Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[jedimasterben]

How hard is it to hatch baby brine shrimp?

Easy as hell. Make saltwater, bubble it, and in 24 hours you separate the artemia from the shells, shells will float I believe.

 

You can also get one of these, no bubbler required: http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c9/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

How long do they last for after they're hatched?

Feed immediately. Hatching reduces their egg sacks considerably and within a few hours they lost what little nutrition they start off having.

 

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

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/nftt/index.php

[Simone]

Hey guys, I wanted to share a new food I found that looks promising. It's called Zu-Feast:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ZU-FEAST-WHOLE-ZOOPLANKTON-ORGANISM-CORAL-REEF-FOOD-2-/151113425134?pt=Coral_and_Live_Rock&hash=item232f0fe0ee

 

It contains:

Enriched whole rotifers

Various whole Copepod species

Prawn eggs !!!!!!!

Decap’d hatching brine shrimp eggs

 

I was so excited when I saw the prawn eggs, I freaked out. I wrote to the seller to ask if he could sell me prawn eggs by themselves and he responded very promptly but said no. There isn't much written about the product so I'm a little dubious but it's worth a try. No way to know if these prawn eggs are similar to those in Ova. Zia has used it in his seahorse tank and says it is amazing and everything in the tank eats it so that's a good endorsement. Also found a few people who use it as coral food.

 

They also sell salmon eggs which could be good but I didn't order:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SALMON-EGG-DELIGHT-4oz-Whole-Fresh-Reef-Fish-Nutrition-Eggs-Food-Mandarin-Coral-/151291789421?pt=Live_Fish&hash=item2339b1806d

 

I will be sure to let you guys know how my mandarins and pipefish respond to this food when I get it next week.

[metrokat]

Simone, let us know how that product works out, I like the salmon egg product too, at least you knwo it's not flavored as the Roe at the asian supermarkets are.

 

This is the Caviar food which I have, Sam eats it. The size of the product is what is important to me and ultimately to the fish also I would assume. The eggs in this are rather big IMO. I hope the prawn egg product is smaller.

 

Dr.G's Caviar MAX
Extra Concentrated 100% Natural Capelin Eggs
Large 8 oz Bottle - Ready to Use - Refrigerated.

 

• 50% Protein content, Extremely Nutritious
• Ideal food for Mandarins, Seahorses, Pipefish, Dragonets, Blennies and Gobies
• Creates a Feeding Frenzy on Soft & Stony Corals (SPS & LPS)
• Finicky Eaters? Not any more, All Fish devour Dr.G's Caviar
• Perfect for Raising Juvenile Fish
• Triggers natural feeding responses in all aquarium animals
• Caviar Magnifique is Ready to Use, no need to thaw, wait or rinse before feeding. Simply pour directly into your tank.

Dr.G's Caviar is made from 100% Natural Capelin (Mallotus villosus) eggs. These Roe (fish eggs) are 50% Protein, making them extremely nutritious and stimulates, voracious feeding behaviors in fish and invertebrates.

Nature has packed this Caviar with HUFA's, Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Carotenoids and astaxanthin, all of which are indispensable to provide energy to your fish, beautiful bright colors and health. This fine caviar, is great tasting, so will also stimulate quick adaptation of new arrivals to your tank, having them eating faster than with any other product. It also promotes spawning.

Dr.G's Caviar is the Ideal food for Mandarins, Seahorses, Pipefish, Gobies and Blennies.

Dr.G's Caviar has the ideal size for feeding corals, feeding responses are seen instantly! Soft corals, Small and Large Polyp Scleractinia (SPS and LPS) enter in a feeding frenzy.

Dr.G's Caviar, is a must have when rearing fishes in the larval and post-larval stage. Is the perfect, tasty and nutritious natural food, which young fish love to eat.

Dosage: A little goes a long way. Dr.G's Caviar will produce an absolute "Feeding Frenzy". Depending on your tank size, add enough Caviar to be devoured in about 3 of minutes - adjust size accordingly. Do not over feed.

Storage: Keep Refrigerated at all times.

Exceptional Fresh Ingredients: 100% Natural Capelin eggs, in a proprietary solution.
Analysis: per 100 grams Crude Protein 50% (33 grams) Total Fat 8% Total Carbohydate 1%
Warning: Not for Human Consumption. For Aquarium use only. Keep out of reach of children.

