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ORA aquacultured spotted Mandarin Goby

wamb0010

By wamb0010,
in Fish Forum

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robles

robles

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Mine still hasn't eaten. I've tried everything- Nutramar ova, Hikari blood worms, Spectrum small fish pellets, Cyclopeeze, Spot feeding, no spot feeding. There is absolutely no interest in prepared foods. And the poor guy is starting to get skinny. I am at a loss here. It's been weeks.

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Captivating_Reef

Captivating_Reef

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Hey I have been reading this thread for a bit now and I'm confused. I know that the aqua-cultured mandarins are supposed to accept the prepared foods but if you're having trouble why don't you try to train them. I Bought a wild spotted mandarin like 3 weeks ago and when I got home I noticed she was so skinny I thought she was gonna die in like a day or 2. When I bought her I also bought live brine shrimp and a breeders basket. I took a syringe from one of my test kits, had her in the basket and fed her the live brine from the syringe. I did this once in the morning then in the afternoon I did the same thing except now with frozen brine. It took 3 days and she was eating the frozen brine. I put her out of the net and into the display tank and now she eats frozen mysis and brine really well and since I got her I have really noticed the weight coming back. I was lucky that the fish store had live brine but if you can't get live brine just try to target feed them in a breeder's basket with frozen brine. Just be persistent and I'm sure it will work. Spotted mandarins are fairly easy to train. Good luck!

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skimmerdude

skimmerdude

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Hey I have been reading this thread for a bit now and I'm confused. I know that the aqua-cultured mandarins are supposed to accept the prepared foods but if you're having trouble why don't you try to train them. I Bought a wild spotted mandarin like 3 weeks ago and when I got home I noticed she was so skinny I thought she was gonna die in like a day or 2. When I bought her I also bought live brine shrimp and a breeders basket. I took a syringe from one of my test kits, had her in the basket and fed her the live brine from the syringe. I did this once in the morning then in the afternoon I did the same thing except now with frozen brine. It took 3 days and she was eating the frozen brine. I put her out of the net and into the display tank and now she eats frozen mysis and brine really well and since I got her I have really noticed the weight coming back. I was lucky that the fish store had live brine but if you can't get live brine just try to target feed them in a breeder's basket with frozen brine. Just be persistent and I'm sure it will work. Spotted mandarins are fairly easy to train. Good luck!

 

I think some people have good luck training them, and other, like myself, fail repeatedly. I was super excited when ORA came out with these fish. Now I don't know what to think. I need someone to train me to train the fish.

 

I wonder if mandarins are so hard wired to eat live foods that their initial "training" at ORA is undone by the stress of shipping and then they are placed in a tank with a few live pods, and they forget completely about frozen or freeze dried fish.

 

It sure seems that we should be keeping them in a QT or breeder basket until they are eating, no matter where they come from.

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Captivating_Reef

Captivating_Reef

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Well I'm sorry to hear that you failed at training them. I would just say that you should stick to the way I said it seems to work really well just don't take them out until they are eating. Another thing I was going to mention was that I have two ocellaris clowns in the main display and I was worried at first that they were going to attack her but they don't bother her at all. In fact I have seen them hover in one spot and watch her graze the rock. A fish watching another fish how cool is that! But anyway the point of the clowns is that fish can actually be trained by other fish. When I first put the mandarin in the main display with the clowns she didn't go after the food right away but after a day or two she vigorously goes after the food and I think its because she watched the clowns go after the food at feeding time. So if you have other fish that might help just keep them in a basket until they eat some of the frozen. I think the breeders basket is key as well make sure it's the one with the netting. The food kinda sticks to the sides and they go after it when it moves from the surrounding water. Also make sure you start feeding with brine shrimp I think that somehow helped too.

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skimmerdude

skimmerdude

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Well I'm sorry to hear that you failed at training them. I would just say that you should stick to the way I said it seems to work really well just don't take them out until they are eating. Another thing I was going to mention was that I have two ocellaris clowns in the main display and I was worried at first that they were going to attack her but they don't bother her at all. In fact I have seen them hover in one spot and watch her graze the rock. A fish watching another fish how cool is that! But anyway the point of the clowns is that fish can actually be trained by other fish. When I first put the mandarin in the main display with the clowns she didn't go after the food right away but after a day or two she vigorously goes after the food and I think its because she watched the clowns go after the food at feeding time. So if you have other fish that might help just keep them in a basket until they eat some of the frozen. I think the breeders basket is key as well make sure it's the one with the netting. The food kinda sticks to the sides and they go after it when it moves from the surrounding water. Also make sure you start feeding with brine shrimp I think that somehow helped too.

 

I am hoping to try again, but I want to try with farmed fish. I failed x2 in the past and I swore I would never purchase another wild caught mandarin again. I just can't rationalize taking these fish out of the ocean only to have them die in my tank. It was quite some time ago that I tried to train one, and it was before people were talking much about training them. Mostly people said that you just needed enough live rock. I tried to train in the main tank and I think it was too hard to get access to the fish, and to confirm that it was actually eating.

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Captivating_Reef

Captivating_Reef

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Ya that's why that breeders basket is important so you can watch them eat. If you don't have one now and want to try again make sure you can get the live brine first and if you cant buy adult sized live brine than before you get the mandarin hatch and raise the live brine first. I'm am so confident that if you have the live brine and stick to the way I said with the basket it will work. Just make sure you are talking about spotted mandarins cause I failed horribly with a green mandarin first (the poor thing jumped!) :tears: For some reason Spotted ones are easy to train. I should also mention that you should enrich the brine (live and frozen) with a vitamin supplement before feeding. I never did but it is better for the fish.

