White worms for Mandarin?

[Peach02]

Ive been researching good ways to fatten up my mandarin dragonetts as their weight is going up and down a lot lately I know I will need to find another method of feeding them. I tried Paul B's brine shrimp feeder however I couldn't get all the exactly correct materials and my clownfish decided to eat not the mandarins.

I also came across white worms as a food source, my question is what are your experiences feeding mandarin fish white worms and what is your advice and method of delivering them to the mandarin

 

[Brad Miller]

Give your White Worms a bath

I realize 97% of anyone who is accidentally reading this has no idea what I am talking about. I like to feed my fish live worms and there are basically two types commonly available. Blackworms and whiteworms. Blackworms live in freshwater and you buy them in water in small portions or online...

www.reef2reef.com

It’s a bit tricky to get your mandarin to get these before the worms go under the sand, but can be done

 

[Paul B]

Actually whiteworms are rather stupid and lazy so they won't really borrow in a salt water tank. They are actually land creatures but will live 5 days in salt water.
Just throw them in and they will wiggle until the mandarin sees them, then he will do this little Macarana dance, smile from gill to gill and eat them.

 

[Peach02]

Actually whiteworms are rather stupid and lazy so they won't really borrow in a salt water tank. They are actually land creatures but will live 5 days in salt water.
Just throw them in and they will wiggle until the mandarin sees them, then he will do this little Macarana dance, smile from gill to gill and eat them.

Thanks Paul! Would you recommend trying to feed him through a jar or turkey baster or just throwing them in? And how often do you collect your worms because I imagine collecting several worms a day would drain your population fast?

 

[LadyMac]

What about grindals? They are similar but in my experience white worms like it cooler and grindals are much more forgiving.

 

[Proteus Meep]

Frozen lobster eggs are usually relished by them as another option....my mandarin happily ate it before i had to move it on

 

[Paul B]

I never used grindals.

The white worms I take maybe 50 worms and throw them in near the mandarin. I try to get thrm in caves where he feeds but the other fish get a lot of them.
I usually feed the rest of the fish at the same time so they are busy near the top eating. The worms live a long time so the mandarins get them. You can put them in a tube as I used to do to keep the other fish away.
The copperband hates when I do this

 

[Brad Miller]

Actually whiteworms are rather stupid and lazy so they won't really borrow in a salt water tank. They are actually land creatures but will live 5 days in salt water.
Just throw them in and they will wiggle until the mandarin sees them, then he will do this little Macarana dance, smile from gill to gill and eat them.

I must have worms that went to Harvard....the ones I’ve seen hit the bottom go right in the sand bed.
I’ll have to look into their Harvard trust fund and have it cut off

 

[Peach02]

I never used grindals.

The white worms I take maybe 50 worms and throw them in near the mandarin. I try to get thrm in caves where he feeds but the other fish get a lot of them.
I usually feed the rest of the fish at the same time so they are busy near the top eating. The worms live a long time so the mandarins get them. You can put them in a tube as I used to do to keep the other fish away.
The copperband hates when I do this

How often do you put them in?

 

[Paul B]

A couple of times a week

 

[Peach02]

A couple of times a week

Ok cool, thank you so much

 

[LadyMac]

I never used grindals.

The white worms I take maybe 50 worms and throw them in near the mandarin. I try to get thrm in caves where he feeds but the other fish get a lot of them.
I usually feed the rest of the fish at the same time so they are busy near the top eating. The worms live a long time so the mandarins get them. You can put them in a tube as I used to do to keep the other fish away.
The copperband hates when I do this

That’s adorable.

 

[bluprntguy]

I feed my mandarin grindal worms. I have two cultures going and that's more than enough to feed every other day or so. The grindals last an hour or two in saltwater I think. I feed the mandarin with all pumps off for 30 minutes twice a day.

My male clown and orchid dottyback also love grindal worms, so they are first in line at the turkey baster. The female clown doesn't care for grindals at all for some reason.

 

[MaxtheCat]

I never used grindals.

The white worms I take maybe 50 worms and throw them in near the mandarin. I try to get thrm in caves where he feeds but the other fish get a lot of them.
I usually feed the rest of the fish at the same time so they are busy near the top eating. The worms live a long time so the mandarins get them. You can put them in a tube as I used to do to keep the other fish away.
The copperband hates when I do this

Paul, I know this is a super old video, but I'd love to know where you found that tube feeder or how you built it. It's a great idea!

 

[Paul B]

Thats just a plexiglass tube about 6" long and about 1 1/4" wide. There is a 3/8" tube going over the surface to put the worms in. I think I also put a couple of small "barriers" in about 1 1/2" apart in the bottom of the tube to keep the worms from washing out. It's kind of self explanitory.

 

[MaxtheCat]

Thats just a plexiglass tube about 6" long and about 1 1/4" wide. There is a 3/8" tube going over the surface to put the worms in. I think I also put a couple of small "barriers" in about 1 1/2" apart in the bottom of the tube to keep the worms from washing out. It's kind of self explanitory.

Thank you! I was just hoping it could have been something that I bought first, but I’d take the time to make it for them. They are worth it