Keeping Mandarins?

my Red Mandarin has been with me over a year now. She knows to not go onto or touch the RBTA and eats frozen when i give it to her. but ive got plenty of pods to keep her happy when i dont. THEY DO GO EVERYWHERE lol. slopes dont really matter to them since mine goes up the the thop of my tank to sit on one of my koralias and investigate the back for any pods. it loves the fragrack as well. By far my favorite fish in the tank. but the buying pods plan isnt really that ethical as they get expensive quick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MizTanks

Get on it Jim an find me one man!!! Lol

---

@Preuss Pets had a CB target mandarin a few weeks ago. Not sure if they still have it or not. I think it was around $60.

I've had one in my Rimless that only eats pods for almost a year now, never gotten her to eat prep foods. When I first got her she had a pinched belly but now she's fat and happy. I built my whole system around the fact that I wanted to keep one, so I did my homework and found that the best way to keep a healthy mandarin long term is to have a fuge with Chaeto. I have a fairly large 15 gallon fuge (my whole system is about 70 gal; almost 25% of it is Fuge! ) with 2 big ol' balls of Chaeto; the thing is a pod factory. Then every 8 months or so I replenish the Pod population by adding AlgaGen ReefPods Tisbe Live Aquacultured Copepods to the fuge.

I read the main problem with this fish they eat so many pods that if you add the pods directly to your main tank there isn't a safe place for them to repopulate (fuge) their numbers will dwindle and they will eventually all be eaten. And according to others mandarins can "eat a whole bottle of pods in a day or two",making the cost for buying pods through the roof as Demon pointed out.

Don't you have a hob fuge Miz? I thought I saw in your tank thread you did, you could try adding pods to that and see if it can keep the count up. And if not you could always add a separate "pod fuge", this Hob fuge isn't too pricey, just need a cheap light, an air pump, some more LR and Chaeto. This may seem like over kill, but i think that it's your best bet for healthy long term success.

Yuppers I got a HOB fuge and it's loaded with pods...silly me hasn't quit figured out how to get them from the fuge to the tank :doh: I'm not sure if they enter via the natural water flow or if I need to manually remove them myself?

I've been searching everywhere online for an ORA blue or red and dang it just isn't happening :( I do want a tank bred/raised. Like y'all have stated they eat a lot of pods and I don't want to risk the fishes health by not having the supply they demand available.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MizTanks

Yuppers I got a HOB fuge and it's loaded with pods...silly me hasn't quit figured out how to get them from the fuge to the tank :doh: I'm not sure if they enter via the natural water flow or if I need to manually remove them myself?

I've been searching everywhere online for an ORA blue or red and dang it just isn't happening :( I do want a tank bred/raised. Like y'all have stated they eat a lot of pods and I don't want to risk the fishes health by not having the supply they demand available.

---

The pods spill over into your tank naturally, every few weeks I'll take a chaeto ball out of the fuge and shake it around in my return section to get some extra pods into the main just in case.

Have you tried to see if a LFS could order one for you, it might take a while to get but maybe... or maybe one of CR sponsors knows how to get you one. :shifty:

Well I just pm'd Preuss seeing if they have one...as for our LFS's they order from Apets and A&M and no way will I take any fish from Apets. I've also contacted A&M :)

It's a new day for *Pickles* :) She's made it through another night! I've made some minor changes for her. First being I've turned off the Koralia 240 that's placed on the back wall. No sooner was it off and she was swimming like a the lil champ she is. I think I can do with just the Mp10 for a while.

Yesterday I ordered some Nutramar Ova from DF&S and it's already here! So having gotten advice from ORA, here's how I've set it up for her. I've taken a small glass jelly jar, placed a nice size chunk of Ova in and have placed it in the tank where she hangs out most, (Just so happens it's right in front) where I can watch her all the time.

So at this very moment as I'm writing this I'm sitting her watching her. She is face to face with the jar. I'm just waiting for her to go in........come on baby!!! Goooooo! She's got to be smelling it right? Can she see it? Noooo don't go around the jar go in!! Please!!! Should I give her a little nudge? Well here comes a snail out with a nice lil chunk, UGH!!!

Buying this lil fish in the manner in which I have. Has opened up a whole new world of fish keeping for me. Never before have I bought a captive bread aquacultured fish. Having spoken with ORA like I have ( a lot ) I've come to the conclusion that.....these lil fish come about as close to **** as a fish can get without getting killed. That it's only when they enter our tanks that their lives truly become jeopardized!

Here's why I say this. These fish are born into a world without coral, rock, substrate of any kind and no other fish outside of their own kind. Raised for 6 months on 2 types of food. In the case of an ORA fish they are fed, New Life Spectrum Pellets and Nutramar Ova. (damn she almost when in)
Then these fish are sold to a local (or more so not so local) seller. Who then decides that it's cheaper to feed them frozen. But they don't eat! Oh they may take a nip out of desperation but not enough to sustain them.
Then someone such as myself comes along having wanted such a fish for so very long. Does what she thinks is right by buying a CB instead of a wild caught. Trusting the seller wholeheartedly. (dang darlin quit looking and go in) I buy the fish!

The fish arrives looking like a concentration camp survivor! How can she still be alive? She's so freaking skinny!! UGH! So I acclimate the fish for 3 hours. I am target feeding the fish what the seller says to feed the fish. Frozen baby brine shrimp and frozen chopped blood worms. But she's not eating!

So now I panic! I get on email to the seller a.s.a.p. asking why would you send me a fish in this condition? It's all their fault!!! (go go go in to the jar SHE'S IN THE JAR!! But not touching the Ova) We've talked and they'll replace the fish if she dies. No problem!

But I can't stop thinking about how and why she came to be in this condition in the first place. I am racked with guilt. My heart hurts for it's suffering. Am I to blame? All I can do now is try and make her the best home possible. Keeping in mind where she's come from. What it must be like to be thrown into a tank with things she's never encountered!

I don't regret getting her!!! She's a tough lil bugger this *Pickles*. She's once again in the jar and I can only pray she eats. I figure if it wasn't me, maybe someone else not so caring would have gotten her and not tried as hard as I am, at giving her a chance to live. I know in my heart she would surely have perished at the Pet Store.

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/...IMG_0102-2.jpg

OMG "Pickles"!!?? :shake-head:

PIckles! Who the **** thought of that?!? I like it!!!

I also like that you've really put some thought into your post. A CB fish that has never seen a piece of live rock, a nem, or sand. No wonder she's a bit bewildered and clueless.

I have no doubt that in a few days, she'll be a pudge.

Damn it!!! Pickles died!! My heart if breaking............