MANDARINS- ANYONE HAVE SUCCESS WITH THEM

[KimberlyJones]

Hello I'm trying to learn more and more about them...I know they are considered difficult to keep but they are beautiful to me...also WHICH TYPE OF PODS ARE BEST FOR THEM.... thanks in advance

If you can please share some pics of them and your pod set up.... no worries though

 

[KimberlyJones]

I have had a mandarin in a 10 gallon tank with a dozen dwarf seahorses for over a year now. He is happy and fat. I do have to restock with pods every other month (I use a variety). I am sure he eats the live baby brine shrimp that I have to feed the Seahorse.

 

[Bryce Peterson]

Very nice thanks for sharing

The target mandarin was the last Petco fish I bought. I went in there and they had 4 dead mandarins and this one starving one left. They didn't even bother to remove the dead fish. When I asked what they were feeding them, the kid brought out some marine flake food. I ended up buying her just to save her life. I wasn't sure at the time if my tank could support a second mandarin, but it's been fine so far.

 

[rjl45]

The target mandarin was the last Petco fish I bought. I went in there and they had 4 dead mandarins and this one starving one left. They didn't even bother to remove the dead fish. When I asked what they were feeding them, the kid brought out some marine flake food. I ended up buying her just to save her life. I wasn't sure at the time if my tank could support a second mandarin, but it's been fine so far.

It's terrible, but far too common an end for mandarins at fish stores...thankfully there are some of us, who will take on the challenge and save a mandarin's life.

 

[pokerdobe]

Thanks a bunch...

Tried to snap these shots on the fly.. I apologize for their quality. I hope they convey how especially fat the female is. The male is nice and plump too, but nowhere near her.

 

[FranklinDattein]

She is looks pregnant

 

[pokerdobe]

She is pregnant. They dance and mate every few nights.

 

[dark waters]

Tried to snap these shots on the fly.. I apologize for their quality. I hope they convey how especially fat the female is. The male is nice and plump too, but nowhere near her.

Very beautiful thanks for sharing...

 

[dark waters]

Going on over two years. Very active, good water and peaceful

Very beautiful....

 

[dark waters]

The target mandarin was the last Petco fish I bought. I went in there and they had 4 dead mandarins and this one starving one left. They didn't even bother to remove the dead fish. When I asked what they were feeding them, the kid brought out some marine flake food. I ended up buying her just to save her life. I wasn't sure at the time if my tank could support a second mandarin, but it's been fine so far.

UNFORTUNATELY SHOPS LIKE PETSMART AND PETCO ARE IN A POSITION WHERE THE EMPLOYEES DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SELLING HAVE OF THE TIME....BUT FOR SALTWATER SHOPS THERE IS KNOW EXCUSE. AT LEAST HAVE THE PROPER FOOD AVAILABLE FOR THE ANIMALS THAT YOU ARE SELLING....THEN IF CUSTOMER DOES NOT BUY WHAT IS NEEDED FOR THE ANIMAL OR CULTURE PROPERLY IT IS ON THE CUSTOMER.....

 

[dark waters]

HEY GUYS YOUR THOUGHTS...FROM MY RESEARCH IT SEEMS THE OVA SPOTTED MANDARINS ARE DOING BETTER OVER ALL.... AND DOES ANYONE HAVE INFO ON PLEASE THANK SPECIALIZES IN CAPTIVE RAISED MANDARINS INSTEAD OF WILD CAUGHT...THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

[pokerdobe]

HEY GUYS YOUR THOUGHTS...FROM MY RESEARCH IT SEEMS THE OVA SPOTTED MANDARINS ARE DOING BETTER OVER ALL.... AND DOES ANYONE HAVE INFO ON PLEASE THANK SPECIALIZES IN CAPTIVE RAISED MANDARINS INSTEAD OF WILD CAUGHT...THANKS IN ADVANCE

Unfortunately, ORA no longer sells the captive raised mandarins from what I have read. There wasn't enough demand for the prices they were seeking.

Training a mandarin is not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. I've trained mandarins for my friends and it usually takes about 2-3 weeks give or take. They are smart lil fish and most importantly, creatures of habit. Feed them in the same spot, at the same time every day. They'll soon learn to associate that spot with food and hang out there all the time. In fact, my pair are super lazy and do not really hunt down pods as much as they used too... seeing as I have a million all over my tank.

The key is to find a mandarin that isn't too emaciated at the LFS (if you plan to train). Good food combinations that I find that mandarins like are brine, bloodworms, blackworms, and prawn/lobster roe. Prawn/lobster roe is what I use to get them initially feeding. I have yet to meet a mandarin that ignores prawn roe, trained or not.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Where do you get prawn lobster roe.

