Does this Mandarin look well fed?

Dani_13563

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I know you’re probably wanting the opinion of the more experienced members of this forum, but I just wanted to say that you have a beautiful healthy fish (imo) and a gorgeous tank set up!! You are an inspiration to beginners like me! :)

Also, I was wondering what you feed your mandarin? I was considering keeping a single mandarin in an Evo 13.5. Do you supplement copepods from a culture or is it trained on frozen? How often do you feed? Or do you have a link to a thread where you already answered this question lol
 
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his belly looks nice and plump. Looks fine to me. Is he getting a lot fo pods?
Good to know! It should be. It is close to a year old though and I have noticed a significant decrease in visual pods in my tank. It is a Biota Tank Raised Mandarin that came in eating frozen, and the less I see pods in the tank the more I see it eat the frozen food I feed. At first it would only pick at the frozen food occasionally. Now mixing in blood worms and fish eggs with Mysis it gets real excited during feeding.
 
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I know you’re probably wanting the opinion of the more experienced members of this forum, but I just wanted to say that you have a beautiful healthy fish (imo) and a gorgeous tank set up!! You are an inspiration to beginners like me! :)

Also, I was wondering what you feed your mandarin? I was considering keeping a single mandarin in an Evo 13.5. Do you supplement copepods from a culture or is it trained on frozen? How often do you feed? Or do you have a link to a thread where you already answered this question lol

Thank you so much! I will take anyone's opinion at this point! It is more so visual - does it look fat, skinny, or in between? Glad both of you think plump. Doesnt take a scientist to answer this for me. So far I am feeding it chopped mysis, blood worms, and fish eggs. I feed every day or every other day. My build thread does more updates and links to my Youtube account. In the Biota facility it ate a plethora of foods including flakes/dry food. I would definitely not recommend a mandarin to anyone with a 20 gallon or less. The only reason its in my tank is because how small it was when I got it, and that it is biota tank raised.

I literally had to measure the Fluval return grids to ensure it wouldn't go through (it was just big enough by a millimeter). A 5 gallon wouldve been a better start for this fish, but my other two 5 gallons have a lot of maxi minis thought it would be a bad combo. RFAs seem way less aggressive, and I have seen the mandarin touch the tentacles of them with no problem.

Eventually this fish will have to be upgraded to at the very least a 30 gallon. It is just tough knowing when that is the right time. A fish this small needed to be raised in a nano tank. Even in a nano tank it almost perished because of its size when I first got it - 1cm. My firefish actually tried to eat it when I first put it in the tank. The mandarin was about the size of a large piece of mysis / small piece of krill near a year ago. I shouldve realized it would be a problem before putting it in the tank. Luckily it didnt do to much damage after carrying it around like a shark
 

vetteguy53081

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Does this Mandarin look well fed?



Keep in mind the fish is still about 2 cms. It is really hard to see it's belly but there are some shots here you can definitely see it.

Cant tell much from a top view in dark lighting but looks active. Belly should be round opposed to flat
 
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Cant tell much from a top view in dark lighting but looks active. Belly should be round opposed to flat
It is so small and still a bit skiddish of me so visually it is really hard for me to tell. I lean towards looking fat and plump - I just know sometimes it is easier to tell yourself something is working in a situation like this even if it may not be. That is why I wanted outside perspectives.
 

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I know you’re probably wanting the opinion of the more experienced members of this forum, but I just wanted to say that you have a beautiful healthy fish (imo) and a gorgeous tank set up!! You are an inspiration to beginners like me! :)

Also, I was wondering what you feed your mandarin? I was considering keeping a single mandarin in an Evo 13.5. Do you supplement copepods from a culture or is it trained on frozen? How often do you feed? Or do you have a link to a thread where you already answered this question lol
13.5 Evo is too small for a mandarin, in my opinion, unless you're supplementing weekly with live copepods.

IF you can find one that is eating frozen foods, then it should be fine but mandarins really require a mature tank with lots of live food.

For OP - Mandarin looks happy to me!
 
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13.5 Evo is too small for a mandarin, in my opinion, unless you're supplementing weekly with live copepods.

IF you can find one that is eating frozen foods, then it should be fine but mandarins really require a mature tank with lots of live food.

For OP - Mandarin looks happy to me!
The mandarin came in from Biota at 1 cm. It had to go in a 5-10 gallon or less. It is still 2cms. Also the ones from Biota get sent out eating frozen and dry foods. They stay around half the size in adulthood and are much easier to keep IMO.

Glad to know you think it looks healthy so far! I will eventually rehome it - just not sure when that is the best time.
 

