Keeping Mandarins?

[demonclownfish]

looks good, and finally referring to it as a male eh? :D

[Chris]

Originally Posted by MizTanks

Having heard sooooo many horror stories about these lil guys starving to death...I just don't want that to be the reason for his demise...lil paranoid Onna cool note...I've noticed that some blood worms will get caught up on the Vermetid snails and then they'll just hang there an wave around at which time Dilly helps himself lol

Yeah alot of the CB's haven't been successful because they of starvation.... but I have a feeling most people get them say hey they are CB and eating prepared foods I can just throw a little food in there and call it a day, but a single feeding or a feeding every couple days (especially in smaller tanks where water quality can be hard to maintain some don't feed often) isn't going to get you anywhere with these fish IMO.

[MizTanks]

@DC: YUUUP! Lol

The least I'm target feeding is 2x daily-mostly it's 4


There's nothing like being a Reefer!

[Chris]

Yeah 2- 4x a day should be good, small amounts. Doing this especially the 4 feedings you will want to keep an eye on your parameters and maybe step water changes up a little as well to maintain water quality..... more food in = more waste needing to come out Your doing great I'd hate to see you lose it by not thinking about something simple like that. Just keep an eye on it, might not require any changes but be prepared. Keep up the good work Jaime!

[MizTanks]

I'm keeping a very close eye on excess nutrients. I think having the cheato in the tank is helping a lot. It's almost doubled in size I've taken to feeding Dilly around my blasto and acan, whatever gets past him they get LOL then the rest gets cleaned up by the other fishes.

Just wish Dilly would go after the food coming out the end of the tube. Instead I stand for 5-10min trying to keep the end in front of his face. Yes I'm that dedicated. Maybe I need to try something different?

[Chris]

Feed in one spot, no need to chase him around trying to basically force feed. He may not like taking the food out of the tube simply because he knows its not natural and sees it as a foreign object. Does he go after free floating food in the tank? If he takes the food better when it isnt dropped infront of his face then when it is directly out of the tube try backing away with the tube and broadcast it into the tank a little more see if that gets a better response for a couple feedings maybe..... but like I've said, he looks healthy and clearly isn't starve so I wouldn't worry.

[MizTanks]

People (Chort) please be patient with me. I am super paranoid about Dilly getting enough to eat. More so because he eats nothing like any other fish I've ever encountered and it's NOT from lack of his trying. He's willing to take just about anything I put in there. Always on the hunt. Always looking for food!
This is just frustrating the **** out of me!! 3 times a day I'm feeding Dilly. All 3 times he may get 1-2 bites out of all of it. I've yet to see him go after any pods. He spends more time stalking the food inside the tube, then he does going after what's coming out the end of it. I'm thinking of just putting in the jar and letting him eat from that. Leisurely like.
I know he's hungry! He gets so excited over the food. But out of 5 strikes he'll get 1. I've never seen a fish with such bad aim. Missing the blood worms and everything else like he does, I don't see how he could possible grab a pod

[Chris]

Jaime, take a deep breath and relax lol Dilly isn't hurting for food. 1 or 2 bloodworms per feeding might be all he needs right now even. They are like 10 times bigger then a pod. He isn't losing weight, he is gaining it, if he was losing weight I would be concerned but he seems to be doing good and gaining in size which is a GOOD SIGN! So please just relax your doing good.

If you want to try doing something different, try this..... Since Dilly is striking at the food in the tube better then out of the tube try removing the tube from the whole thing. Shut down the pumps in the tank, and just drop a few pieces into the tank like you would before you added him and see how he does that way. He might get aggrivated because he tries to initially get the food but cant because its in the tube so he relaxes his strikes when it isnt in the tube because he has already failed and bumped his face against the tube. Remove the tube from the scenario, and maybe he will do a little better. If this doesn't work, simply go back to the tube method you are using now but I would try that a few times anyways.

If you can, could you post a video of his feeding or atleast the 1st minute or so. I am interested to see this if possible.

[demonclownfish]

more like 30-50x bigger than a pod lol

[CalmSeasQuest]

Miz,

After having watched my mandarin for the past few years, I've realized the vast majority of what he eats is too small to see. Mandarins prefer benthic (bottom dwelling) pods, the tiny ones like the Tisbe's you ordered off of ebay. You're assuming that because you see Dilly strike, but don't see the food that "he's" not getting any. In fact, I've found that my guy rarely misses - it's just that the target is too small for us to see with an unaided eye. Grab a magnifying glass and you should be able to see them. I'd estimate my Mandarin (George) strikes every 5~10 seconds all day long, every day and rarely am I able to see what he's eating.

If your concerned about having enough, you should start a culture - it's extremely simple.

I maintain cultures of Tigriopus califoricus also called Tigger Pods (Tigger Pods is a registered Trademark of Reed Mariculture) and Tisbe. While the Tigriopus multiple rapidly in culture, they are of little value to my Mandarin as they largely remain in the water column and are large enough to be seen by the other fish (Clowns love them.) This results in them being consumed before the Mandarin has a chance.

Whether Tigriopus will breed at reef temps is debated - to me, it's irrelevant as they are eaten long before they have an opportunity to reproduce. The Tisbe are much smaller and reside where the Mandarin can find them and without being noticed by other fish.

Both are very simple to culture, bucket, saltwater, very little air (it's not really needed if the culture container is shallow, at most a couple bubbles per second) no heater, no light and Phyto - then ignore them. I use a lid to control evaporation and add phyto when the bottom of the bucket becomes visible. I use 7 gallon buckets, and occasionally add more saltwater to dilute the ammonia and do a water change every couple months. After a couple weeks, you'll have pods everywhere, enough to keep Dilly more than satisfied an they will continue to multiple after being added to your tank.