Mandarin fish help

[Peach02]

so yesterday I got a mandarin fish about 1.5 inches and chubby
My question is how do I tell if he is eating and if he isn’t how can I encourage him to
When I put him in yesterday he swam and sat on my clam then perched on a rock, moved into a cave and has barely come out since, he is breathing and moving every now and then but mostly watching the other fish by the looks of it
I’ve put tons of frozen pods and brine shrimp in but I haven’t seen him eat and it’s hard to tell with him in the cave
I tried to catch up to put him in a isolation tank to try get him to eat but I couldnt catch him
Only other fish are
2 clowns
Coral beauty
2 fire fish
Bicolour blenny
33 gallon tank
16kg of rock

 

[Rich Klein]

Many Mandarins only eat live food, namely copods. Mine doesn't consider anything else. I have heard of some Mandarins eating frozen, but IME they hunt for pods, and that's it. It is my understanding that a 35 gallon tank wont be able to support the number of pods a Mandarin needs to eat. My tank is 165 gallons with a refugium, which I have been seeding with pods for a couple of years. Sorry, other more experienced reefers may have better advice, but I would consider taking it back to your LFS or giving it to another reefer with a larger mature tank.

 

[James M]

Your tank should have tons of live pods inside the tank and they can’t survive off just frozen. Unless your spot feeding it 5-7 times a day
Return it !!!

 

[Gonebad395]

Do you have pods in your tank? Before you bought him did you have the lfs show you he’s eating frozen? These are a beautiful fish sadly their vibrant colors are their doom in the hobby. They are finicky eaters and usually die because of it. They starve most of the time due to lack of food source and before you notice they have long been withering away. Try different kinds of food and sizes many you’ll get lucky

 

[ccombs]

so yesterday I got a mandarin fish about 1.5 inches and chubby
My question is how do I tell if he is eating and if he isn’t how can I encourage him to
When I put him in yesterday he swam and sat on my clam then perched on a rock, moved into a cave and has barely come out since, he is breathing and moving every now and then but mostly watching the other fish by the looks of it
I’ve put tons of frozen pods and brine shrimp in but I haven’t seen him eat and it’s hard to tell with him in the cave
I tried to catch up to put him in a isolation tank to try get him to eat but I couldnt catch him
Only other fish are
2 clowns
Coral beauty
2 fire fish
Bicolour blenny
33 gallon tank
16kg of rock

Mandarins are great fish with the proper care. If you just placed him in, don't worry if he is shy or you don't see him eat for a few days, most new fish take some time to acclimate.

While some reefers have been successful getting their mandarins to eat frozen food, most (even the ones who do eat frozen) are going to heavily or fully rely on pods. Copepods are these tiny creatures that can establish in your tank and reproduce quickly. Your mandarin will graze on hundreds of these throughout the day. Most fish will hold their weight for awhile, so watch him over time for any changes in behavior and size.

For the most success, a refugium is recommended so the pods have a safe place to reproduce and repopulate safely away from the fish that eat them. Ideally, a refugium for pods is located last before your return pump so they do not have to fight through a skimmer or other equipment.

Although I cannot verify, I recently read on the forum that it has not been proven that a copepod population for a mandarin can be fully self sustaining in an aquarium under 50 gallons. This being said with your 33 gallon, you will need to add pods to a hopefully established population from time to time.

Once you begin to see pods in your tank, the MINIMUM amount of time I would wait before a mandarin is 6-8 months, although many reefers wait years to be sure they are established.

If you aren't at this point yet, you may want to consider taking him back to the LFS and waiting. If this is not an option, be sure to seed pods regularly and try to have a refugium of some sort. Worst case there are things called 'pod hotels' which provide the same protection for reproduction. I cannot comment on how effective they are, but it might be worth a shot.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Peach02]

Mandarins are great fish with the proper care. If you just placed him in, don't worry if he is shy or you don't see him eat for a few days, most new fish take some time to acclimate.

While some reefers have been successful getting their mandarins to eat frozen food, most (even the ones who do eat frozen) are going to heavily or fully rely on pods. Copepods are these tiny creatures that can establish in your tank and reproduce quickly. Your mandarin will graze on hundreds of these throughout the day. Most fish will hold their weight for awhile, so watch him over time for any changes in behavior and size.

For the most success, a refugium is recommended so the pods have a safe place to reproduce and repopulate safely away from the fish that eat them. Ideally, a refugium for pods is located last before your return pump so they do not have to fight through a skimmer or other equipment.

Although I cannot verify, I recently read on the forum that it has not been proven that a copepod population for a mandarin can be fully self sustaining in an aquarium under 50 gallons. This being said with your 33 gallon, you will need to add pods to a hopefully established population from time to time.

Once you begin to see pods in your tank, the MINIMUM amount of time I would wait before a mandarin is 6-8 months, although many reefers wait years to be sure they are established.

