Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[lkoechle]

Kat beat me to it. That little girl is hydrated.

So excited for tonight!

[nanolutionary]

What type sand you using?

 

'Coral Sand' mixed with some crushed live rock to help out any tunnel building fish.

 

http://www.unipacpet.co.uk/aquatic/aquarium-sand/

[metrokat]

so! Miss Ikoechle - any news?

[Mr. Microscope]

Reefwise posted they got more in!

 

I wonder if Jonas wants a girlfriend?

How much are they there?

[lkoechle]

so! Miss Ikoechle - any news?

No. My apex decided to got batshit and the lights were cycling all night. I went to bed at 9 because I'm sick and I hadn't seen anything at that point. Lights (according to husband) started going batshit at around 10. I'm sure it threw them off. lol We'll see tonight now that I've fixed the lights.

[metrokat]

Feel better.

[Arce]

 

DSCN0618 by justinarce5692, on Flickr

[kimberbee]

How much are they there?

 

I got mine for $25 I think two or three weeks ago.

[metrokat]

 

DSCN0618 by justinarce5692, on Flickr

Nice fishy! What's he eating?

[Arce]

Nice fishy! What's he eating?

Frozen mysis/brine

[D Z]

So quick question for all of you. My target mandarin is nice and happy in my 34, for now. He has fattened up a bit since I brought him home about 3 weeks ago. I have a decent amount of pods in my tank and have been adding a bottle of tigger pods every other weekend for now. I have not been able to get it to eat any frozen food on a consistent basis. Sometimes when I feed the tank with Larrys Reef Frenzy, it looks like he might be getting a little bit out of the water column, but Im not 100% sure. I am starting up a tisbe pod culture within the next week or so, whenever my LFS can get me a bag of tisbe pods in to start it with. Once the culture is going well and densely populated I am going to start adding pods from the culture to the tank about 1 time per week. Do you think this will be good to sustain the mandarin? Or should I still try to get it eating frozen foods?

 

Oh and there is not any other fish in the tank that the mandarin would have to heavily compete with for pods. Only a couple clowns for now, and I do not plan to add anything that is known to be a pod "hunter".

[kimberbee]

So quick question for all of you. My target mandarin is nice and happy in my 34, for now. He has fattened up a bit since I brought him home about 3 weeks ago. I have a decent amount of pods in my tank and have been adding a bottle of tigger pods every other weekend for now. I have not been able to get it to eat any frozen food on a consistent basis. Sometimes when I feed the tank with Larrys Reef Frenzy, it looks like he might be getting a little bit out of the water column, but Im not 100% sure. I am starting up a tisbe pod culture within the next week or so, whenever my LFS can get me a bag of tisbe pods in to start it with. Once the culture is going well and densely populated I am going to start adding pods from the culture to the tank about 1 time per week. Do you think this will be good to sustain the mandarin? Or should I still try to get it eating frozen foods?

 

Oh and there is not any other fish in the tank that the mandarin would have to heavily compete with for pods. Only a couple clowns for now, and I do not plan to add anything that is known to be a pod "hunter".

 

Mine took to blood worms right away. I dunno how effective culturing your own pods will be.

[D Z]

 

Mine took to blood worms right away. I dunno how effective culturing your own pods will be.

From what I understand, they populate fairly quickly when give a place to live without predators and fed regularly with phyto. If it goes well, I may look into culturing my own phyto as well, but for now I will just use phytofeast.

[kimberbee]

From what I understand, they populate fairly quickly when give a place to live without predators and fed regularly with phyto. If it goes well, I may look into culturing my own phyto as well, but for now I will just use phytofeast.

 

It's worth a try! I like that mine is on frozen so I don't have to worry. I just honestly don't know anything about culturing pods, that's all. I hope it works!!

[metrokat]

So quick question for all of you. My target mandarin is nice and happy in my 34, for now. He has fattened up a bit since I brought him home about 3 weeks ago. I have a decent amount of pods in my tank and have been adding a bottle of tigger pods every other weekend for now. I have not been able to get it to eat any frozen food on a consistent basis. Sometimes when I feed the tank with Larrys Reef Frenzy, it looks like he might be getting a little bit out of the water column, but Im not 100% sure. I am starting up a tisbe pod culture within the next week or so, whenever my LFS can get me a bag of tisbe pods in to start it with. Once the culture is going well and densely populated I am going to start adding pods from the culture to the tank about 1 time per week. Do you think this will be good to sustain the mandarin? Or should I still try to get it eating frozen foods?

 

Oh and there is not any other fish in the tank that the mandarin would have to heavily compete with for pods. Only a couple clowns for now, and I do not plan to add anything that is known to be a pod "hunter".

