Mandarin Goby in a 14 gallon BioCube?

[Dnuts82]

I think we need to start a Mandarin Club....................

 

Count me in

[luvmytrig]

Count me in

 

Me too! I love mine!

[Kraylen]

I'll be the grand puba of the mandarin club.

[Laura6686]

I'll be the grand puba of the mandarin club.

 

 

LOL

[Dragonette]

I had one for about a year. He ate mysis and bloodworms (I know they arent the greatest but hey he was eating them..)

 

I would turn off the pumps and just dump some in and hed peck away. I also had a gorgonian that I would target feed, it would grab mysis and then the mandarin would go over to the gorg and steal the mysis from its little tentacles like a feeding station sometimes.

 

Mine met his match when my fuzzy dwarf collided with him (was trying to catch him to sell him to someone), and I found him hours later dead and bloated. It was a BAD day. I want another but Im worried that i may get one that wont eat prepared foods.

 

here he was

 

and before anyone freaks out, YEs he is the one on swf.com's site. He won the contest, and photo credits were given to me, it IS my pic.

 

[Kraylen]

and before anyone freaks out, YEs he is the one on swf.com's site. He won the contest, and photo credits were given to me, it IS my pic.

[/img]

 

We got the point

[Dragonette]

We got the point

 

you must not have been around the last time it came up. I was about to be burned at the stake!

[brian92]

That is the best mandarin I've ever seen

[Kraylen]

you must not have been around the last time it came up. I was about to be burned at the stake!

 

haha, I wasn't around but I read alot on it.... *shrug* Its a great picture. People can be idiots, x5 behind a computer.

[Laura6686]

Mine met his match when my fuzzy dwarf collided with him (was trying to catch him to sell him to someone), and I found him hours later dead and bloated. It was a BAD day. I want another but Im worried that i may get one that wont eat prepared foods.

 

********

 

Ok I am stupid but what is a fuzzy dwarf? We all have made mistakes and caused a death.

:-(

 

You learned from your mistake so I would not worry about getting another one. The only people who should be flamed are those who keep making the same mistake or intentionally hurt a fish.

 

Sorry for your loss

[jamesnmandy]

what is a fuzzy dwarf?

:-(

 

[SeeDemTails]

Is there really a difference in which one he decides to eat first?

 

Once trained he will eat either, but mysis is way better for him.

 

The point of using LIVE brine to train them is that they see the movement of the brine and that is what teaches them that the tube means food. They arent any more likely toi eat dead brine than they are dead mysis until they know what it is.

 

My fish doesnt like the baster either thats why I use hard air tubing, its smaller and doesnt spook the fish.

[Dnuts82]

Just fed him about 10 minutes ago and he ate like 10 or 12 brine so i think i'm in good shape......hopefully he will start coming to the tube soon rather than away!

[SeeDemTails]

Give him time he will recognize the tube. Make sure you turn off the pumps makes it way easier for them.

[Dragonette]

What happened was they were both in a larger tank, and when I downsized to the 24g I had them together in the 24 for like 3 days till the new owner picked up the fuzzy. They had been together for quite some time and there were never any issues. I shouldnt have put them in the 24 together.. even temporarily like I did it was stupid It sucked because I lost my mandarin, and sold my fuzzy within like 3 days and was left with no more of my fav. fishes

 

Here was the fuzzy aka 'little man' I miss him he was so cute and personable! haha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dnuts82

thats awesome! you are on the right track. Now you mix a little mysis in with the brine to kinda trick him into eating it. and before you know it he will be eating like a champ.. good food!

Jess

[EnjoiFish]

This is a very good article....thanks for the post. I'm going to try and culture the pods in Mason jars like he did. In the mean time i will add them regularly. Does anyone know of a good HOB refugium that is inexpensive and will work with a BC 14?

 

You should check the updates from this article. The first mandarin used in the experiment died. I stopped reading after the second fish, though he did say it began eating roe as an alternative to copepods.

 

In regards to culturing in jars:

"My last culturing experience was a total waste of time and resources. I'm not doing that again. Instead, I may order a number of these bottles from Sharky's every month, the exact quantity to be determined when I inject the two initial bottles directly into the tank."

 

I hope you have better luck. I'd say refugium and turkey baster feeding is the way to go.

[Lightsluvr]

awesome looking but boring to watch. plus they usually die and that sucks.

 

Oooohh.. I have to disagree. If proper food is provided, they can live for a long time in aquariums. Both of my mandarin (in 180G and 95G tanks) do very well, and are very sociable when the powerheads are turned off for feeding the other creatures...

 

Nano-reefs, not so much. In fact pretty well assured that your above observation is accurate...)