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skimmerdude

skimmerdude

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Ya that's why that breeders basket is important so you can watch them eat. If you don't have one now and want to try again make sure you can get the live brine first and if you cant buy adult sized live brine than before you get the mandarin hatch and raise the live brine first. I'm am so confident that if you have the live brine and stick to the way I said with the basket it will work. Just make sure you are talking about spotted mandarins cause I failed horribly with a green mandarin first (the poor thing jumped!) :tears: For some reason Spotted ones are easy to train. I should also mention that you should enrich the brine (live and frozen) with a vitamin supplement before feeding. I never did but it is better for the fish.

 

My LFS usually has live brine. I will have to think about trying this again.

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Dani3d

Dani3d

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I must have been lucky then because both of mine from different stores and bought at a different time are eating frozen and it was easy to train them. I simply put the food on a piece of live rock and they picked at it. I have my male for 6 months and the female for 4 months now. Both doing great and the female is huge from the eggs and they courship often but no spawning yet.

 

It does take dedication and it is best to have them alone so there is no competition for the food and eventualy they will eat if they are comfortable in their environment.

 

Mine now run after my pipette for the food and pick at it before I even have the chance to empty it.

 

I did! Thanks for sharing. Looks like yours is active and on the hunt!
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wamb0010

wamb0010

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Just an update. Both of mine are alive but they still don't eat the nutramara ova... One of mine is out much more frequently and I have the kent seasquirter now (dremmeled off the tip a little) and I can target feed like a pro. I kill the pumps and drop the ova a few inches above his/her head and it falls down right in front of his/her face but no reaction.

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sushieraser

sushieraser

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While I know that this situation has to be rough for those with these fish with new unknown habits but it makes me laugh.

 

Think of this fish like a dog. From birth this animal has never been outside of it's cage, never walked on grass or fed anything other then the same brand of dry dog food from the same metal dish. Then one day he is shoved into a crate and shipped across the country, You go to a pet store and buy this dog before they even have a chance to put it on display. Now you take your beloved new pooch from the pet store and let him out into your yard. Would you be surprised if your dog ran and hid or ignore you to sniff every inch of the this fabulous new place? Would it be all that surprising if when offered a new diet from a new dish with allot of new people and pets around, your new dog wouldn't eat? If you were to put out the dish of food but only step 2 feet from the dish and stare at it, would you assume your new dog was sick or dying if he didn't jump all over it? To take this analogy farther if you filled up his dish with unfamiliar food, shoved it in his face, watch him for 15 minute and not see him eat, would you think he was starving to death? And if a hour later you walk by and see an empty dish, would the proper assumption be that your dog is not eating because he didn't gobble it down in front of you?

 

I have no doubt there will be deaths in this first roll out of farm raised fish but time is your friend in this. After the initial flurry to buy these is done, the fish will sit for days maybe even weeks at various LFS. There they will go through the adjustment period, calming down, learning what life in a tank is like and the stressful first few days/week of making sure they eat will be in someone else's hands so that when you the consumer come along and get your dream fish, they should be settled down enough to eat properly.

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robles

robles

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For the past week I placed mine in a breeder net to try and train it. It still has eaten nothing. I placed it back into the tank today-- decided to test Darwin's theory.

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Deleted User 6

Deleted User 6

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will a ORA aquacultured spotted Mandarin Goby pair up with a trigger pistol shrimp?

i know this goby doesnt borrow.. just wondering...

 

nope

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JoeD

JoeD

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nope

Mandarins are not gobies... they are dragonets. They don't pair with any shrimp, and...............

 

ORA cultured or not, they have high metabolisms and will need multiple feedings each day.

Training them to eat frozen is less a problem than committing to their upkeep in a nano...

Do you like to go on vacation???

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robles

robles

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After one month my ORA target mandarin has finally eaten! I target fed it Nutramar Ova today and it gulped down several large globs. It is FINALLY showing interest in the prepared food. I had almost given up on it as it is getting really skinny, and people on other websites were starting to experience some deaths. I am going to try again tonight. Gotta fatten this baby up! :)

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robles

robles

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Ate the Nutramar again last night and today. I gave it a pile of Spectrum pellets for small fish and it even nibbled on that! I am officially psyched, this fish has totally turned around. It took its sweet time though.

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bitts

bitts

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has there been any word on weather ORA will be able to do the same with the psychedelic mandarin. Unless this is the psychedelic then it would be the other one. Anyway the one that has swirls instead of spots.

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basser1

basser1

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has there been any word on weather ORA will be able to do the same with the psychedelic mandarin. Unless this is the psychedelic then it would be the other one. Anyway the one that has swirls instead of spots.

 

bitts.... Yes ORA is doing the same thing with the blue or psychedelic mandarins. As a matter of fact, some on-line vendors are already taking pre-orders for them now. I've seen prices anywhere from $75 - $99 for them. And if you really have the bucks to spend, you can even pre-order a mated pair!

 

http://www.sustainablereefs.com/?q=node/189

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wamb0010

wamb0010

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I'm still not there yet. I have been in contact with ora and they advise me not to target feed, but instead to drop the ova in a pea size ball into the general vicinity. I've been feeding 2x daily to my one using that method and I haven't gotten visual confirmation. I haven't seen the 2nd dragonette in a few days. I'm afraid that it is dead and was eaten by my CUC

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