Copepod Dosing for Mandarinfish

[fishy4thomas]

Hey guys so I want to add a mandarinfish to my tank this summer for my brithday, but my one question is, how long do i need to dose copepods and phytoplankton. Ive been told at my LFS that I only need to dose everyday for one week, but I want to know what you guys think. Hope you can help
Thomas

 

[Fishbird]

What size is your tank? Do you have a separate refugium?

 

[Phil D.]

Suggest dosing pods every other day for a month after lights out so rocks can be populated, then twice a month thereafter. Do you have any other pod eaters? Like a six line?

 

[User1]

Mandarin fish need an established tank. How old is yours and what sort of tank is it as far as rock, corals, and substrate? They constantly forage. And while there are some, or many, who say a refugium is nice to have it comes back to how the pods get from point a (refugium) to point b (the display tank). It isn't always so cut and dry in the flow and plumbing which gets us back to how old, mature, and established is the tank?

There are a few people here who have baby brine shrimp feeders and/or devices that may help. You would have to search has I do not have it handy. Also I didn't ask but must. Do you have any other fish that will compete for similar food? Wrasse for example? Two or more fish competing for similar food the slower one will starve. Wrasses are fast. The Mandarin not so much and has a very different foraging pattern.

I personally wouldn't recommend one without it being well into a year or more established and a healthy pod population. Said population needs time to balance out based on the nutrients in the tank and predators. Anything faster is asking for problems.

Pre-happy birthday. Sure it isn't want you want to hear but they are advanced fish due to their diet and feeding needs.

 

[SifuMemphis]

Happy Pre- birthday.

I had a tank in the past that was running for 1.5 years with a 30g sump, and purchased a Mandarian. Even then, eventually he died. They eat pods non stop all day, and wasn't able to keep up the demand. If you can train it to eat other foods (frozen, pellets etc) it would help

 

[Clownfish2]

Unless you have a mature reef tank with an abundant amount of live rock, the little guy will slowly starve to death.

If you don’t have that, you could cultivate phytoplankton and Copepods in separate tanks. I bought one bottle of reef nutrition Copepods a year ago and am able to harvest Copepods from it every 3 weeks or so:

 

[fishy4thomas]

What size is your tank? Do you have a separate refugium?

20 gallons, and no i do not have a refugium. I was planning on creating a pod hotel.

 

[fishy4thomas]

Suggest dosing pods every other day for a month after lights out so rocks can be populated, then twice a month thereafter. Do you have any other pod eaters? Like a six line?

Nope dont have a sixe line.

 

[fishy4thomas]

Mandarin fish need an established tank. How old is yours and what sort of tank is it as far as rock, corals, and substrate? They constantly forage. And while there are some, or many, who say a refugium is nice to have it comes back to how the pods get from point a (refugium) to point b (the display tank). It isn't always so cut and dry in the flow and plumbing which gets us back to how old, mature, and established is the tank?

There are a few people here who have baby brine shrimp feeders and/or devices that may help. You would have to search has I do not have it handy. Also I didn't ask but must. Do you have any other fish that will compete for similar food? Wrasse for example? Two or more fish competing for similar food the slower one will starve. Wrasses are fast. The Mandarin not so much and has a very different foraging pattern.

I personally wouldn't recommend one without it being well into a year or more established and a healthy pod population. Said population needs time to balance out based on the nutrients in the tank and predators. Anything faster is asking for problems.

Pre-happy birthday. Sure it isn't want you want to hear but they are advanced fish due to their diet and feeding needs.

My tank is a few months old now, and at the time i would plan on adding it it would be about 6 months old. I have about 11lbs of live rock (i would buy more before adding the mandarin), 20lbs of aragonite sand,and i dont have corals( do i need coral??)

 

[User1]

My tank is a few months old now, and at the time i would plan on adding it it would be about 6 months old. I have about 11lbs of live rock (i would buy more before adding the mandarin), 20lbs of aragonite sand,and i dont have corals( do i need coral??)

No. You don't need coral. However, your tank isn't mature enough to support a mandarin based on what you are posting. Sometimes they take to prepared food (frozen baby brine or small pellet) but it is rare. I don't see the tank ready honestly. Not what you want to hear I know.

 

[fishy4thomas]

No. You don't need coral. However, your tank isn't mature enough to support a mandarin based on what you are posting. Sometimes they take to prepared food (frozen baby brine or small pellet) but it is rare. I don't see the tank ready honestly. Not what you want to hear I know.

Yeah so my tank would be ready in about a year, right? Maybe I'll just get some corals for my birthday then

 

[najer]

All good advice above and good decision, aim for your next birthday.
When you add pods feed live phyto every day.

 

[fishy4thomas]

All good advice above and good decision, aim for your next birthday.
When you add pods feed live phyto every day.

Yup

 

[92Miata]

Buy a captive bred mandarin from Biota or ORA - they'll eat most things. They're more expensive, but they don't starve themselves to death.

 

[fishy4thomas]

Buy a captive bred mandarin from Biota or ORA - they'll eat most things. They're more expensive, but they don't starve themselves to death.

Alright thanks for the advice!

 

[mmw64]

Happy Pre- birthday.

I had a tank in the past that was running for 1.5 years with a 30g sump, and purchased a Mandarian. Even then, eventually he died. They eat pods non stop all day, and wasn't able to keep up the demand. If you can train it to eat other foods (frozen, pellets etc) it would help

or purchase one from Algae Barn. They are tiny but already trained to eat pellets etc.