My Mandarin only eats frozen Brineshrimp but

[Mushroom Boy]

Make one of these. Fill it several times a week and let the mandarin graze as it sees fit.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/thanks-paulb-mandarin-feeder.263752/

 

[1Clown]

Well I found my mandarin dead today with it's mouth open wide, not sure what happened. It was eating frozen brine fine and was hunting and eating copepods all day long. It didn't get bullied either. It was extremely frail though when I got it but not sure why it died.

 

[Harris3005]

Sorry to hear that mate.

 

[1Clown]

Well I bought a new mandarin, fat and healthy and was a full adult male. I had him about 7 days and did not see him eat a single thing, no copepods, frozen brine, calanus, plankton etc... Found him dead today on the sandbed. No idea why it died, I thought they take a very long time to starve to death, needless to say I won't be getting another mandarin or finicky feeder again unless I have a big enough system with a lot of live rock and an established pod population to boot and even then I'll think about it long and hard.

 

[PetuniaTheCat]

Well I bought a new mandarin, fat and healthy and was a full adult male. I had him about 7 days and did not see him eat a single thing, no copepods, frozen brine, calanus, plankton etc... Found him dead today on the sandbed. No idea why it died, I thought they take a very long time to starve to death, needless to say I won't be getting another mandarin or finicky feeder again unless I have a big enough system with a lot of live rock and an established pod population to boot and even then I'll think about it long and hard.

Sorry to hear about that. It sounds like it was not doing well when you purchased it, even if it appeared to be healthy. The LFS I got mine from had a male that completely ignored any food it was offered, so I think it is just luck on how the mandarin was caught. I know someone asked earlier if your mandarin was aquacultured and you said they were not available, but have you seen algaebarn's mandarins? A female there (females eat less since they are smaller than males) would be the best option if you ever bought another mandarin. Whatever you do, good luck!

"I mistook stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky." -Geralt of Rivia

 

[1Clown]

Sorry to hear about that. It sounds like it was not doing well when you purchased it, even if it appeared to be healthy. The LFS I got mine from had a male that completely ignored any food it was offered, so I think it is just luck on how the mandarin was caught. I know someone asked earlier if your mandarin was aquacultured and you said they were not available, but have you seen algaebarn's mandarins? A female there (females eat less since they are smaller than males) would be the best option if you ever bought another mandarin. Whatever you do, good luck!

"I mistook stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky." -Geralt of Rivia

I'm 100% certain I bought the mandarin with whitespot or something as the colours on it's body weren't striking like there were so profound on it's head. It looked like the body had a white layer over it and not long after introducing it to the tank my clowns have the same thing, only much more noticeable. That could be the reason it wasn't eating and died all of a sudden. Now I have my 3 fish to deal with who now have whitespot because of that mandarin argh.