Mandarin fish and frozen food

[BDeVaney]

It's only been like u and 1 or 2 others who told me not to do it nanareefer. Anyways the bottle I purchased contained ~2000 pods. I have put about half of them in my tank now and the others I put in a jar with some tank water and phytoplankton hoping to get some sort of reproduction out of them. Also like I said the mandarin does not seem to be noticing a difference now that I have mixed live and frozen pods in the tank at the same time. I created this thread for some help and advice because I have the fish in my tank. Telling me I don't know what I'm doing isn't going to help me at all. That's the whole reason why I am on the forum

 

[tektite]

And its good your trying, but I do have to agree with her. Just keep an eye on its weight. Its body should be shaped like a blimp, any indentations are signs of starvation. You should not be able to see any sort of horizontal line through the fish, it should be smoothly round all the way. I'm experienced keeping mandarins, have for years, bred them even, they were healthy enough to mate and have a new batch of eggs almost every night. I would still never even consider keeping one in a 20 gallon, even with my experience and past successes, and knowing the fish would accept frozen food. Not trying to pick at all, the simple fact is your tank is very unsuited to your new fish and you are facing an extreme uphill battle, one that many aquarists have tried and failed at the expense of the fish's life.

 

[MondoBongo]

Very much agreed. It will be an uphill battle all the way.

To the OP. You need to provide more for a pod culture to grow. They're not easy to keep in some ways.

I have 4 separate phyto cultures going in my spare bedroom along with two brine shrimp cultures and two pod cultures. All for my Mandy in my 75 gallon.

The first pod culture never took off, and I suspect it actually is growing rotifers instead. So I've let it be. The second one is doing much better and provides some nice backup to the population in my tank.

You really need to work at these guys to keep them well fed in much larger systems than yours.

Even with all the weapons I have in my arsenal, I would not want to keep one of these guys in a system any smaller than mine is currently.

 

[Tahoe61]

Add me to the list of hobbyist that feel that a Mandarin was not a good choice. Please do not take it personally, I can not count the number of times I have seen this topic go exactly this way and end the same way. There is no re-inventing the wheel, for a few it works, for most the fish dies. Mandarins do better in tanks not set up to be pristine reef tanks, and larger established tanks and tanks with a significant amount of macro algae.

 

[NanaReefer]

2000 pods seems like a lot but it's not! Most Copepods are cannabilestic! Yes they prey on each other. Then there are those that can and do crawl right out of the fishes digestive track. Then there are those that a Mandarin can't even catch. Free swimmers and or are totally nocturnal. Mandarins usually sleep at night.
What species of Copepods did you get? Tisbea, Tigger pods, Amphipods?
In NO WAY am I trying to bring you down. But I am repeating exactly what was told to me. The way I'm feeling today I do not want for you! I WAS exactly where you are now!
1 year of feeding my Scooter 3-4x a day. What it did to my tank. All the money spent on Copepods. Only to watch Scooter waste away. I tried my hardest but couldn't keep up with the demand of these beautiful lil fish. I should have listened. I am ashamed and embarrassed that I didn't. I'm putting my story out here as no one else has.
I don't look at my tank the same way.....


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[BDeVaney]

Ok well I appreciate the real feedback. This fish and the food supplements I have for it in the past few days has cost me around 50-60 bucks. I'm sure the guy at the store where I bought the fish would be willing to take it back and I will call him in the morning. I hope he can offer me a deal or something upon returning the fish. It's such a pretty animal and though I would hate to give it up it is better than letting it die. I would hate to know that its suffering.

 

[NanaReefer]

Ok well I appreciate the real feedback. This fish and the food supplements I have for it in the past few days has cost me around 50-60 bucks. I'm sure the guy at the store where I bought the fish would be willing to take it back and I will call him in the morning. I hope he can offer me a deal or something upon returning the fish. It's such a pretty animal and though I would hate to give it up it is better than letting it die. I would hate to know that its suffering.

Much respect goes out to you! ((HUGS))


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[Bobby fisher]

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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Nah, mine is doing fine on mostly frozen and the occasional top up of live copepods. Put a fine sponge on your filter inlet and it will always have a place to go where there will be a collection of them should it need to.