Jump to content
ReefCleaners.org

*****Help! Spotted Mandarin*****


raciampa

Recommended Posts

I have recently purchased a spotted mandarin, and was wondering if anyone has had any luck getting them to eat regular foods? I heard they might eat cyclopeeze, but I haven't seen him try any yet. His stomach is fat, but I don't know for how long. Please help.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

Link to comment

...Sorry you were miss informed, Mandarins only eat live food. Unless you have a well established medium to large tank with a fair amount of live rock your fish will starve to death.. 40-55 gallons..

Link to comment

How bad do you want to save it? You can order a pod kit & some pods from a few sites, and the bought ones can keep him going until the ones in the kit multiply, but it's a pain in the butt and pretty pricey. The pods aren't bad, but shipping usually is.

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi

http://wardsci.com/product.asp?pn=875400

To get them to multiply, you put them in a 10 gallon with some macroalgea to live in and a bubbler, and feed them a bit of flake food every few days. You need a light to keep the macro alive, and you use a turkey baster to pull them out. I have heard that phytoplankton also makes your pods happy. We have a pod tank that we keep going continuously to feed our mandarins with, mainly as a precaution now since our 75 gal. has gotten it's pod population well established. But yer not gonna have enough live rock in anything smaller than around 40 gallons (layman's estimate BTW) to keep enough pods to sustain a mandarin.

 

Good luck!

Shannen

Link to comment

Hi Robert,

 

You can get Spotted Mandarins, Synchiropus picturatus, to eat frozen foods but they really need live food, and lots of it, to thrive. I have a male/female pair in my 7.5 ft tank and they both eat brine and Mysis shrimp when it's around but copepods are their mainstay. I would doubt that a 10 gal would be able to provide a sustainable supply of pods I'm afraid.

 

Best regards

 

Ann

Link to comment
chrisisthereefer

id give the guy a chmace before you start on him, he hasnt even siad what size tank its in yet. or how established or andything about it. dont always jump to conclusions.

Link to comment

Damn, you guys jumped on me like rabbid wolves. I didn't know. I liked the way he looked. I am still new to the game. My tanks is only about six months old; it is a ten gallon. I hope I find something for him to eat, so I can rub it in your faces. Some of you were nice about the stupid mistake I made, and I appreciate that. I appreciate all comments though. Like I said I am still new and learning the game.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

Link to comment
Originally posted by raciampa

Damn, you guys jumped on me like rabbid wolves.

 

Actually, considering all the posts here, on RC, and, in fact, every reef board around about the care of mandarins, you were treated with kid gloves. The first rule about buying any pet is to research its needs and make sure they can be met. This holds true for any pet, from a garter snake to an Irish wolf hound. Buying a pet before you know its needs because you "liked the way he looked" is not exactly a model of good animal stewardship.

 

And virtually dooming a pet to its death so you can "can rub it in [our] faces" on the (way far) off chance you'll be able to keep it alive speaks volumes about your maturity.

 

The advice to find the fish a proper home was fairly given. People are just trying to help you and your fish.

Link to comment
NanoReefTexas

*Jumping in with clothing advertised as flame-retardent*

 

You can keep a mandarin in a nano, here's the trick, you have to be willing to let a 70 gallon (longer and shorter) or a 100 gallon (thinner and taller) Rubbermaid stock tank fuge set for at least 6 months with a few pod kits and massive LR stockage. Plumb that into your nano, and well... it isn;t really a nano anymore, but you could do it to keep a mandarin dragonette, and still have the look of a nano. Hide your Rubbermaid behind or under the tank, it's what I'm going to do, so that I can keep a crocea clam with better water quality and stability. Except mine won;t be a pod farm. It will be heavy on LR though.

Link to comment

It doesn't seem like it but the mandrin forages ALL day for pods. You truely need a huge SUSTAINABLE system with(refuguim)for copopods. I know it seems like everyone is jumping down your throat but it's a subject with a lot of information that is easily accessable. Read some articles and decide whether to bring the fish back or not it is as simple as that. Sea anemonies have never been sucessfully kept in captivity for more than a few years; they eventually will die. Flowerpot corals are the same. I know that it is easy to buy a pretty coral without doing the research I've done it many times. It's almost a learned process. My advice is to get a book so you don't have to reference in the store then use the book to find the names and husbandry requirements for whatever coral or fish you are thinking about, do the research then the most important is THE FISHGUY AT THE STORE IS NOT THE KNOW-ALL END-ALL LEADER IN FISH AND CORAL PROPAGATION KNOWLEDGE. The reef business is very competitive. There are a lot of conservation and biological issues that change the dynamics of the business every day. A lot of the time stores really want to sell to you no matter what. Do the research first.

Link to comment

I appreciate all the info an ideas, but my best bet is to return him. The next task is going to catch him. Beautiful, but he has been mare of a problem than not.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

Link to comment

at my lfs they won't sell you a mandarin unless you have a established tank greater than 75 gallons w/ lots of liverock

Link to comment

sorry...... but i recomend that retun it and choose a different fish only becouse the difficulty in keeping this fish especailly difficult if it was not a well planed out purchase since the mandarin (dragnet) goby is an extremely picky eater and needs and plan in place before it's purchase...

no you do not need a 55g sump for a 10gallon nano!

but if this is a fish you desire to have in the future. i would say to return this mandrin put your refugium together and plan to buy a mandarin a few months down the road when you have finshed your plan on how the succesfully keep a mandarin in a nano for a long healthy life

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...