Packed in the USA, by Dr.G's.

[BulkRate]

Hmmmmm... <strokes goatee with right eyebrow raised>

 

I have some Doc's Eco Eggs on the way, but I've seen the Caviar Max product at a couple of local stores... definitely will put it on the list of prospective foods! I'm also looking into JoeDigiorgio's DIY gel recipe - SuperH Mart and the Buford Hwy. Asian markets can likely supply all of the ingredients. No luck finding his other fallback, H2Olife's Caviar at least here in Atlanta.

 

MetroKat, what's your opinion/experience with ROE? I assume you've at least tried it on your tank because it's, well a food. And it's available just about everywhere.

 

I really want to get away from conditionally available food, my little girl has done so well that I'd hate for it to all go downhill at this point.

[JoeDigiorgio]

ROE, Dr G's and H2OLife Reef Caviar are all the same eggs. They're capelin roe. I just like the cubes of it by H2OLife because they'll clump if defrosted carefully with the pumps off and my mandarins always preferred to pick from a pile of food than to forage for tiny bits. It's also easier to monitor how much they're actually getting that way.

[Tamberav]

Got 6 packs of nutramar ova.. yay... expensive trip but found some goodies... Petco had an onyx clown mis-marked as a saddleback so scored him for $15 and found a female spotted at another fish store who quarantines their fish and probably the healthiest livestock I have seen in the area. She was in good spirits and only a little underweight so she came home with me.

 

Thanks for sharing those Simone, I will wait for your feedback. I would also be interested in seeing the size of the eggs.

[Simone]

Kat, thank you for the suggestion; I just got some Dr. G's Caviar this week and the mandarins eat it but not like Ova. Unfortunately, my pipe has not eaten it; I think the eggs are just too big and Doc's Eco Eggs are even larger.

 

The food buying kick I'm on now is mostly to find something non-live that my pipefish will go for like she did for Ova so I can stop hatching BBS and worrying about her all the time. Also I'd like to find something similar to Ova so that I can train another mandarin or scooter. My current mandarins will eat almost anything now but don't know if it is safe to get another without Ova.

 

I will be sure to let you guys know how it goes with the Zu-Feast.

 

Here's a mandarin kissy pic just because:

 

http://s732.photobucket.com/user/Betaya/media/Tank%20Upgrade/IMG_0660.jpg.html'>

[Obsessed Reefer]

So exciting news!!! I should be getting a pair in about two weeks!! My lfs has them on hold for me. The female I've seen eating frozen, the male was following the food around, but it was hard to see if he ate the mysis. Hopefully by next Friday he should be. I picked up some cheato and a bottle of tigger pods to jump start the fuge. My light will be here Tuesday, and I'm going to look into getting a brine shrimp set up.

[Liamgray90]

 

Another pic of my beast what a fish looks so amazing

[Obsessed Reefer]

Easy as hell. Make saltwater, bubble it, and in 24 hours you separate the artemia from the shells, shells will float I believe.

 

You can also get one of these, no bubbler required: http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c9/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

Feed immediately. Hatching reduces their egg sacks considerably and within a few hours they lost what little nutrition they start off having.

 

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

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/nftt/index.php

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/San_Francisco_Bay_Brand_Hatchery_Brine_Shrimp_Hatcheries-San_Francisco_Bay_Brand-SB1113-FIFDFEBS-vi.html

 

This looks like the same setup used in the Reefkeeping article. Going to pick one up and try it out. One question, does the amount of water I use differ based on the amount of eggs I'm using? Like I'm going to probably hatch a considerable less amount, as I have a smaller setup, but should I still use the same amount of water?

 

Also, my LFS sells bottles of Reef Nutrition ROE, so I'll probably pick up a bottle of that, because it sounds like it's the best thing I can get my hands on with ova being unavailable.

