40 Gallon Breeder Project

[gmoney243]

Gratz on fish. Ive had my mandarin for 2 years and he doesnt eat frozen so i wouldnt worry as long as you have enough pods

 

[bknapp]

Gratz on fish. Ive had my mandarin for 2 years and he doesnt eat frozen so i wouldnt worry as long as you have enough pods

I agree, pod population and a tanks maturity are the two most important things for a Mandarin. I don't understand why most people say they're hard to keep.

 

[calvo15290]

I remember feeding my tank a weekly frozen brine shrimp with some enhancer and I saw my mandarin swim at one then my misbar came and swooped it away so I took a turkey baster and sprayed on one side of the tank then gave some to the mandarin and he ate it up I flipped out I was exited

 

[NeveSSL]

In direct correlation with pod population will be tank size. Mike's 180g is quite a bit larger than your 40g. :) I would be willing to bet you won't have enough pods in a 40g to sustain a mandarin alone, their metabolisms are really high and they need to eat constantly. I have also kept them successfully in the past for about 2 years, but the two I had (mated pair... it was really fun watching them do their spiral dance at night) ate frozen copepods. Maybe yours will, too, but keep an eye out for that infamous sunken stomach.

Brandon

 

[NeveSSL]

BTW, if you want to give them a try, mine were eating the San Francisco Bay brand frozen copepods. I think they have them at the Critter.

When I picked them out, I've found that the younger they are, the more likely they are to eat frozen and live brine. The bigger ones at Emerald Bay wouldn't even look at any frozen OR live brine. That was how I picked out both of my smaller ones... Sean fed them live brine, of which they readily took. Then I gave them frozen copepods and they loved those, too.

Here's a pic of them doing their mating thing (please excuse the algae... haha!).

Brandon

 

[dwilliams87]

I bought another bottle of pods when i added the Mandarin, but he's eating frozen. I dropped some cycopleeze in the tank yesterday, and you would have thought some body poured a red bull in there. Every one of my fish just went crazy. I don't know if it was the smell or what. I've been feeding the tank a lot heavier though to try some acros again, and everything does seem to be doing better. Some may think I'm over feeding now, but I'm checking my levels regularly. I got my trates to almost 10 now. I think with the addition of the fish, up to 7 now, and the heavier feeding regiment, i may stand a better chance with them. I think I was just starving them to death. I'm very anxious to get the new wp25 in because I feel like I have just barely enough flow with the MP10 in there.

 

[NeveSSL]

Awesome! Glad he's eating frozen. Sounds like he will be fine.

I'm also anxious for the Jebao order to come in. I really can't do much with my pumps just yet, but I want them here, anyway... Ha!

Brandon

 

[schooleyosis]

Nice additions Daniel!

 

[dwilliams87]

Here is an updated FTS.

 

[dwilliams87]

Just for comparison, pretty much same angle before tank swap.

 

[JOKER]

Looking good

 

[schooleyosis]

You used all Marco rock right? And didn't you prep the rock somehow before you started the tank? I'm just curious if you and I are dealing with algae issues do to the rock?

Never mind, I just read back through the beginning of your thread. I'm wondering what I'll have to do in my tank now that it's all established????

 

[dwilliams87]

Are you running GFO?

 

[schooleyosis]

Chemi-pure elite at the moment but will start GFO in the next few weeks.

 

[dwilliams87]

Nice. Maybe that will help you. Are your phosphate levels elevated at all?

 

[ToXIc]

looks great man...

 

[bknapp]

Here is an updated FTS.

Looking good D.

 

[dwilliams87]

Here are some updated shots of the 40 with a sump shot as well.

 

[dwilliams87]

And a few more.

 

[bknapp]

I like the BTA. Looks good.