ORA aquacultured spotted Mandarin Goby

[basser1]

Just saw an article that states ORA has sold out of the spotted mandarins. So you guys and gals that have them are kinda like "pioneers"!

 

Hope all are doing well and eating, if not already.

[robles]

Day 5. Tried Nutramar Ova today. No interest, even though it's supposed to be the "favorite food". Mandarin's stomach is still plump so still have some copepods in the live rock I guess. It is coming out much more and isn't shy at all now. Gets right into the corals looking for food.

I am going to chill out on the target feeds, let it settle in, and try target feeding in a few days when it's hungry.

[Chicagoclowns]

I just want to let you all know that ORA mandarins are a complete waste of money. It is awesome that they are captive breeding these guys so that they aren't taken off the reefs but come on has anyone ever even owned a mandarin?

 

My LFS has green mandarins and green spotted mandarins on sale every so often for 12-15 bucks and no more than 30 any other time. I have five tanks and have botten pairs for 3 of them. Thats 6 mandarins for those who are counting. Every single one i have bought at no more than 2 inches long and every single one has accepted brine and mysis shrimp within a couple days of being put into the tanks.

 

 

Could call this good luck but either way ORA is either ripping the LFS off of your own stores are making bank selling you the same thing they already have because it is captive bred. In my opinion captive bred fish should be less because of the cost of obtaining a wild one.

 

 

Just a thought

 

heres ziggy now

[19jeffro83]

I know in my own experience that my spotted mandarin took to spot feeding on day one. He ate and still eats both frozen mysis and brine.I really think ORA released these fish too young. They're too small and any inexperienced reefer / aquarist shouldn't buy any fish this young and small. IMO shame on ORA for misleading people into thinking this is an easy fish now.

[Uhuru]

I just want to let you all know that ORA mandarins are a complete waste of money. It is awesome that they are captive breeding these guys so that they aren't taken off the reefs but come on has anyone ever even owned a mandarin?

 

My LFS has green mandarins and green spotted mandarins on sale every so often for 12-15 bucks and no more than 30 any other time. I have five tanks and have botten pairs for 3 of them. Thats 6 mandarins for those who are counting. Every single one i have bought at no more than 2 inches long and every single one has accepted brine and mysis shrimp within a couple days of being put into the tanks.

 

 

Could call this good luck but either way ORA is either ripping the LFS off of your own stores are making bank selling you the same thing they already have because it is captive bred. In my opinion captive bred fish should be less because of the cost of obtaining a wild one.

 

 

Just a thought

 

heres ziggy now

 

I don't know if captive breeding is cheaper (I doubt it in this case) but of course people will pay more for the ORA name. It's the same with corals. In the grand scheme of things we spend a lot more money on senseless stuff at least this is better for the environment. I would choose to buy captive bred over wild caught every time even if it was more expensive.

[19jeffro83]

Uhuru you'd pay 5x the price for a fish that will starve lol.

[Uhuru]

Well I have no experience with mandarins, but AFAIK it's still considered RARE for a wild caught mandarin to accept frozen on day one like a couple of you have experienced. That's great for you, but I certainly wouldn't go out and buy a wild caught mandarin based on your experience. I wouldn't buy one unless I had a large tank with a constant supply of pods. It seems the same is true for the ORA ones. So on that note - I wouldn't pay $12 or $50 for one.

[wamb0010]

Both of mine are still alive after 8 days. I have no clue if they are eating because they have made their home deep under my rock. I target feed bloodworm into their cave. If they didn't eat anything, even pods, would they have been dead by now?

 

Jeffro tull - You need to stop sharing your thoughts & experiences! We are disgruntled ORA mandarin owners

[19jeffro83]

A small culture of pods is really all you need to keep these fish. You can do it in a soda bottle with an airstone and some phyto. That and some patients and dedication to train it. IMO easier than a dog work wise and quite the beautiful creater. I got my wild caught for 20$ some of the ORA specimens are selling for 100$ and are very small.

[wamb0010]

I got my wild caught for 20$ some of the ORA specimens are selling for 100$ and are very small.

 

I know! That is what I paid!!! I won't care if they finally end up earting!

