Help with mandarin fish- is this normal?

Eleni18 · Nov 18, 2019

Hello, I think I need help with my mandarin fish. I introduced him to my tank about ten days ago and he seemed quite happy, searching for food in the rocks and mostly swimming at the bottom of the tank and hiding among the rocks. Today he seems to be spending most of the time at the surface, hiding behind the thermostat and not swimming much, just twirling his side fins. Is this normal? Tank is 300 liters, about 2 years old, with about 30 kg of live rock.
Ammonia 0
NO2-0
NO3-0,15
Salinity 1026
Ph 8.0
Thanks for any input

Ruben's Reef · Nov 18, 2019

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Do you have plenty of copepods on your tank to support the mandarin hunger? Mandarin will be looking for copepods all over the rocks since is its first food source. If not pods present it will starve and die.

Eleni18 · Nov 18, 2019

Thank you!!! Yes, I hope I have enough copepods, I knew nothing about him-her actually- until I fell in love with her at the shop, and did a lot of research on mandarins since. I have about 30kg of live rock, almost 3 years old and I bought some copepods as well, which I put in the tank a week ago. He seems to be finding food as when he is at the bottom of the tank he is always looking among the rocks and grabs things....I also feed him frozen artemia. I don't think lack of food is his problem...he just seems to hover on the surface all day today, hiding behind the thermostat tube

Murica · Nov 18, 2019

Mine would frequently do that, think he was just checking the place out

Eleni18 · Nov 19, 2019

Murica said:
Mine would frequently do that, think he was just checking the place out

Thank you

reef lover · Nov 19, 2019

Any other fish bothering him?

Eleni18 · Nov 19, 2019

reef lover said:
Any other fish bothering him?

No, not a lot, they are either friendly or ignore him

AltitudeAquarium · Nov 19, 2019

Eleni18 said:
Hello, I think I need help with my mandarin fish. I introduced him to my tank about ten days ago and he seemed quite happy, searching for food in the rocks and mostly swimming at the bottom of the tank and hiding among the rocks. Today he seems to be spending most of the time at the surface, hiding behind the thermostat and not swimming much, just twirling his side fins. Is this normal? Tank is 300 liters, about 2 years old, with about 30 kg of live rock.
Ammonia 0
NO2-0
NO3-0,15
Salinity 1026
Ph 8.0
Thanks for any input

Mine does that looking to escape into the back compartment. I have found her their several times.

my.PsychReef · Nov 19, 2019

As long as it is eating then should not be worry about it. But make sure it eats the food (frozen artemia) when you put to the tank. Not just picking on the rocks. Sometimes we tend to underestimate the amount of pods they eat a day. You can try live artemia as well. So as long as it’s eating and keeping its colours then should be fine. Dragonnets have their own protecting mechanism (a body slime I think a toxic type but not entirely sure) usually other fishes would not bother it. But if you see it’s getting skinny and not moving much throughout the day then I would worry about it. Also, When it’s on the sand bed and you see bristle worms moving towards its body then that is not a good sign. Just keep an eye on it because it is such a beautiful fish.

Eleni18 · Nov 19, 2019

my.PsychReef said:
As long as it is eating then should not be worry about it. But make sure it eats the food (frozen artemia) when you put to the tank. Not just picking on the rocks. Sometimes we tend to underestimate the amount of pods they eat a day. You can try live artemia as well. So as long as it’s eating and keeping its colours then should be fine. Dragonnets have their own protecting mechanism (a body slime I think a toxic type but not entirely sure) usually other fishes would not bother it. But if you see it’s getting skinny and not moving much throughout the day then I would worry about it. Also, When it’s on the sand bed and you see bristle worms moving towards its body then that is not a good sign. Just keep an eye on it because it is such a beautiful fish.

Thank you. I need all the information I can get. It truly is a magnificent fish

Eleni18 · Nov 20, 2019

He has a funny sort of schedule. When the lights are off he seems to hover on the bottom, around the rocks and caves. When the lights are on, he goes up to the surface and usually hides behind the heater tube

steallife904 · Nov 20, 2019

if you could I would go get some copepods and add to the tank, see if that gets him back down in the rocks. I had this happen to me one time before and within 2 days of doing this he died. Never saw anyone messing with him, I ended up guessing I had less copepods than I thought. have had a couple before, first one lasted years and didn't survive a tank move. Next time I get one I will restock tank with pods every month or 2

Eleni18 · Nov 20, 2019

steallife904 said:
if you could I would go get some copepods and add to the tank, see if that gets him back down in the rocks. I had this happen to me one time before and within 2 days of doing this he died. Never saw anyone messing with him, I ended up guessing I had less copepods than I thought. have had a couple before, first one lasted years and didn't survive a tank move. Next time I get one I will restock tank with pods every month or 2

Thank you so much! I do feel worried about him. I added two packets of copepods about 15 days ago, when I first got him But do you think that a 2 year tank might have less copepods than he could have eaten in 15 days?

