Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[Based]

http://thereefuge.com/threads/very-rare-west-australian-mandarins-synchiropus-picturatus-occidentalis.5949/

[Tamberav]

http://thereefuge.com/threads/very-rare-west-australian-mandarins-synchiropus-picturatus-occidentalis.5949/

 

Ya looks to be in Australia. I wish the picture links worked.

 

I would think, given enough time, they will end up in the US. At least some and hopefully to breeders. It isn't like they have to go in deep water and pull out $20k peppermint mandarins

[Based]

 

Ya looks to be in Australia. I wish the picture links worked.

 

I would think, given enough time, they will end up in the US. At least some and hopefully to breeders. It isn't like they have to go in deep water and pull out $20k peppermint mandarins

what's a peppermint mandarin?

[jedimasterben]

what's a peppermint mandarin?

they're tastier than normal ones.

[Tamberav]

what's a peppermint mandarin?

 

I was just saying they probably aren't as difficult to collect as peppermint angelfish so they probably won't be an absurd price.

 

they're tastier than normal ones.

 

[Based]

that's what I thought, peppermint angels are awesome, I wish I had bill gates money.

[JoeDigiorgio]

I briefly spoke with a marine fish breeder who lives in Australia about a year or so ago and he said his pair were $250 each and it didnt look like export would be happening any time soon. Honestly, theyre gorgeous but not $250 gorgeous lol at least in my opinion.

[Tamberav]

Export would being the cost up, no? They are pretty but not any prettier than the current colors, just a different color. I would probably pay $500 for a pair but only because mandarin's are the one fish I am good at keeping alive. lol

 

Ofc if a the tank leaked, mother nature sent a huge storm and other uncontrollable things... then I wouldn't be so happy about paying $500.

[Tamberav]

Doing things...

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Doing things...

 

 

You meanie! You cut out all the good parts!

[SquishyFishy]

Tam: who's a good online supplier for pods and black worms? I know my LFS will not have these and I am thinking of finally giving in to the urge for a Ruby or Mandy. I want to have a solid supply in the fuge before I start training.

[Tamberav]

I have gotten pods from reefs2go, reefcleaners, florida pets, bottled tisbe pods, ect. I only buy them to try and add diversity of pods back and for a boost if I got on long trips. Their numbers will stabilize based on food in your tank no matter how many you add. You may want to set up some cultures if you want a good amount for backup while you train.

 

Live black worms you keep in the fridge or a worm keeper, they die in salt water. I have not tried these because I think they are expensive to ship/buy regularly unless you can get some local. Also worms freak my husband out so I would never hear the end of it if I had a cup of worms in the fridge. Not sure if Kat has ordered them online before, but she may know a good place.

[metrokat]

I've only bought live black worms from LFS. Petland chain has them.

I've bought pods from many many sources including key diver on this forum. My recent repeat bulk shipments have been from getyourpods.com

[SquishyFishy]

Well I know this will get a lot of flack, but its just a question, O.K.?

 

Has anyone ever kept just one ruby red or mandy in a pico? With a large rock and chaeto with pods etc.??? I have a 4 gal acrylic that I could certainly try, even though people always say never never never in less than 30 gallons. But a few of you seem to do them in nanos....so....

 

My lfs regularily keeps a mandy in their pico displays for months on end and they seem to survive.

[metrokat]

Well I know this will get a lot of flack, but its just a question, O.K.?

 

Has anyone ever kept just one ruby red or mandy in a pico? With a large rock and chaeto with pods etc.??? I have a 4 gal acrylic that I could certainly try, even though people always say never never never in less than 30 gallons. But a few of you seem to do them in nanos....so....

 

My lfs regularily keeps a mandy in their pico displays for months on end and they seem to survive.

 

The ruby red might work. I wouldn't recommend a mandarin unless it is plumbed to a sump. The 30G suggestion is more for water quality than anything else because you have to feed mandarins several times a day.

 

I had to put my mandarin temporarily in a 3G for a couple of days. He jumped out of his skin everytime i walked by the tank. Tried to jump out of the tank every time I went in there to feed him. These fish like to cruise the whole tank and there wasn't very much tank for him to cruise.

[BulkRate]

IME you can definitely go significantly smaller than the "30 gallon" guideline easily enough, but have to compensate more and more for it... at some point you'll have to kowtow so much that your tank won't be enjoyable to either you or the prospective fish. I suspect I'm pushing the envelope a bit on my 9 gallon aquastyle, and that was after completely remaking the tank to suit a single mandarin.

As you get down to about the 8-10 gallon range (I'm thinking about Evolve/other All in One setups) here's what will hit you:

1. You'd probably have to choose one, single specimen and likely female - males get much, much larger (look back to some of the earlier pages featuring Sam the Salmon to get a relative size perspective). Water column height also becomes an issue the smaller you go tank-wise; you might/won't have enough clearance above your aquascape for a pair to do a rise.

 

2. Water quality - this fish is a messy eater even once trained onto prepared foods. I do my targeted feedings in the evening - nonetheless food gets sprayed/spat and hover-backwash'd EVERYWHERE. I have legions of micro brittles, fat dwarf hermit crabs and obese porcelains to take up some of the excess and macroalgae to bind up some of the organics, but with that much food breaking down you will have to change out floss/pad filtration every 2-3 days or your water chemistry will get borked. Yes, that is the scientific term for it. And around 30-40% water changes weekly or the water starts to look & smell like soup no matter how much carbon/purigen it filters through.