[19jeffro83]

Wam, I'm not sure about the amount of time this fish could go without food. Are they getting skinny at all? When feeding do you shut all pumps off? Do they come out when they smell food in the water?

No bs my mandarin comes rite out to the open when I shut down the flow and literally chase my turkey baster until I give a pile of food. IMHO that's a trained fish. It took me a total of two weeks before she started doing this.

For the price these fish are selling for they should be trained before release.

I I where you I'd start a small pod culture. And spot feed

Ground spiralina and enriched brine with cyclopeze adds as well. My fish was and is about 2- 2 1/4" when I got her. So I really don't know what a fish as small as yours would eat. But good luck and if I can help I will.

 

Agreed I'd pay if they ate as well and I knew the age of the fish and all. I don't blame you at all. I feel bad that you waited and paid for a fish that you truly thought you could keep. Unfortunatly like I stated IMO ORA is the one to blame for misleading people.

[wamb0010]

Are they getting skinny at all?

 

Not sure! They really never come out. I catch glimpses of them when I shine the flashlight in the cave. Its hard to tell though

 

When feeding do you shut all pumps off?

 

Every time

 

Do they come out when they smell food in the water?

 

No!

 

I I where you I'd start a small pod culture. And spot feed

 

What is the best way to start a pod culture? I was thinking about picking up a 10 gallon from petco this weekend

 

They are very small fish! I have been carpet bombing the tank with baby brine shrimp and shooting chopped bloodworm into their cave.

[19jeffro83]

Just get a five gallon. You can split it if you want. Fill it about two thirds the way up. Get an air stone or two. Depening if your splitting it up or not. Buy a jar of dts live pods. Don't get tiger pods they're a cold water species. Take the pods dump them in the tank. Feed phyto about 1 ml per day or maybe two. Run the airstone just for a little water movement. Top off keep salinity about the same as your tank. Wait a few days to a week. Then harvest with a cup,jar, turkey baster. Strain about half the water or a little more than half through a coffee filter and then shake the filter into your tank with the lights off. Fill the culture tank back up and continue on the culture. That easy. Do a couple google searches it'll come up.

 

Oh room temp is fine and give them some indirect light as well

[JesseWin123]

Got mine yesterday and he found a small cave and stuck there until this evening (25 hours) I got a syringe attached some plastic tubing to spot feed him the recommended pellets and baby brine. He doesnt seem to know its food...gave up and 5 minutes later he came out of the cave and is swimming around like he owns the place. So hes no longer shy all of a sudden but no eating. Will try tomorrow afternoon and see if he snacks on anything.

 

I agree they are too young they needed another couple months of pellet food consumption but I think most will survive on what they find. I think they are still a bit scared but will warm up quickly to their environments. I have a small black clown in there and I thought he would swim away when they met but they met face to face and mandarin held his ground and the clown backed away (twice). The could care less about each other now so now its all about getting him to eat.

[19jeffro83]

They prob won't bother each other but a clown is a much more aggressive eater than the mandarin. Your mandarin mite be scared off by him when it comes to feeding time.

[JesseWin123]

The clown gets the food before it sinks an inch in the water thats why I have the syringe and tubing. I can sneak food into the tank where the mandarins at and avoid the clown altogether. He'll always be spot fed so should be okay.

 

I emailed ORA for tips for us all to make this a successful and fun experience as soon as I get the info I will pass it along in this thread.

[JesseWin123]

Just as suspected these guys just need time.

 

"Our Spotted Mandarins have been entirely on the foods we recommended at least since March, that is exactly the reason why we released a limited quantity of them, because we wanted to be absolutely certain that the fish we released were eating prepared foods only. Every single one was individually picked out. I believe that one of the reasons why your Mandarin may not yet be eating is that these guys have never seen sand or rocks, let alone any other type of fish, so they need some time to settle down into their new surroundings. Do not try to target feed them with sticks, tubes or any other apparatus. Once he/she settles down, he'll start eating. Another reason is that as any other fish, if they're presented with the opportunity to eat live foods (e.g. copepods off your sand and rocks), they will. The food that they like the most is Nutramar's Ova, which I believe is a type of prawn eggs. They will also eat chopped blood worms, fish roe, and frozen baby brine. Some also like daphnia. They will NOT eat mysis, chopped or whole. I believe that as soon as he depletes your copepod population he will start to get hungry and will take prepared foods. If all else fails, they WILL eat enriched live baby brine shrimp."

