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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Mandarin in 20 gallon.


Icywater

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Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum.

I have a mandarin in a 20 gallon which is eating frozen. On my other forum they said that this wasn't possible and that frozen food isn't a good source of protein for the mandarin. I'm feeding Nutrama ova which is shrimp eggs, they eat eggs in the wild too. So am I okay with keeping the mandarin in the 20?

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Like jester says as long as he is eating its fine but if he stops taking prepared food and goes back to live you may not get him back to prepared food faste nough

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lessergeneration

3 small meals a day, mandarins dont have any type of real stomach to them so it will help to give it a few meals a day for nutritional purposes.

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Ova has alot of protein but is it more nutritious than coppods?

 

I would consider this...

Natural diet, live foods

Ova

Black worms, blood worms

Mysis- enriched with selcon

Brine- enriched with selcon...this is least nutritious, more like potato chips.

 

Just keep up on the feeding, and try to keep diet varied. Three times a day is sufficient, or better yet a diner of sorts is even better!

 

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lessergeneration

Probably referring to a jar on the sandbed with food in it so it can eat whenever it likes but in smaller tanks especially that could quickly lead to water quality issues.

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Probably referring to a jar on the sandbed with food in it so it can eat whenever it likes but in smaller tanks especially that could quickly lead to water quality issues.

Yes, should have been more specific. A diner is a jar basically where you keep the ova, or other food she likes. Water quality issues...meh, depends on how much you replace the food and how long it sits in the tank. It's a good option for someone not home all day. IMO

 

Really it's more of a starting point. Once you get her plumped up and fat, a morning and nightly feeding should do. I've used them in smaller systems, it's all about husbandry and your willingness to do what you have to, to make it work. Good luck to ya!

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I successfully kept a scooter blenny(dragonet) in a bc14, I fed here a variety of frozen soaked in a bit of garlic and twice a week gave her live brine shrimp.

I also had the fuge basket with chaeto that helped my pods grow, I'd rinse a handful of chaeto off in the display tank every week after a water change and it replenished the pods in the DT.

As long as she's eating prepared foods your solid, try soaking it with garlic before feeding if you find she doesn't like one type or another.

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She hides in the rocks alot. When i feed she picks the eggs of the rock. But when there isn't any food she picks abit and then hides in the rocks is this normal? Because when i see videos of mandarins they are all over the tank. She is probably getting used to her new home right?

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She's most likely still settling in. I've had my mandarin for a while and he's still a little jumpy. He's not as out and about as my red scooter. Especially when a camera is involved lol.

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Zoa, while I admire your success at keeping a Mandy in a nano, just be careful as others have mentioned. If she reverts back to live foods, you might have a big problem on your hands. The best solution is to keep a refugium full of Chaeto and macro as a backup to avoid this from happening if possible.

 

With all that being said, can we have some pics of the pretty little miss? :)

 

I also have a Spotted Mandy in my 30G. :)

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A 20 is fine for a mandarin. Ova is very nutritious and if she doesn't eat mysis (my male mandarin also does not) then you can try frozen rotifers and copapods. Frozen cyclopeeze works great also. New life spectrum pellets (smmalest size you can find) is very good also.

 

My female mandarin eats everything but the male has to be spoon fed and only cares about frozen brine shrimp. He is very skinny and not getting better even though I spoon feed him every day several times a day one shrimp at a time.

 

He likes oba but cannot be bothered to sit at one place pecking at it till it is gone. Other fish get to the live black worms while he is still making up his mind on which one to eat. Quite frustrating.

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A 20 is fine for a mandarin. Ova is very nutritious and if she doesn't eat mysis (my male mandarin also does not) then you can try frozen rotifers and copapods. Frozen cyclopeeze works great also. New life spectrum pellets (smmalest size you can find) is very good also.

 

My female mandarin eats everything but the male has to be spoon fed and only cares about frozen brine shrimp. He is very skinny and not getting better even though I spoon feed him every day several times a day one shrimp at a time.

 

He likes oba but cannot be bothered to sit at one place pecking at it till it is gone. Other fish get to the live black worms while he is still making up his mind on which one to eat. Quite frustrating.

 

Kat, regarding this New Life Spectrum pellets - are they really good as they say? One of the stores near my home carries the bigger pellets, but I thought of crushing them and then feeding them to my fish. Are these a better choice than Hikari Marine S pellets?

 

Sorry for threadjacking, Zoa! :o

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XD Its fine, my clowns love nls but i don't feed it anymore since i feed ova. The ova has made a change in the color of the clowns makes them more colorful. I'll get some pics after school. Her belly is still fat but see didn't really seem like she wanted to eat this morning she didnt eat at all/much and was more swiming around the tank. I left but when i came back she was picking eggs of the rocks... I think she is afraid of me... XD

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