Ever see a Mandarin do this?

[SeeDemTails]

Check this out, my husband feeding it! Ever see a mandarin do this!? He(I think its a she) is a very special fish no doubt.

 

It will eat mysis, brine, and even spirulina flakes from our fingers. And it hunts pods all day too, or course.

 

 

[121a]

that has to be the coolest thing i have ever seen.

[Euroreefer]

Very cool.

[H7brandi]

Cool. This is in your 37g?

[SeeDemTails]

Yes, the fish is in my tank.

 

We also got another one at the shop that I am working on training now, and is making progress. Targets seem easier than greens so far, but I am working with all of them. It took me three weeks to get this fish to trust fingers, and to eat prepared. I started by catching pods in my fingers and putting it in the mandarins face slowly. Then I moved to live brine, just so it wiggled a little. Then a mix of mysis and brine, and after that it will eat almost anything out of your fingers, even flake. It doesnt like flake as much, but it eats it. I have been making a mixture or flakes, pods, and mysis, freezing it into little cubes, and then feeding the mixture to the fish, so it eats equal amounts of each. I am confident that with the right quality prepared food you can provide a mandarin proper nutrition, IF you take the time to train it, which really cant be done easily in a display tank. And of course they will always hunt pods.

 

I trained this fish in a 5 gallon cube in a much larger invert system, with a ton of pods in it.

 

I just decided rather than sell starving, non eating mandarins anymore, we are going to keep them until they are trained, and then sell them for like $40. IMO its worth it for a mandarin you know eats well.

[Sexy Shrimp]

Very good idea!

[SeeDemTails]

I tried other methods like the frozen mysis in a snail shell, and it got cleaned out by the hermits before the mandarin would even find it, and it isnt going to fight with the hermits or any other fish for that matter for its food, thats why they evolved to eat things other fish dont, they cant compete, it isnt their style.

 

You have to be proactive, presenting the food to the fish. Most mandarins are not that skittish of fish, if you move slow it is easy to get close to them.

[eklikewhoa]

That's awesome!

[Thorin]

I just decided rather than sell starving, non eating mandarins anymore, we are going to keep them until they are trained, and then sell them for like $40. IMO its worth it for a mandarin you know eats well.

 

Wow, that is a really good idea........great way to advance the hobby (and make a few bucks! )

[debbeach13]

How wonderful that the shop will take the time to make sure the fish will eat. Good Karma

[SeeDemTails]

I took the pictures of the fish eating right before I took it home, it is now in my tank, if you would like to see pictures of it I will take some later. The background of that tank isnt blue either, its a clear acrylic cube, so I really couldnt tell you.

 

I bought this fish almost a month ago, but decided to train it at the shop before I took it home.

 

I never said the pic was from my tank, just that the fish was. I also never denied that I trained it while it was in a smaller tank at the shop, as a matter of fact it was in my instructions in that post on how I did it! Great job figuring it out with all the clues!

 

You asked if it was in my tank, the answer is yes. I will take pics of it tonight.

 

I have never linked to the site for two reasons, I though advertising without paying was a no no, and number 2, because I really didnt want the place I work getting out on the internet with creeps like coralnoob around, I have however pmed many people the info and many have come in to shop. So thanks a lot for putting that info out there. I should have saved them and hosted them myself, lesson learned.

 

So how is the way I do it making you doubt? Does the mandarin appear to photoshopped? Woud you like a picture of me feeding the mandarin or pictures of me training them? How about ones from my tank, and the three other tanks at the shop, one even has a white background. Would that ease your doubt?

 

I am also training two more as we speak.

 

I am the one who trained it, the other guys dont even feed the fish, it MY JOB.

 

And yes, Burt is right, only three of us work there, two do maintenacne, the shop is my responsability. I consider them all to be my systems and the fish to be mine, until they are sold.

 

LOL I knew some one would find something to razz about with the word mandarin and eating in the thread.

[adinsxq]

stay on topic.

 

or die.

[SeeDemTails]

Haters are my motivation, no worries.

 

Anyway, thats how I did it, and I am seeing if I can do it again with a few others. I think it is just like a hard to keep coral, you just need to put the time in to get the fish stabilized, then it is quite easy to keep.

 

Buying one and throwing it in a tank and then trying to train it will be very difficult. Hence the reason I trained it in a much smaller tank, but one that was part of a major system. Great observation H7brandi, you actually read my post to get that one!

 

We have a big green right now that is in a 180 gal display system, but still looking thinner and thinner. I think that the urban legen that you can keep a mandarin in a huge tank just fine is a bunch of crap. The will starve in any system if you dont get them eating prepared food, our tanks just dont provide enough food. I caught it yesterday(they are easy to catch!) and put it in a cube, and have been working on it today. I got it to eat live pods, but I am still working on anything else.

[adinsxq]

This thread has been closed. If another one is created, please stay on topic or FACE THE WRATH OF ADIN.

 

Inflammatory posts have been removed.

 

P.S. Have a great weekend!