 

That leaves me planned feeding list to this:

 

1) Frozen Mysis

2) Frozen LRS Reef Frenzy

3) ROE

4) Live Brine Shrimp

5) Pods

 

Again I'm hoping the male of the pair I'm getting is going to be eating frozen by the time I pick them up, but I still want to be able to offer a variety to the tank.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

[jedimasterben]

http://www.marinedepot.com/San_Francisco_Bay_Brand_Hatchery_Brine_Shrimp_Hatcheries-San_Francisco_Bay_Brand-SB1113-FIFDFEBS-vi.html

 

This looks like the same setup used in the Reefkeeping article. Going to pick one up and try it out. One question, does the amount of water I use differ based on the amount of eggs I'm using? Like I'm going to probably hatch a considerable less amount, as I have a smaller setup, but should I still use the same amount of water?

The amount of water only depends on how many eggs you're attempting to hatch.

[Obsessed Reefer]

The amount of water only depends on how many eggs you're attempting to hatch.

 

Got ya. Do you (or does anyone) have any personal experience with the hatchery dish? It looks a lot simpler to use, and seems to only take 24 hours vs. 48 with the other methods.

[Simone]

That leaves me planned feeding list to this:

 

1) Frozen Mysis

2) Frozen LRS Reef Frenzy

3) ROE

4) Live Brine Shrimp

5) Pods

 

Again I'm hoping the male of the pair I'm getting is going to be eating frozen by the time I pick them up, but I still want to be able to offer a variety to the tank.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

 

I would get some frozen or refrigerated cyclops too. Cyclops are in fact copepods (maybe you knew that but I didn't when I was starting out). The Cyclopeeze brand is hard to get now but there are many others like Ocean Nutrition, H2O Life, and Dr. G's Copepods Max. You could also get some frozen brine and mix it in with mysis. It's just trial and error to see what your mandarins go for.

[Obsessed Reefer]

I would get some frozen or refrigerated cyclops too. Cyclops are in fact copepods (maybe you knew that but I didn't when I was starting out). The Cyclopeeze brand is hard to get now but there are many others like Ocean Nutrition, H2O Life, and Dr. G's Copepods Max. You could also get some frozen brine and mix it in with mysis. It's just trial and error to see what your mandarins go for.

 

Thanks! I did not know that Cyclopeeze were Copepods, sweet.

[Obsessed Reefer]

Ordered from BrineShrimpDirect today!

 

https://flic.kr/p/pgCoBA'>

https://flic.kr/p/pgCoBA'>Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/people/126151760@N05/'>darth.slover, on Flickr

 

 

How beneficial is refugium mud? Specifically this kind?

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fiji-mud-refugium-booster-24-oz.html

[Simone]

Ordered from BrineShrimpDirect today!

 

Untitled by darth.slover, on Flickr

 

 

How beneficial is refugium mud? Specifically this kind?

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fiji-mud-refugium-booster-24-oz.html

 

I have this hatchery dish; it's awesome, no air pump and no separating out the hatched BBS from the egg shells and unhatched eggs.

[Obsessed Reefer]

I can't wait!! I've been needing this vacation for weeks now, and I'm pumped for it, but I kinda wish it was next Friday already.

 

Also found the CPR CITR on sale, picked up the small one, want to try keeping a small display fuge too.

[jedimasterben]

I just ordered one of the dishes, too

[metrokat]

So exciting news!!! I should be getting a pair in about two weeks!! My lfs has them on hold for me. The female I've seen eating frozen, the male was following the food around, but it was hard to see if he ate the mysis. Hopefully by next Friday he should be. I picked up some cheato and a bottle of tigger pods to jump start the fuge. My light will be here Tuesday, and I'm going to look into getting a brine shrimp set up.

Tigger pods will get eaten up very quickly because they do nothing to hide. Tisbe is the food of choice for mandarins, see if you can get those.

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/San_Francisco_Bay_Brand_Hatchery_Brine_Shrimp_Hatcheries-San_Francisco_Bay_Brand-SB1113-FIFDFEBS-vi.html

 

This looks like the same setup used in the Reefkeeping article. Going to pick one up and try it out. One question, does the amount of water I use differ based on the amount of eggs I'm using? Like I'm going to probably hatch a considerable less amount, as I have a smaller setup, but should I still use the same amount of water?

I have this hatchery, worked fantastic but now it leaks and I can't figure out why or how to make it stop.

[jedimasterben]

I have this hatchery, worked fantastic but now it leaks and I can't figure out why or how to make it stop.

