Mandarin Dragonet Eating Brine Shrimp with Selcon

[Kurtz]

Question: Do I still need to add pods to my Nano Tank?

I have been working on training my Mandarin to eat Brine Shrimp with target feedings. He now eats them like a champ with Selcon added. My small Waterbox AIO will never be able to sustain a pod population. So I assume now that he is eating frozen I can just add pods to give him something to hunt once a month or so.

I just wanted to get some experienced opinions.


Disclaimer: I purchased this Waterbox AIO 20 gal off Craigslist with the Mandarin already in the tank. So, buying pods or getting him to eat frozen has been my priority ever since getting this setup.

 

[TvanB1]

Frozen brine shrimp does not have the proper nutritional value to keep a mandarin healthy long term. Even with selcon added it likely won’t be enough. That being said its great that you have him eating frozen. I would begin adding other foods to the mix such as mysis. Hikari brand mysis is much smaller and easier for your mandarin to eat as opposed to other brands such as Piscine Energetics. Fish or prawn eggs are another great option. They contain many of the nutrients necessary for your mandarin. Many different brands offer fish eggs; ex. LRS Fish Eggs, Hikari Capelin Roe, Reef Nutrition Cod Eggs.

Most pods on the market will only have enough in each bottle to keep the fish fed for a few days. It is impractical to keep buying live pods. If you want to offer them regularly I would look into culturing tigger pods. It’s fun and easy to do with relatively low cost equipment/supplies. They will not only be beneficial to your mandarin, but the rest of your tank as well.
Alternatively, if you don’t have the time or resources to culture pods, you can hatch brine shrimp. Freshly hatched (within a few hrs) brine shrimp are highly nutritious as well as easy to hatch.

 

[bluprntguy]

Agree with everything said above. I would recommend hatching baby brine shrimp for general feeding. Feed once or twice a day with ALL pumps shut off. Squirt them in the direction of the mandarin. The live baby brine swim towards light. I usually squirt a few in the direction of my mandarin, wait 5-10 minutes and squirt some more. I usually leave the pumps off for 30 minutes or so to allow the mandarin time to eat, since they are pretty slow eaters. The other fish eat the ones that get away from the mandarin. This hatchery is what I use:

Hatchery Dish

This simple-to-use brine shrimp hatchery is ideal for the hobbyist, science fair student, teacher, or aquarist who treats their fish to the occasional live treat. No aeration required. Includes a three month supply of eggs!

www.brineshrimpdirect.com

Also, you may want to look into culturing grindal worms. Mandarins like those and it's really easy to build and maintain a culture. Grindal worm cultures can be bought on ebay.

You probably do want to seed your tank with pods as well. That will give the mandarin some limited opportunity to graze during the day. I prefer the apocalypse pods as they mostly stay on the rocks and seem to reproduce easiest. Tisbe pods are also good to reproduce in tank. The tigger pods are harder, at least in my experience, to get to reproduce in the tank, but are easy to culture outside the tank.

 

[Jeeperz]

My girlfriend has a biota baby Mandarin that eats frozen, especially loves cyclopeeze or some such thing. We do dose the display with pods every so often as he does hunt constantly. We tried a refugium but the chaeto just grew white stuff inside it and broke apart so we tossed it.

 

[SDK]

Also, you may want to look into culturing grindal worms. Mandarins like those and it's really easy to build and maintain a culture. Grindal worm cultures can be bought on ebay.

Grindal Worms for Reef Aquariums

Has anyone fed these, and if so, how did it work out? I have been reading many of the posts that discuss the benefits of live feedings of blackworms and white worms. I am assuming that Grindal worms will work in similar fashion for smaller fish and inverts. Coming from many years in the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Kurtz]

Frozen brine shrimp does not have the proper nutritional value to keep a mandarin healthy long term. Even with selcon added it likely won’t be enough. That being said its great that you have him eating frozen. I would begin adding other foods to the mix such as mysis. Hikari brand mysis is much smaller and easier for your mandarin to eat as opposed to other brands such as Piscine Energetics. Fish or prawn eggs are another great option. They contain many of the nutrients necessary for your mandarin. Many different brands offer fish eggs; ex. LRS Fish Eggs, Hikari Capelin Roe, Reef Nutrition Cod Eggs.

Most pods on the market will only have enough in each bottle to keep the fish fed for a few days. It is impractical to keep buying live pods. If you want to offer them regularly I would look into culturing tigger pods. It’s fun and easy to do with relatively low cost equipment/supplies. They will not only be beneficial to your mandarin, but the rest of your tank as well.
Alternatively, if you don’t have the time or resources to culture pods, you can hatch brine shrimp. Freshly hatched (within a few hrs) brine shrimp are highly nutritious as well as easy to hatch.

So, if I can get him eating Mysis with Selcon would that be sufficent to maintain him? I will work on that as well as seeing if I can get him to eat some fish eggs. Maybe now that he is used to the Selcon maybe he will eat the Mysis. I have not had success with him eating mysis in the past.

