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Why discus? Protein content?for the broodstack , i' ve always use the same method: starting with a small feeding box, and start on frozen artemia and mysis, then start feeding in the same time by adding pellets ..
all my dragonnet are now eating discus pellets , and i 'm using frozen food only twice a week .
My blue mandarin was my first mistake as a beginner. I didn't heed anyone else's advice and put him in my immature tank of 3 months thinking I had enough copepods to sustain him because I saw hundreds on my glass. I thought, maybe I'd get lucky and be one of those statistics that got one that would eat mysis. He decimated the pod population in less than a month and started getting skinny. I started to buy bottles of copepods but he got skinnier and skinnier. I bought a hang-on refuguim and placed sand, rocks, and caulerpa in there to breed copepods but that still couldn't sustain him. I spent hundreds on a $14 fish. When he passed, it was crushing. I tried my hardest and I failed but worst of all I felt like I slowly tortured another living thing to death and it was all because I wouldn't listen to the others that tried before me. And now I walk in to fish stores and see these beautiful, exquisite creatures being houses in tiny little tanks, most of which are just waiting for a long and painful death in another tank like mine. It really is sad, not just for mandarins but for any fish or coral that get bought or traded to someone that didn't do their research first to see if they are capable of sustaining it.
I do wish that we could have done more to support ORA's efforts and maybe today after a few generations of breeding would actually have captive mandarins that were ready to take prepared foods. These animals were not going to change over night, I believe it would have taken multiple generations to achieve that. It's just unfortunate the first few batches didn't deliver on promises. Beyond that, I do believe it's the LFS's responsibility to make sure the patron understands what they are getting into when they purchase certain animals that require strict care regimens. After that, it's all on the consumer.
I'd buy one, but I've never been big on targets. :/
I meant I'd buy one of those captive-bred babies if they were blues, silly XDDThen why would you buy one? <sigh>
My blue mandarin was my first mistake as a beginner. I didn't heed anyone else's advice and put him in my immature tank of 3 months thinking I had enough copepods to sustain him because I saw hundreds on my glass. I thought, maybe I'd get lucky and be one of those statistics that got one that would eat mysis. He decimated the pod population in less than a month and started getting skinny. I started to buy bottles of copepods but he got skinnier and skinnier. I bought a hang-on refuguim and placed sand, rocks, and caulerpa in there to breed copepods but that still couldn't sustain him. I spent hundreds on a $14 fish. When he passed, it was crushing. I tried my hardest and I failed but worst of all I felt like I slowly tortured another living thing to death and it was all because I wouldn't listen to the others that tried before me. And now I walk in to fish stores and see these beautiful, exquisite creatures being houses in tiny little tanks, most of which are just waiting for a long and painful death in another tank like mine. It really is sad, not just for mandarins but for any fish or coral that get bought or traded to someone that didn't do their research first to see if they are capable of sustaining it.
I do wish that we could have done more to support ORA's efforts and maybe today after a few generations of breeding would actually have captive mandarins that were ready to take prepared foods. These animals were not going to change over night, I believe it would have taken multiple generations to achieve that. It's just unfortunate the first few batches didn't deliver on promises. Beyond that, I do believe it's the LFS's responsibility to make sure the patron understands what they are getting into when they purchase certain animals that require strict care regimens. After that, it's all on the consumer.
$14 for a mandarin? Wow that's cheap! The cheapest I've seen them for is $49.
That's not far off what they are here. Usually around the $20 range but I've seen cheaper.