Superglue, epoxy, etc

[CronicReefer]

Out on the hunt

[Snow_Phoenix]

Tam, Kat, Simone and anyone else on here - I need some help.

 

1) Can Mandarins change sex? Or was my female mandarin, Isabella, all along a male with a damaged fin?

 

2) I found a parasitical isopod on Isabella a day before Carlos died. I extracted it using a pair of tweezers, but my Mandarin has since developed white blemishes under her skin. There are also two tiny black dots - bite marks of the isopod remaining. Even though the tank is isopod-free and the Mandarin is okay, she is losing weight a little despite being fed frozen 3x a day and having an in-tank fuge which is partially stocked with Chaeto and some LR rubble. Is there a way to treat the skin blemishes?

 

Here's several photos - please excuse the quality and angle:

 

 

Take note of the dorsal fin - it's slightly pointed although it was rounded when I first got the fish. So now I'm puzzled - if this is a male, why did it show courtship behaviour with another male initially? Also take note of the white splotches under the skin near the head, and the two tiny black spots which are bitemarks.

 

Here's more pics:

 

 

 

 

And this was the isopod I found attached to my Mandy:

 

 

I know I should probably start a new thread for this, but since all the experts are on here, I might as well ask you guys.

[jedimasterben]

1) Can Mandarins change sex?

Nope.

 

2) I found a parasitical isopod on Isabella a day before Carlos died. I extracted it using a pair of tweezers, but my Mandarin has since developed white blemishes under her skin. There are also two tiny black dots - bite marks of the isopod remaining. Even though the tank is isopod-free and the Mandarin is okay, she is losing weight a little despite being fed frozen 3x a day and having an in-tank fuge which is partially stocked with Chaeto and some LR rubble. Is there a way to treat the skin blemishes?

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23117-stocking-marine-fish-medicine-cabinet.html

[Snow_Phoenix]

Nope.

 

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23117-stocking-marine-fish-medicine-cabinet.html

 

Jedi, thanks for the link. Very informative. But I have to ask - is my Mandarin a male or female? I'm officially confused, because my eyesight tells me it's a male based on the now-visible spike on its dorsal fin, but its previous behavior suggests that it is a female.

[Simone]

Tam, Kat, Simone and anyone else on here - I need some help.

 

1) Can Mandarins change sex? Or was my female mandarin, Isabella, all along a male with a damaged fin?

 

2) I found a parasitical isopod on Isabella a day before Carlos died. I extracted it using a pair of tweezers, but my Mandarin has since developed white blemishes under her skin. There are also two tiny black dots - bite marks of the isopod remaining. Even though the tank is isopod-free and the Mandarin is okay, she is losing weight a little despite being fed frozen 3x a day and having an in-tank fuge which is partially stocked with Chaeto and some LR rubble. Is there a way to treat the skin blemishes?

 

Here's several photos - please excuse the quality and angle:

 

 

Take note of the dorsal fin - it's slightly pointed although it was rounded when I first got the fish. So now I'm puzzled - if this is a male, why did it show courtship behaviour with another male initially? Also take note of the white splotches under the skin near the head, and the two tiny black spots which are bitemarks.

 

Sorry to hear Isabella is having issues, I really hope she pulls through.

 

1. I do not believe mandarins can change sex but a short Google search didn't reveal anything that said this outright. But in everything I have read about mandarins, there was no mention of them changing sex. I believe that your Isabella is a female despite the slight point to her dorsal fin for two reasons. First, my female's dorsal fin is shaped very similarly to yours. I think there is some variation in the shape of the female dorsal fins with some being rounded looking and some having a slight point. The spine on the dorsal fin of male spotted mandarins, although not as pronounced as in green mandarins, is more pronounced than your picture of Isabella shows. Second, two mature males would never have tolerated each other, let alone bonded like yours did.

 

Here's a quote from an article by Matt Wittenrich:

 

"Spotted mandarins are a bit different. Males and females generally do not exhibit marked size differences, and the only way to tell the sexes apart is the elongated first dorsal spine of males, although this characteristic is very subtle...Match the appearance of the dorsal fin with behavioral observations, and it will soon become obvious if a heterosexual pair is present. Male-male pairs will fight incessantly."

 

2. I don't have any experience with disease in mandarins so I will let Kat or Tamb chime in on that.