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mandarin question?


james5593

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I just got back from petco and picked up a mandarin. Awesome looking fish but what do they eat? I was told they are shy and may not eat properly. I do have alot of pods and The only other fish I have (percula) eats mysis.Any advice is appreciated.

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should have really check all about the fish info before buying.

anyway, pods and mysis shrimps will do fine.

just pray that it will starts eating.

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?

probably in response to the all too common "I bought this awesome looking fish/coral/clam, what do I do now" question.

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another sad story

 

 

Indeed. Please do research on fish before you buy them.

 

Mandrins are very tough to feed and almost exlusively feed on pods in the tank (although some rarely eat prepared foods). They need a large, mature tank to supply a sufficient food supply.

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probably in response to the all too common "I bought this awesome looking fish/coral/clam, what do I do now" question.

but then all of us here will try our best to give him advice.

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Since this is a question even a complete noob should know the answer too, i will treat you as such.

 

Firstly, you should really take that beautiful fish and bring it to a real fish shop. Tell them you bought it without knowing anything about it, from petco, and ask them to have mercy on the poor creature.

 

Here is more info if your going to attempt to keep it:

Like the others have said, this fish lives off of "pods". Now, if you have to ask what a mandarin eats, im betting you have no idea what pods are. "Pods" is short for copeopods or amphipods ( i cant spell, sorry) which are micro crustaciens that live in your tank. They come in with your live rock, and will reproduce in your tank. The problem is that any "nano" tank can not keep up with enough pod population to feed a hungry mandarin fish. This is why they are dificult to keep, and only advanced reefers should try it.

 

To keep your mandarin, order pods from online: premiumaquatics.com has some. They are expensive, and your fish requires a lot of them. Secondly, start trying to get your fish to eat frozen mysis shrimp.

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Jafoca or noob which ever best fits. I had a mandarin about 5 years agao and kept him for 3 years in my 55 reef. My new tank is pretty well established but I guess I did not word my question correctly. I guess what I was trying to say is that the guy at petco who claimed to be an expert told me that they will not eat mysis. My last tank had a large supply of pods and yes I do know what a pod is. This is a smaller tank and does not have the same quantity of pods. Man this is a tough crowd. I guess all that I wanted to know is this guy at petco correct in saying that they will not eat mysis. By the way i`m not giving it back.

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we're not a tough crowd, dont sweat it. truth is there are no definates. he may eventually learn to eat mysis after time, but it wont be overnight. since your dead set on keeping him, and you've had prior experience, id say you'll be fine without the mysis (well, maybe not in the wallet though) :angry:

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totally depends on your individual mandarin. I've seen some that will and some that won't (I've seen more that won't). That being said it's worth offering some to your mandarin to see if he will take it.

 

Hey, Iveman, where are you in Tampa? I just recently moved to St. Pete

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Just fed the percula and the madarin did come out from behind a rock. He seems interested but did not eat. Perhaps he is still a little stressed. Thanks for the advise.

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Hey, Iveman, where are you in Tampa? I just recently moved to St. Pete

 

 

town n compton... i mean country. wes sieeeeede. any good lfs out in your neck of the woods?

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I went to Pet Mart last week, they had pretty good livestock and what I would consider average prices

9699 Bay Pines Blvd, St Petersburg, FL

(727) 398-7828

I think they have a location in Tampa

 

I also went to a Animal House but they didnt have any saltwater livestock, they said some of their other locations do.

 

Anything good in your area

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James5593, for pods you may also try www.floridapets.com. They sell a portion o' pods for 7.95 plus shipping. It's a mixed lot of amphipods and copepods in a clump of algae. I've had great service from them. Also check out www.sharkysreef.com, they sell a bottle of pods for 20.00 plus shipping. Also, because you said the tank is a little small, you may want to think about adding a fuge if you don't already have one. I use the CPR hang on type, works great as a pod farm. Don't give up on the little guy eating frozen/prepared foods. It took a few weeks before ours ate frozen mysis, now he even eats flake food. pm me if you any questions.

 

Jason

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AzFishFreak
Just fed the percula and the madarin did come out from behind a rock. He seems interested but did not eat. Perhaps he is still a little stressed. Thanks for the advise.

 

Call around to all of your lfs and see if any of them carry live marine pods. If not you can try hatching baby brine (petco/petsmart carry these) and then enrich them with Selcon/Zoecon etc. I refresh my live pods every 2 weeks from my LFS. While you supplement this try some Frozen Brine (almost anything will eat this) that is enriched. It is like eating an enriched potatoe chip but it will get them use to frozen food. To be successful in a small tank (I have had one in a 29gallon for 11 months) you will need to have a fishless fuge for the pods to replicate, A gravity fed one like the CPR aquafuge model would be best. There was an even smaller knock off model on E-bay that would probably work.

 

http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/aquafuge.html

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This is a smaller tank and does not have the same quantity of pods. Man this is a tough crowd. I guess all that I wanted to know is this guy at petco correct in saying that they will not eat mysis. By the way i`m not giving it back.

Smaller tank = smaller pod population. A 55g alone is (obviously) enough to support a large enough pod population to maintain the mandarin's health. The mandarin will tear through all your pods in a few days unless you have a fuge on a smaller tank. If you can't get it eating frozen food real soon, you need to either start ordering mass quantities of pods or take the fish back to the lfs, which you already refused to do.

 

Not trying to be a tough crowd - just looking out for the fish!

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I wont say I refuse to take him back but I want to try to keep him prior to doing so. If his health is in danger than I would take him back or give him to a friend who has a bigger tank. It does look like there could be a problem other than him eating. I have a emerald cram who is becoming aggresive and tries to dominate everything in the tank. He did gram hold of him but the madarin managed to get away. I might have to either get rid of the crab or the mandarin. Leaning toward the crab because of his aggresivness.

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Mine eats mysis and really enjoys it, even though he prefers the smaller pieces since he can down it in one go rather than chew on it for 10sec!

 

Many mandarins will not accept prepared food unfortunately. Please try to understand the initial response you received, because "just bought a cool looking psychlectic fish, what does it eat" is a common Q on all forums and it's very frustrating watching these beautiful creatures waste away slowly. There is still an active thread on this exact topic here on NR! That one turned out ok for the buyer though.

 

Try fish roe (available at asian grocers), I heard some will take them. Also try soaking your mysis in freshly ground up garlic (just add the juice), mine loved that.

 

Who the hell gave them the name "psycheletic" or whatever silly name they call them?! It's a Mandarin fish for f**k sake! No, it's not a goby!

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fish n' pets

They are called "psychedelic" mandarin fish. And it means generating hallucinations. I guess its because the spots make it seem so hallucinating. And they named it mandarin for the chinees silk-like coloring.

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Bad bad bad news.My emerald crab caught up with my madarin and took a bite out of his side. My daughter said the crab went up to him and grabed him by the side. She told me that he tried to drag him behind a rock but the mandarin managed to get away. After I got home I noticed he looked real bad. He went to swim away and I saw a huge chunk missing from his side. He died a short time later. The bad thing is that he did start to eat mysis and it looked good for him. I think I will be getting rid of the cra. Thats 2 fish he has killed now the first was a clown goby. Even if i put my hands in to change things he goes after me. I think he`s a canabal!! Anyways thanks for the advice.

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if your crab did that before and you still decided to take your chances with a mandarin you were very ignorant. even after overlooking the specific requirements of keeping the mandarin you should still have a good idea of compatibility with other inhabitants of your tank. thats called responsibility.

its almost like keeping a hungry turtle and a fat goldfish in a small bowl.

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