mandarin

[woodzy128]

How long can a mandarin live without food? I bought one from my lfs they said it was eating prepared foods. They lied! It hasn't eaten a thing. I bought it last monday and it was at the store since the thursday before that. I ordered pods but there not gonna be here till thursday. that will be two weeks and he isn't looking well. Any info would be great thanks.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

What kind of food have you been trying to feed him?

 

[jason g]

You can see if a LFS in your area sells this kind of food for Mandarin's also. Mine goes crazy when I put this in my tank. Good luck I hope the little guy or girl makes it.

 

[woodzy128]

I wish my lfs had that food! I have tried frozen brine and mysis shrimp and Omega micro pellets.

 

[reeffirstaid]

It's not uncommon at all for a mandarin to not accept prepared food: (frozen or otherwise). They can be trained to accept food, but it takes time and diligence. Most mandarin fish survive by consuming tiny crustaceans that occur naturally in the aquarium on live rock. You need a strong and established refugium, which can replenish the aquarium with crustaceans, to keep a mandarin fish healthy. As for how long can they survive without food. That depends on the health of the individual specimen. Some can go weeks or even months, others perish quite quickly.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Hello,

A mandarin not eating is not a good sign but is common. I have two currently and trained them how to eat frozen. Before I bought them, I had my LFS feed each mandarin to see which one was eating. I chose that one and I began the process of training them.

Good luck!

 

[jason g]

Wow I was feeding small pellets to my fish like I normally do and some fell where my Mandarin was grazing and bam, the little guy was gulping up pellets like it was his favorite thing to do. I'm shocked I never seen him eat my Reef Frenzy food or pellets before. I'm happy as a hippo! Lol:wink:

 

[Reefermadness73]

I trained mine by using Nutramar Ova frozen food and then they moved on to eating pellets....good luck

 

[Nurse Payne]

Try hatching some brine shrimp....you can make a simple setup using 2 empty coke bottles. You don't *have* to have an airstone if you don't have one lying around already. Ask some people out of your local reef club if they have any pods or sand from a tank or some chaeto you can throw in yours.

 

[noobofthereef]

Some LFS aren't very trust-worthy. Next time you can try asking them to feed a fish before you bring it home.