If you aren't at this point yet, you may want to consider taking him back to the LFS and waiting. If this is not an option, be sure to seed pods regularly and try to have a refugium of some sort. Worst case there are things called 'pod hotels' which provide the same protection for reproduction. I cannot comment on how effective they are, but it might be worth a shot.

Best of luck to you!

How would you reccomend getting pods into the refugeium?

 

[Peach02]

Do you have pods in your tank? Before you bought him did you have the lfs show you he’s eating frozen? These are a beautiful fish sadly their vibrant colors are their doom in the hobby. They are finicky eaters and usually die because of it. They starve most of the time due to lack of food source and before you notice they have long been withering away. Try different kinds of food and sizes many you’ll get lucky

Had pods in before I added him
LFS was putting food in the tank but the goby wasn’t noticing it because a tang was hogging it but it’s likely it are the leftovers

 

[James M]

They don’t eat food you put in the tank. Live pods are what they eat

 

[Millimylilly]

Looks like he is still getting acclimated to your tank. Give him some time to roam around. If there are pods in your tank you can tell if he’s eating them if he is 1 roaming around, and 2 if he is kissing the rocks or glass then he is eating pods.

 

[Hemmdog]

Mine eats frozen mysis. I had him in a 32 biocube for a year with zero issues, he was very fat and happy. Now he’s even happier in my 90g that has a fuge, still fat happy and vibrant. As long as you aren’t under feeding your fish, he should learn to eat the leftovers fairly quickly, mine did at least.

 

[ccombs]

How would you reccomend getting pods into the refugeium?

Head over to algaebarn.com and they do a great job of supplying pods and chaeto and macro algae for a refugium that is pest free.

@AlgaeBarn , what would you recommend for @Peach02 to get started with adding pods?

https://www.algaebarn.com/blog/capt...up-an-aquarium-for-a-green-mandarin-dragonet/

 

[Scurvy]

Youll have a better shot at getting it to eat frozen or pellets if you kill all flow while feeding and make sure some of whatever you try makes it down to him. If its moving too quickly in the water he will not get it.
Mine takes Hikari pellets, Mysis and a lot of whats in LRS but the pods will always be the primary food source.

 

[calvertc425]

you should def catch him and put him in an acclimation box this way you can watch to see if he is eating and try to wean him onto frozen foods. If not just try spot feeding throughout the day

 

[Peach02]

Mine eats frozen mysis. I had him in a 32 biocube for a year with zero issues, he was very fat and happy. Now he’s even happier in my 90g that has a fuge, still fat happy and vibrant. As long as you aren’t under feeding your fish, he should learn to eat the leftovers fairly quickly, mine did at least.

Did you have any difficulties getting him to eat intially?
What did you have in your biocube tank wise eg powerheads, refugium?
Where you spot feeding?
Do you think Byrne would work?

 

[Peach02]

Head over to algaebarn.com and they do a great job of supplying pods and chaeto and macro algae for a refugium that is pest free.

@AlgaeBarn , what would you recommend for @Peach02 to get started with adding pods?

https://www.algaebarn.com/blog/capt...up-an-aquarium-for-a-green-mandarin-dragonet/

Algae barn dosnt ship to Australia

 

[Peach02]

Youll have a better shot at getting it to eat frozen or pellets if you kill all flow while feeding and make sure some of whatever you try makes it down to him. If its moving too quickly in the water he will not get it.
Mine takes Hikari pellets, Mysis and a lot of whats in LRS but the pods will always be the primary food source.

I turned the pumps off for 15 min today and he just stayed in the cave but I put a lot of food in there I’m not sure if he ate u would of kept pumps of longer but fish started looking for oxygen

 

[Peach02]

you should def catch him and put him in an acclimation box this way you can watch to see if he is eating and try to wean him onto frozen foods. If not just try spot feeding throughout the day

How do you reccomend catching him without destroying aquascape

 

[Hemmdog]

Did you have any difficulties getting him to eat intially?
What did you have in your biocube tank wise eg powerheads, refugium?
Where you spot feeding?
Do you think Byrne would work?

Brine has no nutritional value so no, don’t feed that. I did have an mp10 in there, no refugium, ample live rock though from the ocean with lots of pods.

 

[ccombs]

In regards to food, I am personally a fan of LRS reef frenzy. It has a ton of ingredients and good nutritional value. I thaw mine to tank temp in a little bit of tank water, and turn my pumps off for 10 minutes as I feed.

Being sure the food is thawed and letting it disperse as small pieces around the tank might help you out overall. My fish and inverts love the stuff.

That being said, you probably will have the most success with some pods.

 

[Peach02]

Brine has no nutritional value so no, don’t feed that. I did have an mp10 in there, no refugium, ample live rock though from the ocean with lots of pods.

Roughy how much live rock?