area you see them frequently. And hope they try the food lol

The baby food jar has worked for us on 2 mandarins. And eventually they took to prepared foods when just fed to the tank. But still hunted for pods all day lol.


-Alex-

 

[JOEfromHAWAII]

Nutramar Ova works really good for them.

a definite +1 i have 2 mandarin gobies that start off eating OVA and now they eat pellets!!! had them for over 2 years now!!!

 

[BDeVaney]

Ok awesome! Yeah my tank is 20 gallons so I think it may be too small to have a thriving population of pods. Do most LFS' sell this stuff? I have never looked for it but I want to go get some tomorrow ASAP

 

[tektite]

With a tank that small you will have to feed the mandarin more than once a day for long-term health. Is it a spotted or green? Spotted take to prepared foods more than green ones do. If you can get it eating mysis, mysis is awesome for their health with how high it is in HUFA, like their natural food copepods. Ova is good as well.

When I had my breeding pair of mandarins, my tank was sufficient to sustain them on pods alone, but it was when the female took to mysis that they started breeding almost every single day, sometimes twice a day.

 

[Eienna]

Ok cool so Blood worms andNutramar Ova seem to be the right food. I know i can get the frozen blood worms anywhere. IsNutramar Ova just as common at LFS'? Ive never really looked for it. Id like to go out and get some tomorrow.

I had to ask my LFS to order the Ova for me but they were happy to do so. As far as the NLS pellets, I buy mine on amazon.com because it's substantially less $$.

 

[MondoBongo]

a 20 gallon tank is way small for a mandy in my opinion.

i would suggest culturing pods for them, nutramar ova, worms, cyclop-eeze, and newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii dispensed from a feed like this one i am using:

you will know your mandy is well fed when it has a round little bhudda belly and appears to have swallowed a ping pong ball.

i do daily releases of brine shrimp nauplii (with egg sacs still attached) in to my feeding station, and also supplement that with about 1 - 1.5 mL of nutramar ova.

then once in a while i mix in some cyclop-eeze (frozen) with the nutramar for her. once a week the corals get fed frozen myses, she will nibble at that too.

the feeding station works nice because it lets them graze at their leisure throughout the day. it also gets them to associate that particular area of the tank with eating. so whenever i drop in other food, i always drop it right on top of the feeder area so she knows.

this feeder is one of the PaulB inspired models. an old NLS pellet container, with a big hole in the lid covered in nylon stockings so the nauplii can't all get out at once. then i use 3/8" rigid airline tubing and a small funnel at the top to pour the food down in.

 

[NanaReefer]

Take it back to the store!




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[BDeVaney]

Was not able to find the OVA frozen food however I found some live pods at a fairly good price! This will hold me over for now

 

[tektite]

Keep in mind an adult mandarin can eat several thousand pods per day, a small container with a few hundred pods from an LFS isn't going to do much good.

 

[MondoBongo]

Was not able to find the OVA frozen food however I found some live pods at a fairly good price! This will hold me over for now

these guys can decimate a pod population incredibly quickly, they hunt all day long. especially in your size tank i would expect the pods that are in there and the pods you are supplementing to last days, if that long.

these fish will slowly waste away if they are not properly fed. a fat mandy is a happy, and thriving, mandy.

you will likely need to order the Nutramar Ova off the internet. somewhere like marine depot or dr foster and smith. that's where i got mine.

i ordered 7 of the flat packs, and took half of one to my LFS for them to try, since they did not stock it. needless to say it worked a treat for all their fish, even their tough feeders, and they will now be stocking it. so i would also recommend doing something like that if you have a close relationship with your LFS.

 

[BDeVaney]

I definitely plan on ordering it! I was just happy to get these to hold the mandarin over. I had purposely purchased the smallest mandarin the store had when I bought it because of my tank size. I put about a third of the bottle in just now along with frozen pods. They all look the same size so I am hoping he eats everything. It's looking like he isn't discriminating which ones he eats so far so hopefully he can eventually just eat the frozen stuff on its own. To me the frozen and live are the same size and color. They all move around in the tank as well with the water flow so I think it's doin the trick

 

[BDeVaney]

Unfortunately the two best LFS' closest to me are still about 15-20 miles away but I will bring them some. There are 3 LFS near me. 1 is awful and the other two are good but they are small and don't carry mandarins

 

[NanaReefer]

I'm speaking from experience here! Having lost 2 ORA Target Mandarins (within 6 months) & this morning my Scooter Dragonet who I had for a year. Slowly but SURELY your Mandarin will waste away! They CANNOT survive on frozen or prepared foods alone. Nor is a tank of 20g big enough to sustain a healthy growing Copepod population to feed a Mandarin that eats 100's a day.
You will get very tired of feeding your Mandarin 3-4x daily. You cannot skip or forget a meal! They do not have stomachs like other fish. Your tank parameters will take a major hit because of all the added nutrients. Forget about bi-weekly WC. You'll be doing them every 7-10 days. Like fighting algae issues? Your going to have them.
But if your anything like me be prepared for heart break. It's horrible watching a beautiful fish get skinner and skinner and them develop fin rot due to poor nutrition. Especially when soooo many people told you not to do it.
I'll say no more but good luck.


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