 

[ReefBeta]

So, if I can get him eating Mysis with Selcon would that be sufficent to maintain him? I will work on that as well as seeing if I can get him to eat some fish eggs. Maybe now that he is used to the Selcon maybe he will eat the Mysis. I have not had success with him eating mysis in the past.

Keep feeding mysis as well as all kinds of frozen to the rest of the tank, eventually it will pick them up as well. Mine eats everything in my frozen mix, including chopped shrimp and fish too. Also feed pellets to the tank, it will learn to eat them too. Pellets make it easier to feed them cause they sink quicker. Variety is best to ensure enough nutrition for their health. Baby brine shrimp is good too as they stay in the tank longer for the mandarin to hunt. If your other fish is too fast, you can setup a feeding station for it. I use a flask. Small opening that only the mandarin can get in. It will eat from it throughout the day.

I have this for my red dragonet. But it don't work as well because the cleaner wrasse get to it first and it's faster it will work well if you don't have thinner but faster fish than your mandarin.

About adding pod, I don't think you need to add any more of them. The food it eats from your feeding will greatly outweigh the pod you can put in. There will still be pods among your rocks. They will be enough for your mandarin to hunt throughout the day for fun. Of course it won't hurt anything to continue to add pods, well besides your wallet.

 

[TvanB1]

So, if I can get him eating Mysis with Selcon would that be sufficent to maintain him? I will work on that as well as seeing if I can get him to eat some fish eggs. Maybe now that he is used to the Selcon maybe he will eat the Mysis. I have not had success with him eating mysis in the past.

Mysis would be better, but feeding a variety of foods would be best.
I would try a 50/50 mix of mysis/brine and see if he picks at it. If he still ignores it I would highly recommend picking up Reef Nutrition fish eggs. IMO - They are the easiest to feed as they are not frozen, but suspended in a liquid that you can keep for a decent amount of time in the fridge. While expensive, a 6oz bottle should last you a few months.
Another option would be freeze-dried brine shrimp. Freeze-dried shrimp is able to soak up much more selcon, making it far more nutritious.

 

[Kurtz]

Mysis would be better, but feeding a variety of foods would be best.
I would try a 50/50 mix of mysis/brine and see if he picks at it. If he still ignores it I would highly recommend picking up Reef Nutrition fish eggs. IMO - They are the easiest to feed as they are not frozen, but suspended in a liquid that you can keep for a decent amount of time in the fridge. While expensive, a 6oz bottle should last you a few months.
Another option would be freeze-dried brine shrimp. Freeze-dried shrimp is able to soak up much more selcon, making it far more nutritious.

I tried frozen Mysis today and he ignored it. So, I will keep trying, but I am going to get some fish eggs and see if he is interested in that. I can always start mixing it all together, but I really want to see if I could get him to eat something else. Once I mix it all together it's hard to tell what he is actually eating. Anyway, ill try the eggs and then if that does not work move on to some dried brine. We will see if he will eat that soaked in Selcon. Progress, not perfection....He is eating frozen Brine Shrimp... That's progress. Now it's time to take the next step. Challenge accepted Mandarin Dragonet.

 

[Kurtz]

Keep feeding mysis as well as all kinds of frozen to the rest of the tank, eventually it will pick them up as well. Mine eats everything in my frozen mix, including chopped shrimp and fish too. Also feed pellets to the tank, it will learn to eat them too. Pellets make it easier to feed them cause they sink quicker. Variety is best to ensure enough nutrition for their health. Baby brine shrimp is good too as they stay in the tank longer for the mandarin to hunt. If your other fish is too fast, you can setup a feeding station for it. I use a flask. Small opening that only the mandarin can get in. It will eat from it throughout the day.

I have this for my red dragonet. But it don't work as well because the cleaner wrasse get to it first and it's faster it will work well if you don't have thinner but faster fish than your mandarin.

About adding pod, I don't think you need to add any more of them. The food it eats from your feeding will greatly outweigh the pod you can put in. There will still be pods among your rocks. They will be enough for your mandarin to hunt throughout the day for fun. Of course it won't hurt anything to continue to add pods, well besides your wallet.

Thanks! I was going to try a feeding station, but my only other fish is a tiny clown and I don't think I can make a feeding station that the Mandarin can fit in that he cannot. Still, ill try.. Maybe the clown will no go inside it. He is a pig though. Eats everything he see's and steals food from the Mandarin. I have to feed a bit at the front of the tank first just to distract him so I can put some in the back of the tank for the Mandarin. ROFL!!!

 

[bluprntguy]

A good first "dead" food for mandarins is DECAPSULATED brine shrimp eggs (non hatching). They are packaged dry and you can keep them in the fridge for an enternity. The shells are removed so you just mix them in water and then use a turkey baster to blast them at the mandarin. You have to feed them with all the pumps off as any water movement will blow them around too much.

