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Coral Vue Hydros

Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread


metrokat

Mandarin Training  

164 members have voted

  1. 1. Does your Mandarin Fish eat Frozen?

    • Yes & I trained my mandarin
    • Yes & I had nothing to do with it
    • No
  2. 2. Answer this if you have a 2nd Mandarin Fish

    • Yes & I trained my mandarin
    • Yes & I had nothing to do with it
    • No
    • I don't have a second Mandy


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SquishyFishy

This is really horrible, next thing I have to do is learn to take a decent pic. Right now, I'm using iphone....so here is Mandy, my mandy:

my%20mandy-XL.jpg

Yes, she's in a 16 gal. Nuvo and no she is not trained. But I'm feeding her Tigger Pods and she is fattening a little...only had her 2 weeks now. Trying to culture the pods in my rear chamber with Chaeto, we'll see. She seems happy and is always out hunting. She is so cute.

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MyJasmineRose

Hey guys, any clue on what this could be? Can't seem to get an Id from anyone other than possible debris. Hasn't really changed other than being less light colored and more normal. Worry? Don't? Was told I could add her to the copper qt at half dose but dont want to risk that if people don't think there's anything wrong. Normal behavior and eating. tylrD6k.jpg (edit - looking at mandarin pics on google it seems most have their gills flared a tad, I might just be being paranoid, if so, apologies)

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Oh no Kat that's awful; I'm so sorry. I don't know if you feel the same way, but I am extra attached to my mandarins I think because of the experience of spending so much time watching them while training them. I imagine it is very sad to loose Bella, especially so suddenly. My thoughts are with you.

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Oh no Kat that's awful; I'm so sorry. I don't know if you feel the same way, but I am extra attached to my mandarins I think because of the experience of spending so much time watching them while training them. I imagine it is very sad to loose Bella, especially so suddenly. My thoughts are with you.

She came to live with me in April 2013. So 16 months. She was healthy, fat, active. Sam on the other hand is a millimeter away from starvation and living in the fuge. He has been all skin and bones for about 3 months now. He eats but he most likely has an internal parasite. I've been feeding live black worms since Saturday, he's going a bit bananas eating them.

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SquishyFishy


Where do you get those Kat?

 

My little girl is still thin, but the rocks are crawling with pods...my fuge chaeto is working great for the culture. She eats them, I see her, but still not fat yet.

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That's terrible news, Metrokat. I was always on tenderhooks expecting Sam the 2nd to have passed - thought Bella was in it for the long haul.

 

Maybe try a pair of rubys for your next foray?

 

Tetradon-

I feed my little Fio every evening at about 1 hour before light's out, this is the Big Meal - mix of coarse-ground NLS pellets, Larry's reef Frenzy Nano and some shavings of my oh-so-precious Nutramar. This mix is readily eaten by everything in the tank and has resulted in a sleek if not sausage-shaped mandarin over the past 9 months.

 

In the morning's I'll toss in a squirt of decap'd brine shrimp eggs as I run out the door so that there's some decent grazing to be had that won't foul the tank - she loves 'em but attempts to switch out the Nutramar completely for brine eggs resulted in a crash-course Jenny Craig/Atkins-level skinny fish. Search for replacement staple Mandarin Chow continues...

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Where do you get those Kat?

 

My little girl is still thin, but the rocks are crawling with pods...my fuge chaeto is working great for the culture. She eats them, I see her, but still not fat yet.

Live black worms are at the LFS stores. Call ahead to see if yours carry them.

It can take months for a dragonet to fatten up on pods alone. The black worms are a meaty fatty food, and can easily foul your water too. But they will respond faster to such a nutritious food.

 

That's terrible news, Metrokat. I was always on tenderhooks expecting Sam the 2nd to have passed - thought Bella was in it for the long haul.

 

Maybe try a pair of rubys for your next foray?

I went ahead and got a Royal Gramma to ease the heartache. I have actually decided not to keep my favorite fish - the Mandarin in a tank with the fish I have now. :( I just can't do it anymore; training them, having heart attacks when they don't eat enough. It's very stressful. Bella was a confident fish, she didn't let any of the other fish bother her and she ate wherever she found food. She was little but she didn't care about the bigger fish. And then to have her just die. I can't cope. Okay yes, they're going to die eventually and there is no telling how old she was when I got her. But even so, I will not have a dragonet in a community tank again.

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Understandable. But without you to do all the hard stuff first, how will I be able to continue making this look so easy to my local fellow reefers? ;)

 

I think Simone's hit the nail on the head a few posts back - training one of these forces you to care a lot more for it than you might otherwise for a fish living in a mixed reef tank. Very sorry for your loss.

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I have to agree, I really like my red scooter dragonet. (I refuse to call it a blenny... It's not.)

 

Really it's a very interactive fish, and it's fascinating to watch it eat. I'm dying to know 100% whether it takes frozen mysis or not. I think it does but I'm not quite sure yet. I worry about it a lot and feeding him is definitely a process sometimes.

 

This is Smaug the Desolate:

 

4QhPWR0.jpg

 

iAhRHDG.jpg

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I feed mine once every few days and they eat pods in between. Before I had a "special" tank set up for them, I fed twice a day.

 

But even so, I will not have a dragonet in a community tank again.

 

I agree, it is a nightmare to keep them fed in a busy community tank. I have to wonder... maybe all the rich food is causing fatty liver?



I have to agree, I really like my red scooter dragonet. (I refuse to call it a blenny... It's not.)

 

Really it's a very interactive fish, and it's fascinating to watch it eat. I'm dying to know 100% whether it takes frozen mysis or not. I think it does but I'm not quite sure yet. I worry about it a lot and feeding him is definitely a process sometimes.

 

This is Smaug the Desolate:

 

Wow, hes pretty!!! Very bright red!

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I have to agree, I really like my red scooter dragonet. (I refuse to call it a blenny... It's not.)

 

Really it's a very interactive fish, and it's fascinating to watch it eat. I'm dying to know 100% whether it takes frozen mysis or not. I think it does but I'm not quite sure yet. I worry about it a lot and feeding him is definitely a process sometimes.

 

This is Smaug the Desolate:

 

4QhPWR0.jpg

 

iAhRHDG.jpg

Such a cutie

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Question: What's the smallest tank anyone has in here that has held a Mandarin for a long period of time (I'm talking 1 year++)?

 

I think 5g as only fish with big water changes. Pretty cramped space to move though. I am not positive it was a year+ though.

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6 months and going strong, and still loving her frozen lobbie eggs. :)

Still won't touch pellet food though.

 

What a happy mandy! With all that macro, it looks like the perfect home for her :)

 

I was trying to find that food but I don't think they sell it in the US :(

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