Training & Feeding a Mandarin

[SeeDemTails]

Breeding them, as far as I know and can find, has only been accomplished by Matt Wittenrich.

 

Your wholesalers get them the same way our do, they catch them in the wild. They are lying to you, or you are lying to us, one of the two.

 

My method is easy. I teach the fish to associate the tube with food using live wiggling brine, and then let it eats its fill of mysis and spirulina brine mixed together. I do this daily, and it has worked for years. No experiments, no dead fish, no over comlicated method, just a tube, a syringe, and some mysis and brine.

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

Breeding them, as far as I know and can find, has only been accomplished by Matt Wittenrich.

 

Your wholesalers get them the same way our do, they catch them in the wild. They are lying to you, or you

are lying to us, one of the two.

 

what did i tell you? give it up dude.....

[evanski]

Then if you paid for their fish, why wouldnt they show you how to continue feeding it what it was raised on? If they plan to sell the fish, but keep how they feed it a secret, then they have NO RIGHT to do what they are supposedly doing, which none of us believe.

 

Did you or did you not buy a "tank raised" fish from this person?

 

Do you side with them? Do you think it is right for them to breed a specialty fish, if they really do, and then withhold information about how to keep the said fish alive, not to just the competition, but to the person who they are directly selling the fish too?

 

Like I said do you have any information about this supposed breeder?

 

Just give it up man, please. You have lost all respect from everyone who reads this thread, its obvious whats going on here.

 

How old are you?

 

Any new pics of the fish?

 

Sorry to hijakc...

 

SDT, is there a link where you discuss this technique you use in more detail?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

E

[Khayman]

Breeding them, as far as I know and can find, has only been accomplished by Matt Wittenrich.

 

Your wholesalers get them the same way our do, they catch them in the wild. They are lying to you, or you are lying to us, one of the two.

 

My method is easy. I teach the fish to associate the tube with food using live wiggling brine, and then let it eats its fill of mysis and spirulina brine mixed together. I do this daily, and it has worked for years. No experiments, no dead fish, no over comlicated method, just a tube, a syringe, and some mysis and brine.

 

Thank you SDT

 

I have been using the method of a "Dinner" I got it from StevieT's thread. I also use live pods and Brine. My Mandarin eats like a little pig. She has grown but as far as fattening I do not see any real change.

 

As far being lied to by a breeder. If it is true and they have lied I am sure I am not the first person to have been lied to in this hobby. I will say though as far as I know they do breed them. Atleast they always have a supply of them.

[NanoN00b]

Wow - this was one of the largest time voids I've ever entered.

 

The first five posts are about a guy feeding his hard-to-keep fish that will probably die... then it moves to a bunch of crap between members and him about how he's stupid and a liar... then it drags on for 5 pages...

 

I could shorten this post to a single post:

 

1. Don't get the fish unless you can take care of it. RESEARCH. More than one forum. lol

2. Don't give advice or even DISCUSS anything on this site till you have done it for (x) years (This all depends on the member, because some people are rude and some are friendly).

3. Don't ask for help for fear of reprisal from a bunch of fish nerds.

 

If I was a mod I'd move this thread to the Lounge because it has NO value as a fish thread.

Either that, or delete it, because it's crap all the same.

[Kgarner085]

Amen to that

[Fit]

Hello everyone at NR

 

Let me say that I am not a member on this Forum and after reading how you have all treated this thread starter "Khayman" I will not be.

I have a pair of these little fish. I have had them for 2 years now and they look allot like Khayman. I say this to give the guy a little encouragement. SDT not all mandarins are fat like yours I seen both the fat and the thinner varieties. I will admit I do not understand why this happens.

 

Mine are fed in a clear plastic tube that is permanently in my aquarium. I feed live baby brine, frozen Mysis and brine. Also I add some live pods every now and then using the Zoo2 formula.

 

Through reading I can see "Khayman" asked several times for help. I have also read on other forums where he asked for help and was never answered. So he did take it on himself to experiment and see if he could find a way to keep these fish for himself. My question to you all is why is this met with so much hostility here? This entire hobby like many other hobbies are founded and advanced by experimentation. If he is willing to except that the subject of his experiment could die well that is part and parcel to an experiment.

 

As for the statement that he must wait 6 months to declare success I say Bulox to that. It would not take 6 months for a fish especially this fish to starve to death.

 

Khayman I am sure this post will get allot of negative responses but I say, good for you. Also great job on the working experiment, you listed you materials you gave a thesis and when the time came you listed your amendments to the experiment. What else could anyone ask of an experiment?