 

[Fishurama]

I tried frozen Mysis today and he ignored it. So, I will keep trying, but I am going to get some fish eggs and see if he is interested in that. I can always start mixing it all together, but I really want to see if I could get him to eat something else. Once I mix it all together it's hard to tell what he is actually eating. Anyway, ill try the eggs and then if that does not work move on to some dried brine. We will see if he will eat that soaked in Selcon. Progress, not perfection....He is eating frozen Brine Shrimp... That's progress. Now it's time to take the next step. Challenge accepted Mandarin Dragonet.

Yes you should continue adding pods, you need to keep their count up and these guys can literally eat a bottle in a day(a few thousand) My scooter blenny came eating right away which was nice, my spotted mandarin ate only once i dunked the mysis/brine in reefroids(all the fish seem to love it) and broadcast fed it and it will eat. (also gives it a chance to get food if you have quicker fish eating it all up first)
I keep mine well feed enough i have 2 that are for lack of a better word "bonded"(not really paired if you understand what im trying to get at lol)

 

[TvanB1]

I tried frozen Mysis today and he ignored it. So, I will keep trying, but I am going to get some fish eggs and see if he is interested in that. I can always start mixing it all together, but I really want to see if I could get him to eat something else. Once I mix it all together it's hard to tell what he is actually eating. Anyway, ill try the eggs and then if that does not work move on to some dried brine. We will see if he will eat that soaked in Selcon. Progress, not perfection....He is eating frozen Brine Shrimp... That's progress. Now it's time to take the next step. Challenge accepted Mandarin Dragonet.

Yep, its definitely good that he's eating brine for now. Make sure to keep him fed. I like to thaw a few cubes of frozen in a condiment squirt bottle and put it in my fridge. I squirt some into the tank every couple of hours. This is more natural for the fish, and will help to keep the waste down as compared to feeding whole cubes at a time.
Also, it is not necessary to soak the eggs in selcon unless they are freeze dried. The amount that would end up sticking to the eggs would be negligible.
Either way, sounds like you are off to a good start. Sounds like he's in a good home.

A good first "dead" food for mandarins is DECAPSULATED brine shrimp eggs (non hatching). They are packaged dry and you can keep them in the fridge for an enternity. The shells are removed so you just mix them in water and then use a turkey baster to blast them at the mandarin. You have to feed them with all the pumps off as any water movement will blow them around too much.

+1
Soaking the decapsulated eggs in tank water prior to feeding will help them sink.

 

[ReefBeta]

I tried frozen Mysis today and he ignored it. So, I will keep trying, but I am going to get some fish eggs and see if he is interested in that. I can always start mixing it all together, but I really want to see if I could get him to eat something else. Once I mix it all together it's hard to tell what he is actually eating. Anyway, ill try the eggs and then if that does not work move on to some dried brine. We will see if he will eat that soaked in Selcon. Progress, not perfection....He is eating frozen Brine Shrimp... That's progress. Now it's time to take the next step. Challenge accepted Mandarin Dragonet.

Don't rush. Getting it to accept new items won't happen overnight. It's normal to take weeks or even months. But since it's eating frozen brine shrimp, it will be fine for quite a while even if it's only eating that. Just feed the tank normally and turn off all flow, so that give some food the chance to fall and stay on the bottom, eventually it would pick it up. Take your time and relax, don't stress out. It will be a long progress.

 

[olonmv]

Don't rush. Getting it to accept new items won't happen overnight. It's normal to take weeks or even months. But since it's eating frozen brine shrimp, it will be fine for quite a while even if it's only eating that. Just feed the tank normally and turn off all flow, so that give some food the chance to fall and stay on the bottom, eventually it would pick it up. Take your time and relax, don't stress out. It will be a long progress.

This is reassuring. I recently bought a mandarin after watching him eat frozen brine at LFS. I’m in the process of putting together a feeder but he does eat frozen brine. After reading through this thread I know I have options as far as feeding goes especially since he already accepts commercial foods. The mandarin was the reason I got into the hobby but quickly realized it was a unicorn. I just got him and feed him frozen brine twice a day. he does go throughout the rock and sand and eats pods. Definitely gonna start experimenting in mixing brine mysis n reef roids as I already have each of those!!!

 

[AlgaeBarn]

This is reassuring. I recently bought a mandarin after watching him eat frozen brine at LFS. I’m in the process of putting together a feeder but he does eat frozen brine. After reading through this thread I know I have options as far as feeding goes especially since he already accepts commercial foods. The mandarin was the reason I got into the hobby but quickly realized it was a unicorn. I just got him and feed him frozen brine twice a day. he does go throughout the rock and sand and eats pods. Definitely gonna start experimenting in mixing brine mysis n reef roids as I already have each of those!!!

Have you also looked into can o cyclops? Usually people do not go through the can in a week so they open it and freeze it in a flat sheet. Then you just break off pieces as need to feed