 

Patience will be key with these little guys. First step is getting them to not be so shy and get them roaming around the tank as they do this they will eat little by little and eventually eat prepared foods.

[Nemo Niblets]

I believe that one of the reasons why your Mandarin may not yet be eating is that these guys have never seen sand or rocks, let alone any other type of fish, so they need some time to settle down into their new surroundings.

 

I just want to let you all know that ORA mandarins are a complete waste of money. It is awesome that they are captive breeding these guys so that they aren't taken off the reefs but come on has anyone ever even owned a mandarin?

 

My LFS has green mandarins and green spotted mandarins on sale every so often for 12-15 bucks and no more than 30 any other time. I have five tanks and have botten pairs for 3 of them. Thats 6 mandarins for those who are counting. Every single one i have bought at no more than 2 inches long and every single one has accepted brine and mysis shrimp within a couple days of being put into the tanks.

 

I've purchased and trained a mandarin. It wasn't too hard, but he didn't take it right off the bat. The next mandarin I purchased wouldn't even take live brine. You can't judge ORA based on your experiences, not everybody is going to have the same results as you.

[rgonzalez]

I've purchased and trained a mandarin. It wasn't too hard, but he didn't take it right off the bat. The next mandarin I purchased wouldn't even take live brine. You can't judge ORA based on your experiences, not everybody is going to have the same results as you.

 

 

Uhmm, yes you can judge ORA based on your experience. Their claims about their MG's eating prepared foods are not subjective, they are objective. Also, this same situation is happening to a LOT of people, not just a needle in a haystack. There in lies the problem. False advertising. Period.

[Rem]

What JessieWin123 quoted from ORA does make sense though. I wouldn't worry about the ORA mandarins not eating yet, they're probably consuming the copepods in the tank. Copepods are their natural diet, I think if they had the option between live copepods vs frozen foods/pellets, they're going to eat the pods first.

 

Like ORA said, once the pods are gone, I'm sure the tank-bred mandarins will start eating prepared foods when their hungry. I believe they just need more time and should be left alone.

[rgonzalez]

What JessieWin123 quoted from ORA does make sense though. I wouldn't worry about the ORA mandarins not eating yet, they're probably consuming the copepods in the tank. Copepods are their natural diet, I think if they had the option between live copepods vs frozen foods/pellets, they're going to eat the pods first.

 

Like ORA said, once the pods are gone, I'm sure the tank-bred mandarins will start eating prepared foods when their hungry. I believe they just need more time and should be left alone.

 

While I agree with what ORA wrote, the problem is the people whose MG's are not eating prepared foods are also not seen scouring the rocks for pods. Every MG I've seen in a tank is constantly on the hunt, or if not, may not spend a lot of idle time. These MG's from ORA are staying in the same spot for hours at a time and are NEVER seen looking for pods.

 

I'm hoping what ORA says is true.

[JesseWin123]

FEEDING FRENZY VIDEO

]

 

VIdeo of the little guys eating. I think they are all in shock and will be for a few days maybe more. They are eating things in the tank I finally saw mine eat some things off a rock, I am not concerned about the prepared foods and will follow ORA's instructions. I think ORA has done a great job and these little dudes need time to adjust.

 

Keep in mind their brain wiring has been altered and will need time to compensate for all the crazy things going on. Mine went from ORA to saltwaterfish.com then flew to UT and wasnt delivered until 3pm my time. Im amazed he survived that trip to begin with!

[Uhuru]

so it sounds like it would have been best to place them in a QT first:

 

I believe that one of the reasons why your Mandarin may not yet be eating is that these guys have never seen sand or rocks

 

hmmm I think I'm still gonna wait til all you beta testers get it figured out

[19jeffro83]

I have a ton of pods and my wild caught spoted mandarin always I mean always eats when I feed her.

[DaveFason]

I just finished feeding with the Nutramar Ova and it looks like thats the trick. I broke off a small square and let it sink and the little guy went to it right away. I'm 95% sure that it took some in.

 

Try it out just like the video above.

 

-Dave