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I've had my mandarin goby for 4+ years - he's never eaten frozen. Started the 180g tank with lots of live rock which, evidently, came with lots of pods. I didn't know much about the mandarin when i got him - added some additional pods but bot a lot. Haven't added pods in over a year. Fish is super healthy and fat. I do have a refugium in the sump to keep the pod population happy. Great fish!
 
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I've had my mandarin goby for 4+ years - he's never eaten frozen. Started the 180g tank with lots of live rock which, evidently, came with lots of pods. I didn't know much about the mandarin when i got him - added some additional pods but bot a lot. Haven't added pods in over a year. Fish is super healthy and fat. I do have a refugium in the sump to keep the pod population happy. Great fish!
Awesome! They are amazing fish. Sadly very hard to keep. Thank the heavens Biota found a way to tank raise them. I feel like if you have a 50 gallon or larger system a year old at the least you really would never have to supplement pods especially with a Biota one.
 

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Oh forgot to add theres like 5 minutes of videos on that link. Lots of different angles maybe you just started at not the best timing of the video?
Ah- yes, its started 33 seconds from the end. Fish looks good and is actively hunting for food
 
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@Biota_Marine if you are the actual company - ya'll are a godsend. Last year I decided to start only purchasing tank raised fish. It has been tough, but emotionally incredibly rewarding.

We need more people and companies like you to help change the hobby and world.
 

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The mandarin came in from Biota at 1 cm. It had to go in a 5-10 gallon or less. It is still 2cms. Also the ones from Biota get sent out eating frozen and dry foods. They stay around half the size in adulthood and are much easier to keep IMO.

Glad to know you think it looks healthy so far! I will eventually rehome it - just not sure when that is the best time.
I am sorry but are you saying you received a 1 cm Mandarin?

They do not grow to half size - they grow to the exact same size as wild Mandarins. My LFS has several of each in their displays and they are identical.
 
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I am sorry but are you saying you received a 1 cm Mandarin?

They do not grow to half size - they grow to the exact same size as wild Mandarins. My LFS has several of each in their displays and they are identical.
Yep you heard it! 1cm give or take. If you measured the width of head definitely under. Body length a little over. I had to precisely measure it while acclimating to ensure it wouldn't slip through the Evo return grind. It was close!

And I have heard from multiple reports and seen from experience the tank raised ones stay smaller. Pretty sure that is common among all tank raised fish species - they stay smaller. Could it be anecdotal im seeing far more younger ones? Possibly
 
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I am sorry but are you saying you received a 1 cm Mandarin?

They do not grow to half size - they grow to the exact same size as wild Mandarins. My LFS has several of each in their displays and they are identical.
I think fish growth being stunted in aquariums is a whole conversation in itself. After my best friend went to school for Marine Biology and got to work with companies regularly diving in Fiji he inherently believes wild fish can get countless times larger in the wild than ever seen in aquariums, and I believe him.

Edit - Here is an awesome thread about it here!
 
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Definitely well fed! I don't see a caving belly and I can't see the spine, sometimes they look really bad in fish stores, this one looks great and healthy!
I was lucky (almost unlucky) to get it right when it came in from Biota. Gosh I imagine it was alive for like months at 1cm? Not sure about their growth rate but it could not have been over 6months-1year old.

Crazy they ship them that young. A truly hardy yet sensitive fish at the same time.
 

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Yep you heard it! 1cm give or take. If you measured the width of head definitely under. Body length a little over. I had to precisely measure it while acclimating to ensure it wouldn't slip through the Evo return grind. It was close!

And I have heard from multiple reports and seen from experience the tank raised ones stay smaller. Pretty sure that is common among all tank raised fish species - they stay smaller. Could it be anecdotal im seeing far more younger ones? Possibly
Interesting!

I've seen a lot of shipments with CB Mandarins and they are tiny, but I am talking around 1" or maybe a bit smaller, which is tiny. 1cm is just over 1/3rd of an inch! That's like the size of a single hammer polyp head :eek:

As for the size thing - I think captive bred and tank raised are two different topics. I could see a Queen Angel or Gold Spot Rabbitfish being larger in the wild than in an aquarium. However, I doubt you would see much of a gap between a CB Royal Gramma in a good sized tank vs a wild caught Royal Gramma.

I wonder if there is some bias here in that CB are being purchased as juveniles and have a long life ahead of them, while the wild caught fish you see are often adults and have reached their potential. People tend to keep fish in the smallest recommended size tank possible.

I've seen adult yellow tangs in a large tank, a mix of CB and wild caught, they were indistinguishable because they had enough space and good nutrition.
 

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