 

LL

[Break]

Ok, before anyone brings up Josh Day (This guy) again the retrospective follow-up on his blog needs to be mentioned; I will post it here.

 

From: http://joshday.com/blog/2008/03/success-an...sh-keeping.html

kept a green mandarin successfully in a ten gallon tank for two years. He was fat and healthy until the end when he leaped from my uncovered tank. I tried dozens of different frozen foods before discovering my mandarin would eat fish roe, the little eggs atop sushi rolls. In the beginning I attempted to harvest copepods in mason jars and this endeavor was indeed a failure. My first mandarin starved, although I believe he wasn't eating as the pod population in my tank at the time never dwindled.

 

This was both a success and a failure. A success for getting the mandarin to eat roe (and Cyclops micro shrimp) and keeping him well-rounded and healthy for two years, but also a failure in his constant feedings cause nitrate swings and a hair algae epidemic. Also, it was a failure as I learned an open tank is never safe -- I've come to learn all fish jump!

 

It seems that no one was looking at the dates on the original page, 2005 is few years ago...

The method suggested by SeeDemTails is the easily the best option, thanks for sharing it SeeDemTails.

[wmo168]

Once trained he will eat either, but mysis is way better for him.

 

The point of using LIVE brine to train them is that they see the movement of the brine and that is what teaches them that the tube means food. They arent any more likely toi eat dead brine than they are dead mysis until they know what it is.

 

My fish doesnt like the baster either thats why I use hard air tubing, its smaller and doesnt spook the fish.

 

Hey

 

When you say mysis you mean frozen mysis right? you put them at the end of the tube right?

[zackish]

How exactly can you count your pods or know your population has decreased/stayed the same?

I have noticed several people claiming that their pod population is gone or it has stayed the same etc. etc.......seems pretty impossible to calculate something of the sort.

[Break]

How exactly can you count your pods or know your population has decreased/stayed the same?

I have noticed several people claiming that their pod population is gone or it has stayed the same etc. etc.......seems pretty impossible to calculate something of the sort.

 

It's based on general observation. Any reefer worth their salt knows their tank inside and out.

[Kraylen]

It's based on general observation. Any reefer worth their salt knows their tank inside and out.

 

 

Exactly... I can tell you where everything in my tank is and Im not even home right now...

[mwp]

I've kept dragonettes in Nanos for over 3 years now. Have spawned Synchiropus splendidus, S. picturatus and S. stellatus all in 24 gallon Nanocubes.

 

The bottom line in my opinion is that unless you are culturing rediculous amounts of copepods, you simply cannot rely on the tank to produce them...I've seen plenty of starving mandarins in big SPS tanks. To give you an idea...the biomass in a bottle of Copepods you get a the LFS is probably enough for "one sitting" for a single draongette.

 

I believe (but do not have the proof) that the large tank "theory" of mandarin care is based on a false premise. Rather, I believe that even when in larger tanks, Dragonettes must learn where uneaten food congregates back in the rockwork, and after a feeding, they're back there, getting a meal too. Mandarins CAN be done in Nanotanks PROVIDED they are trained onto frozen (and/or prepared foods) and they are housed with the appropriate tankmates or otherwise given special provisions to ensure they get their fair share.

 

Do your research - the information IS out there now. I'm not suggesting anyone just go ahead and try it, but if you're dedicated to success, it's more likely to come! Anyone who wants to try a mandarin should research the methods on how to train them onto frozen foods (net breeder helps immensely), as well as feeding stations (like Melev's Mandarin Diner, or take a page from the Seahorse folks). If you don't have ready access to a supply of Adult Brine Shrimp (that you enrich as a first food offering) don't bother wasting your time with a Mandarin (however I've found Scooter (and to a lesser extent Red Scooter) Blennies to be much more interested in prepared foods like PELLETS right off the bat).

 

FWIW,

 

Matt

[Break]

(however I've found Scooter (and to a lesser extent Red Scooter) Blennies to be much more interested in prepared foods like PELLETS right off the bat).

 

+1 These guys accept frozen much more readily.

[merucks]

do you know of a way to set up a refugium or something so that the copepods an reproduce? How fast do you think that a small mandarin can go through a 1000 copepods?

It doesn't really matter if you keep dumping the 1000 copepods into the tank. My experience tells me that of that quantity, at least 1/2 will die and you will be lucky if you have 500 that live. Putting those in is basically the same think as sending your Mandarin to an all you can eat buffet. He will be full for a few days, but the Mandarin will slow die and there will be nothing that you can do to stop it.

 

Put the poor thing in the larger tank to give him a fighting chance. 14 gl. is way, way, way to small. The only way that he will live is if you are one of the lucky ones and he will eat mysis shrimp or something similar.