MERKEY · Nov 20, 2019

The little guy will eat thousands and thousand of pods a day. Like 5k worth

Not only do I have a pod population but to make sure mine is healthy I turn of power heads and pumps and watch him eat the frozen food as well. He is fed 3-4 times frozen daily. His favorite are blood worms.

I also add 1 bag of 5k pods 2 times a month. He eats better than my kids hahaha

Eleni18 · Nov 20, 2019

MERKEY said:
The little guy will eat thousands and thousand of pods a day. Like 5k worth

Not only do I have a pod population but to make sure mine is healthy I turn of power heads and pumps and watch him eat the frozen food as well. He is fed 3-4 times frozen daily. His favorite are blood worms.

I also add 1 bag of 5k pods 2 times a month. He eats better than my kids hahaha

Thanks. Problem is, he seems to be going through the rocks and grabbing things in the morning when the lights are off. When I feed frozen artemia in the evening (lights on) he is hiding behind the heater and shows little interest

steallife904 · Nov 20, 2019

Eleni18 said:
Thank you so much! I do feel worried about him. I added two packets of copepods about 15 days ago, when I first got him But do you think that a 2 year tank might have less copepods than he could have eaten in 15 days?

I would think if you added some 15 days ago it should be ok. Its hard to know what your pod population was before but at 2 years I would think you where good enough for the mandarin. But as said they can eat a ton. It cant hurt to add another batch in next few days, may even need to do it once a month for first couple months to get him and pod population settled.

Eleni18 · Nov 20, 2019

steallife904 said:
I would think if you added some 15 days ago it should be ok. Its hard to know what your pod population was before but at 2 years I would think you where good enough for the mandarin. But as said they can eat a ton. It cant hurt to add another batch in next few days, may even need to do it once a month for first couple months to get him and pod population settled.

Thank you. I really like him and would hate to lose him

Fishurama · Nov 20, 2019

Eleni18 said:
Thank you. I really like him and would hate to lose him

As others have stated, they eat a lot of pods. I think the average number is like 1500 a day or similar. So a single small bottle usually has 1000-3000, which could be consumed all within 2 days depending on the rate they reproduce.
I recently got a spotted mandarin(along with already having a scooter) and my spotted hid in the same rock crevice for about a week, occasionally popping out a few inches to eat, before finally coming out and pairing up with the scooter after the first week. I have a 120 and even I add a bottle monthly(even when I only had 1)
My two eating together since I keep enough pods they don't mind feeding together. Cheap fish, expensive diets.

Eleni18 · Nov 20, 2019

Fishurama said:
As others have stated, they eat a lot of pods. I think the average number is like 1500 a day or similar. So a single small bottle usually has 1000-3000, which could be consumed all within 2 days depending on the rate they reproduce.
I recently got a spotted mandarin(along with already having a scooter) and my spotted hid in the same rock crevice for about a week, occasionally popping out a few inches to eat, before finally coming out and pairing up with the scooter after the first week. I have a 120 and even I add a bottle monthly(even when I only had 1)
My two eating together since I keep enough pods they don't mind feeding together. Cheap fish, expensive diets.

Hi, thanks. Mine used to hide in one specific rock and come out briefly as well. He still does that, or hides behind the heater. When the lights are on, he seems to prefer being near the surface. Update: As of yesterday, when he is near the surface, he seems to like being carried along by the flow the wave maker causes and then swimming against it. all over again.

Fishurama · Nov 20, 2019

Eleni18 said:
Hi, thanks. Mine used to hide in one specific rock and come out briefly as well. He still does that, or hides behind the heater. When the lights are on, he seems to prefer being near the surface. Update: As of yesterday, when he is near the surface, he seems to like being carried along by the flow the wave maker causes and then swimming against it. all over again.

Hopefully its just getting used to the tank still and finding out everything about its new home(flow might be a little high based on what you posted above), if it made it the first few days, your chances are good to great as long as you keep its food source up and/or try to get it also trained on frozen. Nothing wrong with adding more pods if you are worried though.