What can I do to prevent my mandarin from starving?

[tnewell]

I’m new to saltwater fish and coral handling, my bio cube 29 gallon, it’s 5 and a half months old, At three and a half months old is when I added my first clown fish, I then added a designer clown and a cardinal. I figured I could add a mandarin as a eye popper fish. But recently he seems very slim and I don’t know what to do. I have tried turning the filter off a letting the pods settle for hours and then turning the filter back on, but seems like they always end up in the filter or eaten by other fish. Should I return him to the store in exchange for a yellow goby? I only have about 11 pounds of live rock In the tank As of right now.

 

[Chrisfish]

Sadly to say I would return him to your LFS, they need a really established tank and even if the will eat frozen food , with your tank being that new I just wouldn’t risk it.

 

[Fred2482]

Welcome! Unfortunatley it can be extremely difficult to get these fish to eat.

 

[BighohoReef]

I’m new to saltwater fish and coral handling, my bio cube 29 gallon, it’s 5 and a half months old, At three and a half months old is when I added my first clown fish, I then added a designer clown and a cardinal. I figured I could add a mandarin as a eye popper fish. But recently he seems very slim and I don’t know what to do. I have tried turning the filter off a letting the pods settle for hours and then turning the filter back on, but seems like they always end up in the filter or eaten by other fish. Should I return him to the store in exchange for a yellow goby? I only have about 11 pounds of live rock In the tank As of right now.

Yes for the health of the fish. Probably not enough food and or hiding spaces for the little guy. Natruallly should be eating... when you add pods do you do it in the evening? Lights down it’ll help keep some of the pod population going in the main portion of your tank.

 

[AZ_Reef]

Welcome, I would return it to the LFS.

 

[SaltyCupcake]

Welcome to R2R!!

Sadly, I echo the others. See if the LFS or a friend or someone from a local reefing club can hold the little guy for ya.

Mandarin really needs an established tank with a healthy population of pods to feed it since they can be picky eaters and that is their favorite food. I believe they prefer copepods to amphipods as the amphipods can sometimes be too big of a bite.

If you can't get anyone to hold it, see if you can rush an order of pods from Algae Barn to give it something to eat so it doesn't starve. <3

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5280 Pods

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[najer]

As above it needs returning to the lfs or it will starve.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

I’m new to saltwater fish and coral handling, my bio cube 29 gallon, it’s 5 and a half months old, At three and a half months old is when I added my first clown fish, I then added a designer clown and a cardinal. I figured I could add a mandarin as a eye popper fish. But recently he seems very slim and I don’t know what to do. I have tried turning the filter off a letting the pods settle for hours and then turning the filter back on, but seems like they always end up in the filter or eaten by other fish. Should I return him to the store in exchange for a yellow goby? I only have about 11 pounds of live rock In the tank As of right now.

Welcome to R2R. Lots of knowledgable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for signing up. As mentioned, it's a difficult fish and best in an established tank. Probably best to return it if possible.

 

[jimk60]

I would agree this fish is in trouble but sending him back to the LFS is probably a death sentence. Most are less equipped to help him survive than a hobbyist. Unless he knows someone equipped to take the fish OP needs more ideas on getting him to eat.

 

[AcroNem]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, I do agree with the above. Wild mandarins are fish that require a fairly large mature system to do well long term. There are captive bred specimens available that take prepared foods and would do better for you.

 

[Ippyroy]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[andrewey]

Welcome to Reef2Reef. Thanks for asking the community! Right now he is starving and will die if not properly rehomed ASAP in an environment that can support him. I would return him to the LFS- they will be able to place him in an environment with plenty of live food in a mature tank. One of my old LFS's contacted me for this exact scenario for me to temporarily hold a mandarin in my QT while they arranged a permanent home because they didn't have live pods at the time. They'll either be able to feed him themselves or get him into a home that can care for him.

 

[ReefGrammie]

Welcome to R2R, and good for you for reaching out! You've had good responses, but I'll throw another option out there. I definitely agree with returning the mandarin to your LFS. If you want an eye-popping fish in the same category, you might see about trading for a ruby red dragonet. I think your tank size is appropriate. Mine eats pods, but is also a pig when it comes to frozen food. If that is a possible trade, you might make sure with the LFS that the ruby dragonet is eating food other than pods. I guess my biggest hesitation even there would be the age of your tank. Good luck in your decision!

 

[Crustaceon]

I’d say keep trying but change your strategy. I say this because the LFS probably isn’t going to do any better and the fish will most likely starve in their care too. The first question I have is, are you feeding live pods or frozen pods? If it’s frozen, you’ll need something else because it rarely works. What does work IME as “for-sure” things are nutramar ova (frozen prawn eggs and can be hard to find) or live brine shrimp, either baby or full-size. Feeding should be turning off all pumps for 20-30 minutes and using a pipet, very slowly and sneakily squirting a little bit of food 4-5” in front of the dragonet. If you can get the mandarin to eat this way, over the course of a few weeks let it see the pipet more and more. Eventually you can start sneaking in a few frozen brine into the mix and it’ll likely take that too.

 

[tnewell]

I’d say keep trying but change your strategy. I say this because the LFS probably isn’t going to do any better and the fish will most likely starve in their care too. The first question I have is, are you feeding live pods or frozen pods? If it’s frozen, you’ll need something else because it rarely works. What does work IME as “for-sure” things are nutramar ova (frozen prawn eggs and can be hard to find) or live brine shrimp, either baby or full-size. Feeding should be turning off all pumps for 20-30 minutes and using a pipet, very slowly and sneakily squirting a little bit of food 4-5” in front of the dragonet. If you can get the mandarin to eat this way, over the course of a few weeks let it see the pipet more and more. Eventually you can start sneaking in a few frozen brine into the mix and it’ll likely take that too.

I’m feeding him live pods, while I feed my other fish frozen bribe shrimp, I turn off all electrical except for the lights and put the pods in maybe 20 at a time.

 

[Fishbro]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Crustaceon]

I’m feeding him live pods, while I feed my other fish frozen bribe shrimp, I turn off all electrical except for the lights and put the pods in maybe 20 at a time.

There’s the problem. The way mandarins work is they need a continuous supply of pods due to their fast metabolism and the fact that pods aren’t really that much food as far as nutrition goes. I like to say if your dragonet isn’t pecking at something every 20-30 seconds, you don’t have enough pods in your system. This is why we say to “seed” your tank before adding mandarins. There has to be at least tens of thousands of pods already in the system for dragonets to self-feed. Luckily there is a way around this and it’s through targeted manual feeding with lots of nutritious stuff. If i’m target feeding with baby brine, I would want to see a dragonet eat at least a hundred of them per feeding (yes, I count the pecks). If I can get them to take frozen full-sized brine, that number would be around 15-20 of them each feeding and this is twice a day. I’d still prep your tank for pods though by making sure they have hiding places like a pile of rock rubble somewhere and feed your tank reasonably so the pods have enough algae and detritus to munch on and propagate.