Lucky mandarin still thriving? I’ve never fed or put live feed in

[chad8282]

Have been doing a FOWLR tank and i would say I’ve been successful with only 2 fish deaths ( died same day and from petco so doesn’t count). I’ve bought all of my live rock from petco and they were littered with hitch hikers. Bristle worms and some kind of white tiny pod that scatters off the side of glass when I turn lights on in the morning. So I see lots of them in the morning for the first 10 mins daily for 6 months which is a good thing I guess because this Mandarin fish is still thriving after 5 months and only dumped 1 small bottle of red Pods I bought with the fish. Guess everything worked out for me and my expirment with mandarin fish. I didn’t expect to be able to keep him eating after hearing all the talk on here. Everyday I see him scanning all over the tank all day picking things constantly so maybe I just can’t see them on the white sand and he’s eatin good

 

[G Santana]

That's rouhly the story of my mandarin!!!
5 months and he is fat as all heck, just one bottle of pods and a ball of cheato filled with pods have sustained him this far. I also gauge the amount of pods in the tank by what I see on the glass in the morning.

 

[boatguy]

Glad to hear your good fortune. I want to get a mandarin but am waiting for my tank to mature. Truly a beautiful fish.

 

[DaneGer21]

I have one mandarin in my 220, he’s been in there for about 3yrs. I still try to add pods every 4-6mths. A $30 purchase twice a year won’t break the bank but ensures plenty of food

 

[Hermie]

I have a 23 gallon with 15 gal sump w/ refugium and have a female target mandarin doing well, the tank/rocks were over 1.5 years old before I put the mandarin in and it was very small+captive bred so it's appetite cannot out compete the copepods and amphipod populations already in the tank.

 

[chad8282]

Nice all also doing a water change right now it’s been a while what’s a target salinity reading a little higher at 1.26 for tank water what should these 15 gallons be at maybe a little under to split the difference

 

[LIreefguy]

Dumping a bottle in twice a year doesn’t do anything
If you don’t train your mandarins to eat prepared food. Your tank either has enough pods or it doesn’t You pouring in 1000 tiger pods once ever 6 months won’t do anything
If you have enough live rock and not other fish to eat the pods even a newbie in a mature tank can have success with this fish

it’s all about pods the kind your tank produces not the kind you buy

 

[DaneGer21]

Dumping a bottle in twice a year doesn’t do anything
If you don’t train your mandarins to eat prepared food. Your tank either has enough pods or it doesn’t You pouring in 1000 tiger pods once ever 6 months won’t do anything
If you have enough live rock and not other fish to eat the pods even a newbie in a mature tank can have success with this fish

it’s all about pods the kind your tank produces not the kind you buy

Actually adding any sort of pods only helps the population.

How would adding MORE, not do anything.

I find this info false

…for the record I buy waaaay more than a 1000 twice a year. @hollback knows since he is my supplier haha

 

[davidcalgary29]

My mandarin's in an Evo, and I gave up on adding 'pods months ago. It's eating mysis and grindal worms (and I watched it vacuum up both today), so it's apparently Moved On with its dietary habits.

 

[Isopod80]

Dumping a bottle in twice a year doesn’t do anything
If you don’t train your mandarins to eat prepared food. Your tank either has enough pods or it doesn’t You pouring in 1000 tiger pods once ever 6 months won’t do anything
If you have enough live rock and not other fish to eat the pods even a newbie in a mature tank can have success with this fish

it’s all about pods the kind your tank produces not the kind you buy

Actually adding any sort of pods only helps the population.

How would adding MORE, not do anything.

I find this info false

…for the record I buy waaaay more than a 1000 twice a year. @hollback knows since he is my supplier ha

Actually adding any sort of pods only helps the population.

How would adding MORE, not do anything.

I find this info false

…for the record I buy waaaay more than a 1000 twice a year. @hollback knows since he is my supplier haha

I took it as he's saying adding them sporadically won't sustain the fish if the tank can't sustain a healthy population on its own based on resources and predation.

 

[LIreefguy]

Actually adding any sort of pods only helps the population.

How would adding MORE, not do anything.

I find this info false

…for the record I buy waaaay more than a 1000 twice a year. @hollback knows since he is my supplier haha

It does nothing because they can eat that in 1 day. Maybe 2. After that your tank needs to produce them. Plus some pods they sell such as tiger pods won’t reproduce in your tank

 

[Isopod80]

Have been doing a FOWLR tank and i would say I’ve been successful with only 2 fish deaths ( died same day and from petco so doesn’t count). I’ve bought all of my live rock from petco and they were littered with hitch hikers. Bristle worms and some kind of white tiny pod that scatters off the side of glass when I turn lights on in the morning. So I see lots of them in the morning for the first 10 mins daily for 6 months which is a good thing I guess because this Mandarin fish is still thriving after 5 months and only dumped 1 small bottle of red Pods I bought with the fish. Guess everything worked out for me and my expirment with mandarin fish. I didn’t expect to be able to keep him eating after hearing all the talk on here. Everyday I see him scanning all over the tank all day picking things constantly so maybe I just can’t see them on the white sand and he’s eatin good

Be careful with Petco. I'm yet to see one with fish that aren't visibly diseased. Their tanks are also interconnected by the same system so what illness is in one will surely be in another. From the sound of it you're not quarantining your fish before adding them to the display either. Lucky for you, mandarins have an unusually thick slime coat and are more resistant than most other fish. I'd never add a fish from Petco directly to my tank.