Mandarin Help!!

[Baby Ray]

Hello everyone,
I bought a mandarin from my LFS and told them to hang on to it while I let my QT tank cycle. It was still alive when I went back and it was pretty active but she was a little skinny. Now I have her in my QT and she is not very active. I was hoping she would take ROE or LRS because people have had luck with that but she isn't right now. She also isn't moving very much. I made a pod condo and stuffed it with Cheato and and rubble from my sump and I can see pods crawling around for her to eat but I haven't seen her peck at anything yet. What should I do?!?!?
I will try to get a picture on here.
Thank you everyone!!

 

[Baby Ray]

@Humblefish, @melypr1985

 

[MCFish23]

I had one a while back that was in a similar situation. I could see pods crawling all around but mandarin wouldn't eat.... Didn't make it... Hopefully someone will be able to give you advice so you get a different outcome

Good luck!!

 

[jsker]

Let call in the [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

 

[sa6hir]

They are very picky little things and can die all of a sudden. Some people will tell you that they won't last more then a year in a aquarium due to lack of pods & should be left in the sea! I did manage to keep 1 for about 1.5 years even though I had enough pods I could see them on the glass in the mornings it still died! Haven't brought another but will try again in afew months. Hope your little guy pulls through all the best

 

[twilliard]

When we say "pods" for a mandarin we must keep in mind that there are several species of them. The question is what species did they eat before ending up in our tanks.

 

[Baby Ray]

They are very picky little things and can die all of a sudden. Some people will tell you that they won't last more then a year in a aquarium due to lack of pods & should be left in the sea! I did manage to keep 1 for about 1.5 years even though I had enough pods I could see them on the glass in the mornings it still died! Haven't brought another but will try again in afew months. Hope your little guy pulls through all the best

Thank you!! This is my dream fish and I am very worried. I will probably order and brine shrimp hatchery and brine shrimp eegs and see if she will eat them. I have selcon to gut load them with and I will probably us @Paul B's mandarin target feeder. She made it through the night last night. I just hope she becomes a little more active and starts to peck at the pods.

 

[Baby Ray]

When we say "pods" for a mandarin we must keep in mind that there are several species of them. The question is what species did they eat before ending up in our tanks.

I have a hard time seeing the little pods but I have seen a lot of big and small amphiopods in the QT tank.

 

[jsker]

Did some quick reading, IF you LFS has reef nutrition arcti-pods that might work to get her eating

 

[jsker]

Link to food

 

[Baby Ray]

Well, the thing is my LFS is about an hour away and I have no one to take me (I am in middle school) because my dad and mom and busy today

 

[Baby Ray]

I just put some LRS in there and she didn't tank it

 

[melypr1985]

The tuff part here is that you can force them to eat. There are several types of pods and they dont eat the larger ones. You really have to keep doing what your doing and hope he starts eating soon. I've never seen garlic work to get mandarins to eat, mainly because the are most tempted by live foods.

He's in QT? No medications in there right? What were you planning on for his QT treatment?

 

[Baby Ray]

The tuff part here is that you can force them to eat. There are several types of pods and they dont eat the larger ones. You really have to keep doing what your doing and hope he starts eating soon. I've never seen garlic work to get mandarins to eat, mainly because the are most tempted by live foods.

He's in QT? No medications in there right? What were you planning on for his QT treatment?

She is in QT (She is a she ) I was not planning to do any medications because I know that medications can be hard on mandarins and I feel like that would weaken my chances of her taking frozen. I do have metroplex on hand if you think that could help in any way.

 

[Chrisfish]

Was she only eating pods at your LFS? When I purchased mine I knew she was also eating live worms and frozen foods before I got her. How long have you had her in your qt tank?

 

[melypr1985]

She is in QT (She is a she ) I was not planning to do any medications because I know that medications can be hard on mandarins and I feel like that would weaken my chances of her taking frozen. I do have metroplex on hand if you think that could help in any way.

Right now, I dont think there is anything wrong with her. It's just a case of getting her to eat. Dont use the metroplex unless you see white stringy poop coming out of her.

My advice for the moment would be to run TTM on her and get her into a real tank as soon as possible. Hopefully she's done before she starves. That sounds bleak I know... sorry

 

[Baby Ray]

Right now, I dont think there is anything wrong with her. It's just a case of getting her to eat. Dont use the metroplex unless you see white stringy poop coming out of her.

My advice for the moment would be to run TTM on her and get her into a real tank as soon as possible. Hopefully she's done before she starves. That sounds bleak I know... sorry

Thank you. She is a lot more active right now. What does TTM mean?

 

[Baby Ray]

Was she only eating pods at your LFS? When I purchased mine I knew she was also eating live worms and frozen foods before I got her. How long have you had her in your qt tank?

She was not eating frozen at the store but she was showing interest. I bought her from them because that store had donated a lot of stuff for the tank I am setting up a school and I wanted to buy something from them just to be nice. . She has been in QT for almost a day

 

[Baby Ray]

 

[melypr1985]

What does TTM mean?

TTM = Tank Transfer Method My preferred method of QT especially when dealing with species that can't handle copper.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/