 

Oh and before you all berate me with silly questions. I will not publish my name here and I will not tell you where to find me. I simply do not want all this close-minded thinking on the forums I subscribe to. Khayman I do hope you receive the e-mail I send you and I look forward to you joining our forum.

 

Also I will say I hope your moderators do see this forum. I say this simply because if they are at all educated they will commend Khayman on a job well done. He has been active on this forum giving updates since January 16 / 2009 that is almost 12 weeks now.

 

Again let me say good Job

[BKtomodachi]

SDT not all mandarins are fat like yours I seen both the fat and the thinner varieties. I will admit I do not understand why this happens.

His is thin, regardless of "variety". (species?).

 

As for the statement that he must wait 6 months to declare success I say Bulox to that. It would not take 6 months for a fish especially this fish to starve to death.

It is pretty regularly documented that these fish often do take 6 months or more to die from insufficient/incorrect feeding in our tanks.

 

What else could anyone ask of an experiment?

That it be necessary? lulz, that would be a great start.

 

Also I will say I hope your moderators do see this forum. I say this simply because if they are at all educated they will commend Khayman on a job well done. He has been active on this forum giving updates since January 16 / 2009 that is almost 12 weeks now.

Personally, I hope that our moderators can see through a thinly-veiled attempt at some sort of move towards progress that lasts a mere 3 months. I think perhaps you don't understand the scope of time that is considered to be "success" in the captive care of marine creatures.

 

 

PS: The moderators are not here to determine success/failure. In fact, there isn't anyone here who can really do that effectively.

Its the internet.

Serious business.

[Khayman]

Though I doubt you are on this forum. Fit thankyou and i did get the e-mails and I am sure I will see you soon on the forums.

[Khayman]

Update Week 13

 

All is well with the Mandarin. She waits eagerly every evening for her food. She will eat pellets but does her best to avoid them and only eat Pods and Frozen Shrimp (Mysis, Brine, Daphnia).

 

If you would like pictures please let me know. I generally only take pictures once per month.

[Kozo]

Hi Khayman is been a long time since i post on this thread and I'm really disappointed that you are still in war with the NR members . And I have to ask you, do you really mean it when you say that you haven't get any help from them?. I personally posted many times in this thread giving you information about this fish, feeding techniques, supplementation methods for its food, and I direct you to MOFIB where you could ask real experts on this subject and how to take care for this fish.

 

I was the first person to suggest to you the dinner and gave you a link on how to do it, remember the Melev dinner link (if you don't remember go back to pag 3-4 in this thread and refresh your memory thanks). You said you were going to try it but never talk about it again. And now you said that you got the idea by doing your own research on this site and that no one is willing to help you BS, we did help you but you ignored the given advise and then post something completely different to what we said or worst to not give credit to anyone that help you .

 

Please Khayman re-read your own thread and learn from it, because you will find that some of us have tried effortless many times to help you but you wont listen and keep on doing the same error of insulting fellow members. Such as SDT whom I do not know and I'm not friends with, however she did tried to help you when she starting posting on this thread (again go back to Pag 5 where she try to help you so please get it clear she did and still is trying to help you).

 

Now I will re-post the links I gave you about 4 months ago, so you can READ THEM FOR THE FIRST TIME because it seems like you haven't.

 

Method for training the mandarin:

 

http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1217

 

Next is for some product you can use to enrich this fish food, which is needed to get them fat and is part of the training:

 

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/Enrichments-c8.html

 

Here is the link about the dinner from Melev's reef, which by the way you talk about your dinner but you have yet talk about how it works or any real info about, you just said that you saw it in Steve-t or something:

 

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

 

Video of how it works: http://www.melevsreef.com/video/diner4.wmv

 

Next Link is on how Mandarins can be breed, written by Matthew L. Wittenrich:

 

http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1963

 

BLABLABLA well you did get help but never care about it and never show respect for this site, by the way on the last link on how Mandarins can be breed, you can see how plum they should be, either female or male, either Synchiropus splendidus, Pterosynchiropus splendidus, or Synchiropus picturatus what ever species you may have, which by the way it is the Synchiropus splendidus. Thanks for reading my post to all of you interested on it and sorry for my bad English.

[Dilianozzzz]

Mate be careful with that fish. Skinny mandarins will get to a point where they can’t come back.

As much as you don’t want to hear it, you seem to be under-experienced for this particular species. In saying that I don’t understand why you are trying to give people advice on how to keep this delicate species fed and alive? Don’t get me wrong, our hobby will grow as a result of people learning about their fish and I applaud the research you have done.

