Mandarin help

[Icywater]

I've had a mandarin before that was on frozen that I sold before going on a vacation, after recycling my reef tank I decided to have another mandarin. The problem is the mandarin doesn't eat and doesn't move very much. I have a bit of copeapods on the sides of the tank but he doesn't seem interested at all his belly is slightly sunken in so I'm a bit worried it's his first day so maybe I'm just being paranoid but he seems much less active than my old one all he does is stay in his little part of the tank and seldom moves.

[ndrobey]

Did he eat at the store before you bought him?

[msparklym13]

HI! I don't have a Mandarin but have heard from friends they take awhile to acclimate. If it is his first day I would suggest turning down the lights and let him acclimate. I'm sure he will come around ;-) First day is a BIG day! The fish I have haven't shown any interest in food the first few days and most hide! Best of luck!

[Matteo]

HI! I don't have a Mandarin but have heard from friends they take awhile to acclimate. If it is his first day I would suggest turning down the lights and let him acclimate. I'm sure he will come around ;-) First day is a BIG day! The fish I have haven't shown any interest in food the first few days and most hide! Best of luck!

+1 didn't see my pair for the first few days. More and more I see them all over hunting pods

[smallreef19]

try frozen brine, then add other frozen, then can train into flake foods and dry foods.

[Icywater]

Did he eat at the store before you bought him

 

I have no idea they said it was trained on frozen, the previous female I had bought from them was trained on frozen but this one doesn't seem trained or even interested in eating.

 

try frozen brine, then add other frozen, then can train into flake foods and dry foods.

I've tried frozen brine shrimp, baby frozen brine shrimp and fish roe no luck with any he doesn't even seem interested in the copepods he just seems lazy and unmoving besides the breathing

The one thing that makes me worry is his belly is pretty sunken in :*(

[ndrobey]

Next time you buy a fish, make sure you see it eat before taking it. This one seems iffy.

[Icywater]

Next time you buy a fish, make sure you see it eat before taking it. This one seems iffy.

 

So do you assume it will die then?

[ndrobey]

So do you assume it will die then?

No. I don't assume that. But I assume, as some point, that you are going to buy another fish of some sort. I believe this one is just scared from being caught, thrown into a bag, then put into an alien tank. I would give him time.

[Icywater]

Well this morning he's been moving around a lot more but his belly is still sunken in and he is ignoring all good any ideas or tips on what I should do?

[Roshan8768]

Not much you can do tbh. Offer different kinds of frozen and hope he takes something. Watch you water parameters with the excess feedings. Not really a fish for a nano tank IMO and IME.... they take too much upkeep and are such poor feeders

[Icywater]

 

Not much you can do tbh. Offer different kinds of frozen and hope he takes something. Watch you water parameters with the excess feedings. Not really a fish for a nano tank IMO and IME.... they take too much upkeep and are such poor feeders

The one I had beforehand ate perfectly :/

[Newstead]

Oh, I am sorry. I know how worried you must be. I was lucky, happened upon a frozen eating target when I was buying a goby. Have had him about a month in a biocube29 and he eats like a pig and is noticeably fatter. He loves the very small Himari mysis and LRS Reef Frenzy.

[BoxKing]

From reading, it sounds like you bought a fish that was already on its last legs... Hopefully it bounces back.

[hinnenkm]

Have you ever hatched baby brine shrimp? That might be an option for you, or if any of your lfs have live brine shrimp, that could be another option. Anything live that you could put a large quantity of it into the tank might be able to get that prey response going. Good luck!

[Icywater]

Have you ever hatched baby brine shrimp? That might be an option for you, or if any of your lfs have live brine shrimp, that could be another option. Anything live that you could put a large quantity of it into the tank might be able to get that prey response going. Good luck!

 

I haven't, but there are some copepods that are in the tank that he hasn't even looked at so I would think if he doesn't go for the copepods he wouldn't go for bbs right?

[hinnenkm]

There's no guarantee, but you can put a higher volume of baby brine in the tank for a lot less money than you can pods. Just about all of my finicky fish (mandarin, dragonets, pipefish, filefish, and possum wrasse) have gone for some combination of bbs and a mix of frozen mysis/larrys reef frenzy.

[Roshan8768]

I haven't, but there are some copepods that are in the tank that he hasn't even looked at so I would think if he doesn't go for the copepods he wouldn't go for bbs right?

 

Better to try and fail than not try at all. It clearly has a diminished feeding response and they are hard to recover from that point, but it is possible. There isn't one thing you can do to fix it and there is some luck involved. The main thing is to take this as a learning experience and only buy fish which are a 100% from the shop. I would also avoid fish that are known to have feeding limitations like the mandarin... just because you previously had one that ate doesn't mean that the significant amount of evidence out there (that they dont readily eat prepared) is irrelevant.

[smallreef19]

Try buying one of the live copepod brands

[Icywater]

On the bright side he seems to be much more active and swiming up and down the tanks glass

I'll try to get copepods from another reefer in my area