Show off your Mandarin

How much has she grown in 2 years? Do you feed her or let her pick at pods on her own?
She picks up on pods all day along and can’t keep up in the 80 gallon tank. She will pick up small shrimps like brine shrimps but other fishes are way faster and generally I do not bother with feeding frozen food.

Sam
 
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Is this a red?
 
She picks up on pods all day along and can’t keep up in the 80 gallon tank. She will pick up small shrimps like brine shrimps but other fishes are way faster and generally I do not bother with feeding frozen food.

Sam
Did you get her to eat frozen baby brine?
 
For those that went with biota, how do you make sure other fish don't outcompete the Mandarin for pellets or frozen?? I have a 200g tank and would love a mandarin but I have like 20 fish including 5 wrasses that are very aggressive with food....

I'd just seed your tank heavy with pods, dose phyto and call it a day. A 200G tank with a decent amount of rockwork should be able to support one mandarin with no issues, even with the Wrasses
 
Stunning colors! Are all biota’s this color or did you luck out?
Honestly I think that the only reason it has such vibrant colors is due to feeding them TDO pellets. The female is just as colorful if not more deep color than the male
 
For those that went with biota, how do you make sure other fish don't outcompete the Mandarin for pellets or frozen?? I have a 200g tank and would love a mandarin but I have like 20 fish including 5 wrasses that are very aggressive with food....
I would feed three different size pellets to the fish, the large, medium and X-small size like heavily to make sure that some of them dropped down
 
Honestly I think that the only reason it has such vibrant colors is due to feeding them TDO pellets. The female is just as colorful if not more deep color than the male
Amazing- you just sprinkle them on the sand bed? There is too much flow in my tank for that to work for me
 
Amazing- you just sprinkle them on the sand bed? There is too much flow in my tank for that to work for me
I have a lot of flow as well.

I add the pellets to a small container and add water. Makes the pellets sink faster
 
Mandarins are some of my favorite fish

I tried it with 3 blue in the past and they all died because they didn't eat.

I then got a target mandarin who quickly ate pellets but it died when my tank crashed

Finally over a year ago I got a pair of biota mandarins for $85 and gave it a try. They have survived, grown and gotten some gorgeous colors

Let's see your mandarins, green, blue, red, wild or captive bred!

20220925_183127.jpg 20211026_154257.jpg 20221002_173924.jpg 20220425_181657.jpg
Mandarins are some of my favorite fish

I tried it with 3 blue in the past and they all died because they didn't eat.

I then got a target mandarin who quickly ate pellets but it died when my tank crashed

Finally over a year ago I got a pair of biota mandarins for $85 and gave it a try. They have survived, grown and gotten some gorgeous colors

Let's see your mandarins, green, blue, red, wild or captive bred!

20220925_183127.jpg 20211026_154257.jpg 20221002_173924.jpg 20220425_181657.jpg
Here’s my mandarin and my dragonet
Mandarins are some of my favorite fish

I tried it with 3 blue in the past and they all died because they didn't eat.

I then got a target mandarin who quickly ate pellets but it died when my tank crashed

Finally over a year ago I got a pair of biota mandarins for $85 and gave it a try. They have survived, grown and gotten some gorgeous colors

Let's see your mandarins, green, blue, red, wild or captive bred!

20220925_183127.jpg 20211026_154257.jpg 20221002_173924.jpg 20220425_181657.jpg
here’s a few pics of my mandarin & my dragonet. My mandarin is huge compared to the dragonet. I’ve had the mandarin way longer. They are both boys and share the tank and hang out.
 

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ok- whats size tdo pellet would be appropriate?
I definitely would only use X-Small pellets.

The large fish don't really go after them as much as they do the medium and large ones so the smallest pellets reaches the bottom.

I had to edit the picture a bit as it was dark but the female is almost as bright as this in person. Her color is much nicer than my males but half the size
 

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I definitely would only use X-Small pellets.

The large fish don't really go after them as much as they do the medium and large ones so the smallest pellets reaches the bottom.

I had to edit the picture a bit as it was dark but the female is almost as bright as this in person. Her color is much nicer than my males but half the size
Stunning colors. So u feed a pinch, it goes to the bottom and they spend the next couple of hours trying to find the food. That easy? Or do you do some kind of feed station?
 
Stunning colors. So u feed a pinch, it goes to the bottom and they spend the next couple of hours trying to find the food. That easy? Or do you do some kind of feed station?
I'll try to record a video of how I do it but yea pretty much I throw different size pellets in the container, let the pellets chill for 5 minutes and then disperse is around the tank. The mandarins just wonder around looking for pellets here and there
 

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