 

3. In smaller and smaller tanks you'll need a denser and more elaborate rockscape. Caves, ledges/overhangs and tiers to break up the display enough for the mandarin to comfortably cruise & forage. Perhaps much more rock than you want to fill up your pico tank with. Otherwise you're likely to spook the fish every time you walk past or it sees movement outside.

 

I'm not sure exactly where the "practical" limit is, but I'd be hesitant to keep even a small mandarin female or juvenile scooter long-ish term in anything significantly smaller than an 8. I'm sure it COULD be done with enough determination & work... just not that it should for myriad reasons.

[metrokat]

^^ so much this

Sam the Salmon

 

Original Sam the Salmon who never ate and passed

 

Sam the 2nd temporarily in a 3G

[Snow_Phoenix]

^^ so much this

 

 

Original Sam the Salmon who never ate and passed

 

Sam the 2nd temporarily in a 3G

 

How big was Sam the Salmon, if I might ask? I once saw a 4" Green Mandarin for sale at my LFS, thought that was the largest, but I'm curious to know if they can grow any bigger.

[BulkRate]

As promised a page or so back... Fio at 8 months and counting! Yes, the family finally demanded naming rights once she started gaining weight and passed the 6-month mark.

 

One of the rare moments of her chilling out next to a couple of recovering PPE's... normally she's cruising the zoagarten or upper ledges and showing off in the output of my Korallia - at least until a camera appears.

 

[metrokat]

How big was Sam the Salmon, if I might ask? I once saw a 4" Green Mandarin for sale at my LFS, thought that was the largest, but I'm curious to know if they can grow any bigger.

He was a good 3+ inches. I saw a target mandarin at my LFS that was a good 4+ inches. Nice fat fish. Let me see if I have a picture.

[Based]

Still haven't been able to get my mandarin to take mysis. I'm assuming spirluna brine won't be nutritious enough for him in the long run. What are some tips to get him on to mysis? My target mandarin took to mysis before he took to brine. Also what are some tips to get them into pellets? Any other foods I should look into?

[BulkRate]

Still haven't been able to get my mandarin to take mysis. I'm assuming spirluna brine won't be nutritious enough for him in the long run. What are some tips to get him on to mysis? My target mandarin took to mysis before he took to brine. Also what are some tips to get them into pellets? Any other foods I should look into?

 

In my case almost nothing worked for the first few weeks (went through a lot of bottled pods and hatched a lot of BBS and broadcast fed way too much other food) until I started getting the fish to associate a feeding pipette with the arrival of food. After I'd gotten her to eat BBS from it switched over to BBS/nutramar > nutramar > nutramar/LRS and finally LRS/crushed pellets/nutramar. For me, this process took 6-8 weeks to happen... I'm sure someone on here is in truth The Mandarin Whisperer and could do it much faster.

 

Frankly, for training purposes and initial health considerations it could probably be loaded with ANYTHING the fish will readily eat. If spirulina brine's what gets it done for yours, then feed spirulina brine for a week or two and then start mixing in the food you'd prefer it to be eating longer-term.

 

Keep in mind the fish will have its own preferences, and this particular one can be stubborn to the point of actual starvation about them - to this day I have to mix a tiiiiiiny shaving of Nutramar into the LRS reef frenzy/NLS pellet combo I feed the rest of the tank with to make her go for it.

[Tamberav]

Still haven't been able to get my mandarin to take mysis. I'm assuming spirluna brine won't be nutritious enough for him in the long run. What are some tips to get him on to mysis? My target mandarin took to mysis before he took to brine. Also what are some tips to get them into pellets? Any other foods I should look into?

 

Don't give up. A lot is going to depend on the individual mandarin. I have had ones eat right away, some take weeks, and my very 1st mandarin I have had for a few years now, only recently started eating mysis and even then he wants me to chop it up for him 1st. So stubborn.

 

My mandarins like ocean nutrition pellets but most won't touch spectrum. I guess they are gross

 

Perhaps something like this: http://www.marinedepot.com/H2O_Life_Spirulina_Brine_Mysis_Cube_Tray_Fish_Coral_Food-H2O_Life_Aquarium_Foods-HL1543-FIFDFZFSCF-vi.html

 

Otherwise you may want to try making your own. Try and get some of that brine/spirulina flavor on the mysis.

[Tamberav]

Well I know this will get a lot of flack, but its just a question, O.K.?

 

Has anyone ever kept just one ruby red or mandy in a pico? With a large rock and chaeto with pods etc.??? I have a 4 gal acrylic that I could certainly try, even though people always say never never never in less than 30 gallons. But a few of you seem to do them in nanos....so....

 

My lfs regularily keeps a mandy in their pico displays for months on end and they seem to survive.

 

The pods numbers will be dependent on food. If you overfeed a pico to grow the pods then you have a nutrient problem. So don't count on any pods, have a mandarin that can survive without pods, then if you have some pods, its a bonus but you're not relying on them.

 

The only way I would try this is with a ruby red female (since they seem the smallest and ruby's don't seem to spaz out) and one that would eat a variety of frozen. Pellets would be even better. Heavily plant the tank with macroalgae 1st and let it mature. I would also invest in quality live rock to get a good source of bacteria and faster maturing tank.

 

If you have room for it, I would just take the easy way out and get a larger footprint with an oversized sump for a fuge and filteration. Plant it with macro. Ta-da.

[Tamberav]

Photo I took yesterday, my spotted is not a typical shy mandarin, he is fairly aggressive and fears nothing, certainly not hands!

 

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