Mandarin frozen feeding schedule

[Dixie_reefer]

I got a mandarin a few weeks ago from a reefer who had him for 2 years. He eats frozen mysis like a champ but I'm noticing his stomach is sunken in. So I want to know from people who have their mandarins on frozen, what is your feeding schedule? How often and how much should i be feeding my boy to maximize weight gain and maintain health?

 

[Dixie_reefer]

Anyone?

 

[reef4beer]

I got lucky with a wild spotted mandarin.

He ate live brine, pellets, frozen, etc.

How big your tank? How old is the tank? What are you feeding?

 

[miyags]

my little female would swim right out with my other fish to get frozen brine shrimp. I feed 4 to 5 times a day.

 

[_Alex_]

Having a healthy pod population is the easiest and best method. Eating frozen is just a plus to that. I would suggest buying some pod cultures and dumping in the tank.

I also like to pile up empty snail shells in the back corners of my tank where not easily seen to give pods places to hide. And a hunting ground for our target mandarin. We got lucky though and he took to eating small new life spectrum pellets. But still hunts for pods all day.


Also having a healthy refugium with lots of algae gives pods a place to mass reproduce and go back into the tank.
-Alex-

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Having a healthy pod population is the easiest and best method. Eating frozen is just a plus to that. I would suggest buying some pod cultures and dumping in the tank.

I also like to pile up empty snail shells in the back corners of my tank where not easily seen to give pods places to hide. And a hunting ground for our target mandarin. We got lucky though and he took to eating small new life spectrum pellets. But still hunts for pods all day.


Also having a healthy refugium with lots of algae gives pods a place to mass reproduce and go back into the tank.
-Alex-

+1 to this.

I feed my tank with my mandarin mysis twice day since it is my seahorse tank. I also restock the tank with pods once every 3 months. You can try feeding live blackworms to help fatten the mandarin up.

 

[Dixie_reefer]

He's in a 10 for now. He has no problem eating the mysis i give him but he's not gaining weight.

 

[reef4beer]

If he's eating good and looking skinny more then likely has some parasites in his stomach.

Have you noticed anything else unusual? White string hanging?

 

[Eienna]

They seem to need a diet rich in highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs).
Unfortunately, it seems that some frozen mysis has not been fed the correct diet to supply these.
I think the PE brand mysis is good, if you want to try changing. Don't bother with brine shrimp; their nutritional value is too low for these guys.

They do best, it seems, if they can graze all day. Live copepods are a great thing to get for them if you can.

I do agree that he may have parasites.

 

[KoleTang]

Make a mandarin diner! Melevsreef.com - Melev's Mandarin Diner

Soak the food in selcon as well. (All of the fish should benefit from this)

 

[Bryon]

I believe I read somewhere that mandarins don't have a stomach so they are pretty much required to eat/graze all day to get the nutriants and vitamins they need. Mine eats frozen brine when I'm feeding my other fish, but then he goes right back to grazing. Nothing beats a good pod supply.

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

When I had my Mandy he was eating frozen cyclopeeze and brine. I would target feed him twice a day. Pain in the butt, but so worth it.

 

[rworegon]

I do think that a 10 gal is too small for a Mandarin. They need a fairly large and well established tank with a good population of pods. Mine wanders all day picking little critters from the rocks and still seems to want mysis at dinner time. If he looses too much weight he is pretty much doomed. THey are really hard to bring back once they loose too much. Good luck.

 

[pickupman66]

If htis is a 10 gallon tank, they you definately need to get some live pods in there. I have a mandarin like yours but much fatter. It ate frozen brine for the previous owners but I have never seen it take frozen in my tank. I dont feed much brine either. mine is as fat as the day it came in so I know he is eating pods in my tank. I made some pod condos for my sump and have a very strong population of them. they also are eaten my my CBB who I have had for over 6 weeks and has never taken frozen from the water column. somehow that fish is fat too.

 

[Dixie_reefer]

Thanks, he is only in the 10 for now until i can get my 36 up and running.

 

[_Alex_]

I would get live pods ASAP and put in a tank. And mandarin can clean a 10 gal out fast of pods. Also maybe get a small ball of well seeded macro algae from someone and out In the tank it should be loaded what the heck pods and give him some good food. As much as mine eats nls small fish pellets e still grazes all day.


-Alex-

 

[_Alex_]

Also like mentioned these fish do not have a stomach they need to continuously eat small amounts of food while awake to maintain energy and be able to hunt


-Alex-

 

[javisaman]

Try nutramar ova. I've had good success with that and it's very healthy for fish, very high in HUFAs. Many fish don't have stomachs (i.e. goldfish) but still don't have the same requirements. Though I've never dissected one, I'd think that dragonets have inefficient digestive/intestinal tracts. From my understanding most marine fish don't produce fat, but instead store it from their diets; and from my limited experience (keeping mandarins in four years), these fish in particular benefit from high fat diets.

 

[Squishie89]

Make a mandarin diner! Melevsreef.com - Melev's Mandarin Diner

Soak the food in selcon as well. (All of the fish should benefit from this)

Holy crap, that might be the solution! I am in talks with someone to get a mandarin that is eating frozen/prepared foods, but I only feed once a day. Think it would work if I put it in at night?

 

[pickupman66]

hmmm... I may have to try that.