I have respect for anyone that is willing to work to push this hobby further forward, but just because you read internet sites about mandarins simply doesn’t make you an expert. I know your getting sick of It but come back when you have extensive experience with this species (not just 6 months more like a couple of years) then we will listen to your experiments, methods and hopefully success with this species

You really need to re-evaluate what your doing on this thread. I don’t want to hear how to feed a mandarin fish of a person that's sole knowledge is derived from 3 months experience, an internet page and an imaginary fish breeder.

I’m writing this with all due respect, but wake up to yourself. You are not even close to having expertise in this area. Ill be happy to hear from you when you do.

[Khayman]

Hello Kozo

 

No I did mention that very few people gave any advice. I have read what you directed me too read and have thanked you for it. Your information did help allot. It is what directed me to do the "Dinner" and the "Pod Condo" together.

 

I have also referred to StevieT on my thread also. He uses the "Dinner" method also. I will say it works very well. And is a much more cost effective way to feed the Mandarin. Unfortunately it can be very messy especially when another fish does manage to get in and "fire" all the shrimp out into the aquarium.

 

Again Kozo Thank-you for all the information it has helped.

The spawning by Witt is amazing.

 

 

Dilianozzzz

 

Thank you for stopping by the forum. As for my lack of experience all I can say is everyone starts somewhere. I agree that I am no expert; I hope you agree that many so-called experts are not what they claim. The "Mandarin" in question seems to be doing just fine. She appears a little thin I will admit but she is active, alert and very vibrant.

As for me giving advice I would disagree. If a person reads this thread and takes something from it, I say well. Also I have never claimed to be an expert nor will I. I believe any person who claims to be an expert only shows how novice they are. To be an expert would mean you have nothing left to learn. Who can make such a claim, I ask you?

[Hoonie778]

Update Week 13

 

All is well with the Mandarin. She waits eagerly every evening for her food. She will eat pellets but does her best to avoid them and only eat Pods and Frozen Shrimp (Mysis, Brine, Daphnia).

 

If you would like pictures please let me know. I generally only take pictures once per month.

 

I want to see pics of your mandarin!!

[Dilianozzzz]

Thank you for stopping by the forum. As for my lack of experience all I can say is everyone starts somewhere. I agree that I am no expert; I hope you agree that many so-called experts are not what they claim. The "Mandarin" in question seems to be doing just fine. She appears a little thin I will admit but she is active, alert and very vibrant.

As for me giving advice I would disagree. If a person reads this thread and takes something from it, I say well. Also I have never claimed to be an expert nor will I. I believe any person who claims to be an expert only shows how novice they are. To be an expert would mean you have nothing left to learn. Who can make such a claim, I ask you?

 

I do agree everyone has to start somewhere, but you are the first rookie i have seen who has started by making a thread about how to feed and train a fish, when he has had a dismal 3 months experience with the species he is writing about.

 

I also find it highly hypocrytical that you have put together a thread on how to train and feed the mandarinfish, when the mandy you have at home is so skinny (or in your words "thin")

 

I do agree with you on the expert bit. i hate with a passion the people that call themselves "experts" i belive the only way to be called an expert in this hobby is by others reflecting on your knowledge, it isnt a self label.

Again this is with all due respect but i just think the article was pre-mature. if you had in upwards of a year/s experience with this fish i think you would find people took your wisdom on the species alot more easily but 3 months experience ?

I agree with hoonie i think its time to see whether this guy has gotten abit healthier.

[Khayman]

Update Week 14

 

The Mandarin appears to be filling out some Pictures will follow, hopefully this weekend though I am very busy.

 

 

 

Dilianozzzz

 

As for the prematurity of this thread I disagree. I setup this thread with set goals. So far these goals have been followed. I have done weekly updates so that the progress or failure of this Mandarin could be followed. As for her being thin I do agree that she is thinner than SDT's mandarins. I will say she is nowhere near the thinnest I have ever seen. She is neither fat nor thin really.

[Sly-Reefer]

I have read this thread with quite a bit on interest and am more than willing to dispell any scepticism when it comes to this breeder. I just so happen to live in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario and would me more than happy to pay a visit to a Mandarin breeding facility. I have been reefing for some time, am an active member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society and the local marine/reef community, however- I have not heard of any local Mandarin breeder.

 

If you would be able to forward me the contact information of the breeders or name the LFS you get them from (Aquarium Services-Big Als, KW-Aquarium, Living Aquarium, McsPetworld, and Stashfrags are the only marine LFS that come to mind) I would love to check this out.

 

 

Cheers- and good luck with the 'experiment'

[javisaman]

Hmm wonder what happened to the weekly updates.

[matt frizz]

Pics or it's dead.

 

I am a complete noob on mandarins and SW in general but after reading this thread it is easy to tell what advice should and should not be followed. OP needs to learn how to take advice a little better.

