Mandarin beyond saving?

Makara23 · Jun 10, 2023

I bought 2 captive-bred mandarin dragonets from Dr.Reef. They came in super tiny (about 1/2”) and unhealthy. I tried feeding frozen mysis and baby brine shrimp but they haven’t eaten. They’re a bag of bones, and it saddens me how sunken in their bellies are. I can even touch them and they won’t even bother to move away. Currently in QT, I can’t just put them in display tank in this condition, as they’ll get beaten up by the current, other fish, or shrimp.

I paid $200 for this pair. Apparently they don’t need to be sold healthy, just as long as they’re barely alive right before shipping. Have they reached the point of moribund, or do I still have a chance to nurse them back to health?

i cant think · Jun 10, 2023

Makara23 said:
I bought 2 captive-bred mandarin dragonets from Dr.Reef. They came in super tiny (about 1/2”) and unhealthy. I tried feeding frozen mysis and baby brine shrimp but they haven’t eaten. They’re a bag of bones, and it saddens me how sunken in their bellies are. I can even touch them and they won’t even bother to move away. Currently in QT, I can’t just put them in display tank in this condition, as they’ll get beaten up by the current, other fish, or shrimp.

I paid $200 for this pair. Apparently they don’t need to be sold healthy, just as long as they’re barely alive right before shipping. Have they reached the point of moribund, or do I still have a chance to nurse them back to health?

It’ll be hard but if you can get them into an established system (Mandarins rarely make it through QT as it’s a completely sterile system and you take away these fish’s natural foods). An established system will get them into feeding on pods and they’ll thrive, I personally don’t trust CB mandarins as I’ve had wild mandarins eat prepared foods for 8-10 months and longer and just stop randomly then never eat outside of pods again. My current mandarin only eats pods to my knowledge but she loves it and I don’t QT any fish as an established reef keeps them fat with 10000s of microorganisms to feed on outside of just pods.

Makara23 · Jun 10, 2023

i cant think said:
It’ll be hard but if you can get them into an established system (Mandarins rarely make it through QT as it’s a completely sterile system and you take away these fish’s natural foods). An established system will get them into feeding on pods and they’ll thrive, I personally don’t trust CB mandarins as I’ve had wild mandarins eat prepared foods for 8-10 months and longer and just stop randomly then never eat outside of pods again. My current mandarin only eats pods to my knowledge but she loves it and I don’t QT any fish as an established reef keeps them fat with 10000s of microorganisms to feed on outside of just pods.

I have copepods and isopods in my display tank. The problem is that they're so TINY, as if they just hatched yesterday. I'm afraid that if I put them in display tank, I might not ever see them again. I have aggressive cleaner shrimps in there, and a royal gramma and damsel that pick on docile fish.

I just didn't think they'll be this small and unhealthy when arriving :(

Dave1993 · Jun 10, 2023

i cant think said:
It’ll be hard but if you can get them into an established system (Mandarins rarely make it through QT as it’s a completely sterile system and you take away these fish’s natural foods). An established system will get them into feeding on pods and they’ll thrive, I personally don’t trust CB mandarins as I’ve had wild mandarins eat prepared foods for 8-10 months and longer and just stop randomly then never eat outside of pods again. My current mandarin only eats pods to my knowledge but she loves it and I don’t QT any fish as an established reef keeps them fat with 10000s of microorganisms to feed on outside of just pods.

do you have a male or female?

steveschuerger · Jun 10, 2023

I’d take the chance to put in your display.. They’ll die if you leave them qt’d. The only thing you might consider is if you have access to a place that sell pods locally, I suppose you could dump them in the qt. Sorry that came in so rough looking. I was looking at Dr. Reef myself for a wrasse and goby, now I’m not so sure. Might just stick with my local PetCo. Good luck whatever you decide.

Kasrift · Jun 10, 2023

I'd stick them into the display as well, just try and capture the damsel ahead of time and throw it in an acclimation box. Cheaper to get one from Petco and give the mandarins a chance to survive.