Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[driftsaru]

Late to the party!

 

Here is a picture of spunky. He eats frozen like a champ, but I am trying to get him to take pellets.

[Clown79]

He's beautiful. I'd love a mandarin

[WV Reefer]

This dude eats just about anything.

 

[driftsaru]

^ I want one.

 

Anyone here in SoCal have a female green spotted they're willing to part with?

[metrokat]

Hey everyone, Nutramar Ova is back in stock.

http://blog.marinedepot.com/2017/01/nutramar-ova-food-is-back-in-stock.html

[MainelyReefer]

Just bought 4 packages, thanks for letting us know. Got my mandarin Christmas Day 2015 and he is still kicking and ever since that day I have been looking for nutramar ova to train him on as he won't eat anything else but live copepods. Thanks again

[metrokat]

Just bought 4 packages, thanks for letting us know. Got my mandarin Christmas Day 2015 and he is still kicking and ever since that day I have been looking for nutramar ova to train him on as he won't eat anything else but live copepods. Thanks again

YW.

[banasophia]

@metrokat, looks like there may be a few mandarin threads but the ones I saw haven’t had any recent activity. This one seems to have lots of followers... would you say this is the best one for us to use, or is there a different one you recommend? 

[metrokat]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

@metrokat, looks like there may be a few mandarin threads but the ones I saw haven’t had any recent activity. This one seems to have lots of followers... would you say this is the best one for us to use, or is there a different one you recommend? 

The research and observations are the same. They're great fish but require care.

[banasophia]

59 minutes ago, metrokat said:

The research and observations are the same. They're great fish but require care.

Great, I would love to revive this thread and hear everyone’s recent experience with mandarins. 

 

I have a Biota mandarin from Live Aquaria that I’ve had in my Biocube 16 since 4/2/18. I feel like these Biota captive bred mandarins could be a real game changer, because I think they might be much more assertive feeders, making them easier to keep. I’m not saying it was easy with my little guy - I was prepared to do any- and every-thing to keep him alive, and spent a ton of time and money in the beginning figuring out how to care for him. And it hasn’t been long, so time will tell how he does long term.

 

Before I got him, I expected my Biota mandarin to be a slow and tentative eater, so I expected it to be difficult even if I could get him to eat frozen or pellet food. But now this little fish really bellies up to the bar, so to speak... he swims on up to the surface to eat right alongside the clowns and the firefish. 

 

The issue is, however, that when these fish arrive they are TINY. Their mouths are itty bitty, so feeding frozen and pellets at first is a real challenge! Pods, fresh hatched baby brine shrimp, and tiny pellets crushed and sprinkled on the surface were what worked for me. 

 

Here are are a few videos from a couple of months ago, he still does the same thing: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[metrokat]

Thank you for sharing that! @banasophia

[metrokat]

The biggest challenge I have faced with Mandarins is because of high flow in my tank. These are thoughtful feeders, they contemplate their food before eating it and in a high flow tank, this is not possible. I've had several Mandarins and they remain my favorite fish. I've managed to train adults to eat frozen and everything, but they need a tank with a lower flow. I have a super small scooter dragonette in my fuge right now and he's happily pod hunting. 

[banasophia]

29 minutes ago, metrokat said:

The biggest challenge I have faced with Mandarins is because of high flow in my tank. These are thoughtful feeders, they contemplate their food before eating it and in a high flow tank, this is not possible. I've had several Mandarins and they remain my favorite fish. I've managed to train adults to eat frozen and everything, but they need a tank with a lower flow. I have a super small scooter dragonette in my fuge right now and he's happily pod hunting. 

Ah that makes sense... For my tank, I feed twice a day, keeping my pump and powerhead off for about 30 minutes then powerhead only to swirl food around for 30 minutes, this is to feed my mandarin and my sun corals. This practice definitely impacts the nature of my tank and the corals I can keep since the nutrients are high. 

 

In the beginning I tried the mandarin diner and the baby brine shrimp feeder, which I think can both work well for some, but I didn’t end up needing for my little guy. 

[metrokat]

4 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Ah that makes sense... For my tank, I feed twice a day, keeping my pump and powerhead off for about 30 minutes then powerhead only to swirl food around for 30 minutes, this is to feed my mandarin and my sun corals. This practice definitely impacts the nature of my tank and the corals I can keep since the nutrients are high. 

 

In the beginning I tried the mandarin diner and the baby brine shrimp feeder, which I think can both work well for some, but I didn’t end up needing for my little guy. 

I've tried the diner with great success - but the other fish eventually find it.

I have been hatching BBS this past week and to be able to feed that would be great. Guess I will go look up the BBS feeder DIY now.

[banasophia]

Thought I’d post my copepod culture setup here, since it’s relevant to this thread and might be helpful to people looking for ideas on how to culture some pods for their mandarin. I haven’t been keeping it up for the past 2-3 months because my little guy didn’t seem to need them, but it seemed to be a decent setup. There are certainly lots of ways to successfully culture pods. 

 

I had to add phyto or crushed up pellets every couple days. And then I would use the spigots to remove some of the water with  pods to harvest them. I would strain them through a 53 micron filter, rinse them in fresh saltwater or tank water, then add them to a cup of fresh saltwater or tank water, then add to the refugium in back or to the display tank. Then I would add fresh saltwater to the pod culture containers, achieving a water change.