 

[CWMorrow]

They are a great addition to a tank. You need a good pod population. I also have 2 wrasse in my tank. So I culture pods. Not hard at all.

Jerseypete, please tell us about culturing pods. I can raise them, but the number of pods will not increase about a certain amount.

 

[dricc]

Mojo...

looks like he's about to explode.lol

 

[pokerdobe]

Where do you get prawn lobster roe.

We did a group buy through my local reef forum, I picked up 4 packs, each about 2lbs. The individual who purchased it, I believe did it through Ruineman's Aquarium Inc in Miami.

I shipped a pack to someone else who also had picky mandarins. This is what I got back

 

[jerseypete]

Jerseypete, please tell us about culturing pods. I can raise them, but the number of pods will not increase about a certain amount.

I use a simply walmart juice container. I keep 2 of them going at the same time. I fill with 1.023 saltwater. Add a bag of reef pods in each. Small rigid airline. Not much air flow. I use a small 10w heater cause their in a non heated room in my house. Starting fresh I would leave it go a month before harvesting any. Adding phyto along the way to keep the water at a green tint. Then I just open the spigot over my tank and dump half the water. Or if I don't want the extra nutrients in water I'll use a 50 micro sieve. The shake that out in water. The top off container with fresh saltwater. I usually check salinity and add rodi if necessary. That's it. I bought 2 bags of pods like 8months ago. And still on same culture.

The phyto I just got an apple juice container. Mott's brand. It's gotta be mott's. Filled with 1.018 saltwater. Added 5ml guillards. Rigid airline. The original phyto culture I got from Florida aqua farms. Like 20 bucks. These are the best. You add a little rodi to the dish. Let sit overnight then dump in container. Add a light. Close to container. 18 hrs a day. It takes around 10-14 days to harvest time. The darker the better. I usually get 3 16 ounce bottles at a time. Then just top off with 1.018 saltwater and in another 2 weeks you get the same. I have a second clean container that I switch every other harvest. Just dump remaining phyto from dirty to clean container. I will usually add 1-2 ml of guillards when adding new saltwater.

I don't keep 2 cultures of phyto going at the same time cause it would make just to much for my needs. But I always have 2 extra disk from Florida aqua farm on hand. They usually take up to 2 weeks to get from order date. I just switched to the led grow light. Don't think it's any better. Just had it lying around. A regular 100 w CFL will do. Guillards can be bought on ebay. I tried miracle grow with no luck. Hope this helps.

 

[CWMorrow]

Thanks!

 

[twobytwo]

Here's the two in my 120g. Some users may not agree with how I started with them.

I got them when my dt was fallow, fighting ich. I had a QT going with my fish but had medications in the tank and didn't want the mandarins with them. They both lived in a 5.5gal for about 2 months. It wasn't ideal but it was the only spare tank I had on hand. I think I put in about 20oz of bottled Copepods each month, supplemented with frozen brine and Mysis, and used MarineSnow every few days. They thrived. While the DT was fallow, the Copepods and Amphipod population EXPLODED... it was pretty creepy seeing them everywhere! Anyhow, I put them in the DT when they were ready and they have become nice and fat and just enjoy the day looking for food.

I'm pretty sure I have a male and female. They get along but I haven't seen any type of mating. Do they mate easily in captivity?
I can probably get a better picture up tonight:

PS my source for copepods is Canada Copepods

 

[pokerdobe]

Here's the two in my 120g. Some users may not agree with how I started with them.

I got them when my dt was fallow, fighting ich. I had a QT going with my fish but had medications in the tank and didn't want the mandarins with them. They both lived in a 5.5gal for about 2 months. It wasn't ideal but it was the only spare tank I had on hand. I think I put in about 20oz of bottled Copepods each month, supplemented with frozen brine and Mysis, and used MarineSnow every few days. They thrived. While the DT was fallow, the Copepods and Amphipod population EXPLODED... it was pretty creepy seeing them everywhere! Anyhow, I put them in the DT when they were ready and they have become nice and fat and just enjoy the day looking for food.

I'm pretty sure I have a male and female. They get along but I haven't seen any type of mating. Do they mate easily in captivity?
I can probably get a better picture up tonight:

PS my source for copepods is Canada Copepods

They do mate quite easily, assuming the female is bearing eggs. You can easily tell by their dorsal fins. The male has a longer, flamboyant dorsal fin and the female's is shorter and rounded off.