The culture will be good to supplement the tank with on a routine basis but it takes about 3 months for the culture to be dense enough to begin scooping out of. They are easy to grow, just dirty still water (phyto tinted) in a warm place is all they need really. Training the mandy on frozen/pellets is in general a good idea, it ensures they will eat if for some reason the pod population dwindles. Sometimes we have to use chemicals to fight problems like cyano etc, chemical treatments make a serious dent in pods.

[D Z]

 

It's worth a try! I like that mine is on frozen so I don't have to worry. I just honestly don't know anything about culturing pods, that's all. I hope it works!!

I always like to keep everything as close to natural as possible. If I can sustain the mandarin on nothing but pods by this method, then I will be happy. It would be nice to have him eating a little bit of frozen, as well, and maybe it will pick up on it in the long run. I just am not quite sure whether it will work long term.

 

As for the difficulty of culturing pods, it actually doesn't seem that bad from what I have read. I am planning on doing my culture in a 5 gallon bucket. Only other equipment you need is an air pump/stone and live phyto to feed the pods. Other than that, just a permanent coffee filter to getting them out of the bucket and into the main tank.

[lkoechle]

I always like to keep everything as close to natural as possible. If I can sustain the mandarin on nothing but pods by this method, then I will be happy. It would be nice to have him eating a little bit of frozen, as well, and maybe it will pick up on it in the long run. I just am not quite sure whether it will work long term.

 

As for the difficulty of culturing pods, it actually doesn't seem that bad from what I have read. I am planning on doing my culture in a 5 gallon bucket. Only other equipment you need is an air pump/stone and live phyto to feed the pods. Other than that, just a permanent coffee filter to getting them out of the bucket and into the main tank.

While I would normally agree keeping everything as close to natural is good, i would worry a collapse and then having nothing to fall back on. Thats like feeding predators live in a zoo. Good idea, not sustainable.

Mine took to blood worms right away. I dunno how effective culturing your own pods will be.

 

Was that live bloodworms or dried or what? Did you isolate them to feed? I haven't had a repeat performance of the jar unfortunately...

[metrokat]

live black worms are awesome. bloodworms are not that great but work in a pinch.

[lkoechle]

I think the local freshwater fish store sells them. How would you suggest feeding them in such a large tank like mine? :-/ especially since they are kind of skittish... I love having a big tank but times like these its a PITA lol

[D Z]

live black worms are awesome. bloodworms are not that great but work in a pinch.

I agree, I have heard that blackworks are great for pretty much all marine fish. There have even been some studies that suggest feeding blackworks may aid in avoiding ich breakouts(not quite sure how true that is). I just don't know where I can get them live around here unfortunately...

[lkoechle]

I agree, I have heard that blackworks are great for pretty much all marine fish. There have even been some studies that suggest feeding blackworks may aid in avoiding ich breakouts(not quite sure how true that is). I just don't know where I can get them live around here unfortunately...

Do you have any freshwater stores near you? I know they are a popular betta fish food.

[metrokat]

I think the local freshwater fish store sells them. How would you suggest feeding them in such a large tank like mine? :-/ especially since they are kind of skittish... I love having a big tank but times like these its a PITA lol

pumps off, wait for the water to settle, then squirt a couple for the other fish, while they are distracted squirt a couple for the mandies.

I agree, I have heard that blackworks are great for pretty much all marine fish. There have even been some studies that suggest feeding blackworks may aid in avoiding ich breakouts(not quite sure how true that is). I just don't know where I can get them live around here unfortunately...

My first week of feeding live black worms resulted in my clownfish pair spawning. It's a complete food.

[lkoechle]

pumps off, wait for the water to settle, then squirt a couple for the other fish, while they are distracted squirt a couple for the mandies.

My first week of feeding live black worms resulted in my clownfish pair spawning. It's a complete food.

Wow, maybe I need to start feeding that to the whole tank every now and then. How often do you feed them and how long do they live?

[metrokat]

Wow, maybe I need to start feeding that to the whole tank every now and then. How often do you feed them and how long do they live?

fresh black worms will last about a week to 1.5 weeks in the fridge. Change water daily. I keep a bottle of RO in the fridge alongside so that when i change the water they don't get a temperature shock as well. They are gobbled up lightning fast by everybody and the propensity to over feed is huge. They are nutritionally dense and will cause water quality problems if you over feed.

[lkoechle]

fresh black worms will last about a week to 1.5 weeks in the fridge. Change water daily. I keep a bottle of RO in the fridge alongside so that when i change the water they don't get a temperature shock as well. They are gobbled up lightning fast by everybody and the propensity to over feed is huge. They are nutritionally dense and will cause water quality problems if you over feed.

Sounds good. Maybe I'll get my sick butt to the store today. Or maybe not... I kind of just want to sleep. Maybe I can get the husband to do it for me. lol