 

The lids are hard plastic so I used a drill bit for plastic to drill two holes (slowly, and with the surface supported by a wood block so it wouldn’t crack).  One hole is for the airline tubing, and one us a vent which is also used as a port for feeding the phyto or crushed pellets. To feed the crushed pellets, I made a tiny funnel out of a cut up pipette. 

 

Please excuse the pics - as I mentioned, I haven’t been using or keeping these up for 2-3 months so they are getting a bit funky at this point, but I knowpics are always helpful.

[banasophia]

Okay, posting my copepod culture setup above inspired me to get it back up and running again to supplement Finnick’s diet, so I cleaned out both jars today and started tigger pods in the one on the left, will pick up some apex pods for the one on the right, and I’ll keep you posted. Here’s a video, and you can also see the Shrimpery in the foreground, which I use to hatch baby brine shrimp on a regular basis. 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Seeing this thread makes me miss my dragonets so much. 

 

Love your copepod culture, btw, @banasophia. 

[banasophia]

15 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Seeing this thread makes me miss my dragonets so much. 

 

Love your copepod culture, btw, @banasophia. 

Thanks, Snow. They are such beautiful fish, and they require extra TLC, so I think it makes it easy to get very attached to them. 💛

 

 

[duganderson]

What is the best copepod starter culture to raise for a mandarin?  Tisbe or Tigger or other?  

 

Which specific brand of starter/culture?  Where do you buy this?  

 

I'm looking to buy a captive breed mandarin and apparently they are very small when they arrive.

 

Also, what is the best starter phyto culture for the recommended copepod?

 

Thank you!  --Doug

[banasophia]

32 minutes ago, duganderson said:

What is the best copepod culture to raise for a mandarin?  Tisbe or Tigger?  Which specific brand of culture?  I'm looking to buy a captive breed mandarin and apparently they are very small when they arrive.

 

 

Thank you!  --Doug

Hi Doug, I think Tisbe biminiensis (Tisbe) and Apocyclops panamensis (Apex) pods are generally thought to be better types because mandarins typically hunt for pods in the rockwork, though my Biota mandarin does eat from the surface as well so I also use Tigriopus californicus (Tigger) pods for him. I like the Reef Nutrition brand personally because I’m able to get them at my LFSs, but I’ve also had good experience ordering online as well. 

[Ladytank]

This is a great thread for anyone interested in dragonetts. Banasophia, I too will be using this setup for populating pods. Luckily my lfs sells captive bred madarins,but I don't want to take any chances. I don't have a refugium, so I will feed at night after lights go out. I've read that tisbe are the best,because they live and breed in the rock work,and substrate. 

[kalh]

Hi guys,

 

I've read a lot about keeping mandarins and would love to have one. I do not yet have a tank but am planning a 20gal long mixed reef with a 10 gal sump. I will be breeding pods in a refugium, as well as populating the 20L before introducing a mandarin. I am prepared to pay for pods, but am hoping to wean it to frozen foods. Thoughts? If this is not possible, please explain so I can learn :)

[toddrparr]

Hi all,

 

I joined the mandarin owners club this past week, will post a picture this weekend (I'm superstitious about pictures and naming fish in the first week...). I have plenty of pods now in the tank and I'm setting up a culture following @banasophia model. My question is, how important is a light for the culture and does the addition of chaeto help the culture?

 

thanks!!!

[banasophia]

43 minutes ago, toddrparr said:

Hi all,

 

I joined the mandarin owners club this past week, will post a picture this weekend (I'm superstitious about pictures and naming fish in the first week...). I have plenty of pods now in the tank and I'm setting up a culture following @banasophia model. My question is, how important is a light for the culture and does the addition of chaeto help the culture?

 

thanks!!!

Hi, @toddrparr, congrats on your new addition! Is it captive bred, or wild caught? Check out the Facebook page The Copepod House for lots of great info on culturing pods, and some totally different methods that I’m hoping to try too... the more pods the better!! 

 

The light is for growing the chaeto, and the chaeto is to help with nutrient export since it takes up nutrients as it grows and also provides a place for the pods to hang out. Growth of the chaeto has been a bit slow with the light I am using, so if you haven’t gotten one yet you may want to find one that works better to promote macro growth.

[banasophia]

On 10/3/2018 at 5:39 PM, kalh said:

Hi guys,

 

I've read a lot about keeping mandarins and would love to have one. I do not yet have a tank but am planning a 20gal long mixed reef with a 10 gal sump. I will be breeding pods in a refugium, as well as populating the 20L before introducing a mandarin. I am prepared to pay for pods, but am hoping to wean it to frozen foods. Thoughts? If this is not possible, please explain so I can learn 🙂

Hi, @kalh, sorry I didn’t see your post before or I would have replied sooner. If you’re going to get a mandarin in a smaller tank, I personally think captive bred are a good way to go since I think it may be easier to get them to eat other foods. You will also need to stock your tank carefully with regard to other fish, so your mandarin doesn’t have a lot of competition for the pods. That being said, if you can get some pod cultures going ahead of time to where you can frequently add them to your tank, that will also help. Check out Steven Parker’s Facebook group The Copepod House for ideas... he’s the copepod guru. 🙂