[D3monic]

Healthy nano mandarins = Mine

 

Probably yours =

 

Hope im wrong.

[Khayman]

Hello Sly-Reefer

 

The LFS I use is Living Aquarium. I find Big Al's only sells sick and dieing stock. They also have a huge Cyno-bacteria problem in there coral tanks.

 

As for the weekly updates, I mostly got negative responses so I have moved to a different server for the most part. The Mandarin is alive and well and still very active. So for all you keeping track this is now week 20. I do not need nore care to have your close-minded opinions any longer. It has been 5 months now. I will do a large post at the six month mark, only because I said I would keep this experiment running for at least that long. If you would like the weekly updates again just ask. Or if you would like a weekly e-mail just PM me and I will do that for you.

 

My mandarin is not rolly-polly like some I have seen but I have also seen alot that are thinner than mine as well. Also Sly-Reefer if you live in the area I would be happy to let you come and see her for yourself. I live in Cambridge only minutes away from Living Aquarium. If you frequent Living Aquarium often you may have met me already. I stop in to see Steve and Rick a fare amount to purchase "Nano" and other supplies and to get advice.

 

Regards all

 

Khayman

[matt frizz]

Hello Sly-Reefer

 

The LFS I use is Living Aquarium. I find Big Al's only sells sick and dieing stock. They also have a huge Cyno-bacteria problem in there coral tanks.

 

As for the weekly updates, I mostly got negative responses so I have moved to a different server for the most part. The Mandarin is alive and well and still very active. So for all you keeping track this is now week 20. I do not need nore care to have your close-minded opinions any longer. It has been 5 months now. I will do a large post at the six month mark, only because I said I would keep this experiment running for at least that long. If you would like the weekly updates again just ask. Or if you would like a weekly e-mail just PM me and I will do that for you.

 

My mandarin is not rolly-polly like some I have seen but I have also seen alot that are thinner than mine as well. Also Sly-Reefer if you live in the area I would be happy to let you come and see her for yourself. I live in Cambridge only minutes away from Living Aquarium. If you frequent Living Aquarium often you may have met me already. I stop in to see Steve and Rick a fare amount to purchase "Nano" and other supplies and to get advice.

 

Regards all

 

Khayman

 

He asked where the mandarin breeder is because he wants to go see it not how your mandarin was doing.

[Khayman]

He asked where the mandarin breeder is because he wants to go see it not how your mandarin was doing.

 

If he is interested in the breeder he can ask Steve at Living Aquarium. I bought the Mandrine from Living Aquarium. He bought it from the breeder.

[fellbeast]

No offense, I'm not the smartest man in the world, but feel I am intelligent. It can take a long time for a fish to starve, and six months is possible. I guess the point is.. and I'm not trying to be a jerk, but Seedemtails has found an EASY and Successfully way to raise Mandarins, and wow are hers some of the healthiest I've seen. No offense yours looked skinny in that last pic, and I understand you have moved, and that is your explanation, but where is a current pic, because you have not proven that ALL that you have done to accomodate this fish.. (buying pods, pod condos (which I think is a great idea for pod hiding spots, but only as a supplement) and all your other efforts. Why would you go through all of this when there are easier ways? Your ammonia going to 8ppm, it amazes me your tank didn't crash. I think mandarins need more than just mail order pods.. oh well. I do wish you luck and high hopes for your mandarin, you should try SDT's method for the hell of it.

 

Oh and I don't care about my typos or runons.. you people get my point. Your brains are made to make sense of things... and i second the waste of time reading all the bickering..w asted an hour at work reading this thread.. lol. Love you all!

[Khayman]

Everyone and thank you for stopping by and reading my thread.

 

I am sorry for the delay in a current update. I have been very busy in the last couple months. As promised I would keep true to the experiment for 6 months and I have (Actually 7 months). The little mandarin is alive and doing very well. She has grown since her introduction the 24G Cube. For the many of you who have posted about her size and relative thinness, please keep in mind she is not a fully-grown mandarin. From my research as far as I can tell this fish does not grow fast like many other species.

 

Also I realize there are allot of people that do keep mandarins and have methods for their survival "SDT" being one. As stated very early in my thread, I did ask other members to help me and let me know what I needed to do to keep a mandarin. All I ever received in a reply was "Don’t it will die" and this was if they even replied. That is the reason I set out with this experiment and did my best to keep it as current as possible.

 

Again this is by no means the only or best way to keep a mandarin but it has worked out for me very well. My mandarin eats many types of frozen (Mysis, Brine, Cyclops, Daphnia) she is also eating pellets that she finds when they sink. The pod population is very healthy in my system and has not needed to be seeded in months.

 

Here are some updated pictures. Thank you all for your advice and for following along.