mandarin goby thread

[melonheadorion]

so, i decided to give a go to a mandarin goby. i know the story behind the mandarin, but am willing to do what i can to successfully keep one thriving.

my tank is a 65g with a sump, and should have plenty of liverock, and definately enough substrate.

about a month ago, in addition to what my tank already had, i adeed a 16oz container of the ecopepods from algae barn (which is advertised as about 7000 pods). my personal through is that this will get the fish through for a bit, but my initial concern is that the pod population will eventually dwindle and not be able to keep up to the eating habit. that is my assumption at least. earlier today, when i picked up the goby, i also bought two more of the reef nutrition pods, just to add some extra. in fact, on monday, i should have an order arriving of the mandarin feeding kit that is bought from algae barn via BRS, which has a 16oz container of the eco pods and 5280 pods, with the can o cyclops.

my thought with the pods coming on monday will to be to use at least the eco pods to start cultivating my own, so that im not spending so much in food for this hog. to add to that, i will eventually start cultivating my own phyto too.

at the moment, i see him doing a little bit of hunting, so thats good. i tested it a bit to see if he would eat frozen food, and although he didnt eat any of it, he showed a little interest in it, so thats a positive sign. hopefully i can get him to eat frozen food too, but im not betting on it. even if he does, since its that type of fish that eats all day, eating prepped food wont have a huge affect on it, imo. perhaps im wrong there?

any other mandy owners out there, id love to hear your trials and tribulations

 

[john92708]

I recommend the captive bred one for anyone who want a mandarin dragonet and don't want to deal with culturing pods. I got a pair from Biota and they eat pellets like a pig.

 

[blaxsun]

Mandarins can eat a copepod every 5-10 seconds, so that 16oz container should last between 9-20 hours. Hence why a 100-gallon+ tank is recommended. Not for the size of the fish - but to sustain a healthy copepod population.

 

[Lavey29]

Mandarins can eat a copepod every 5-10 seconds, so that 16oz container should last between 9-20 hours. Hence why a 100-gallon+ tank is recommended. Not for the size of the fish - but to sustain a healthy copepod population.

And that probably requires no other pod hunting fish in the tank too. This is why I'll never be able to have one even though I think they are beautiful.

OP if you can get him to eat some fish food and supplement with continued bottles of various pods, I wish you best of luck. They are one of my favorite fish for sure.

 

[131696]

First thing fast stop buying wild caught mandarins stop doing it Im talking to everyone in reef2reef Stop. Theres breed mandarins now no need to buy wild anymore and kill them. Buy captive breeds from now on they eat everything and it's saves you money and no more mandarins will die that's wild caught eventually and 1 day they will stop taking them from the sea. So tired of people wasting money on mandarins when there captive breed fish to buy that eats everything. And that goes for other captive breed fish also look there first save a fish keep it in the ocean.

 

[AZReef13]

So I have my Captive bred Mandarin in my IM 40 for almost 4 years, I have been adding jars of Algae barn pods monthly, Plus Mine was raised on PE Calanus, I also add Algae barn Dragon roe.... Mine now seeks out PE Mysis.....

Do you have a reef in your Sump? Try getting pods to grow in Refug

What other fish do you have?

Add more pods like Blaxsun said the eat pods 5-10/sec. 20 plus hours a day....

 

[melonheadorion]

So I have my Captive bred Mandarin in my IM 40 for almost 4 years, I have been adding jars of Algae barn pods monthly, Plus Mine was raised on PE Calanus, I also add Algae barn Dragon roe.... Mine now seeks out PE Mysis.....

Do you have a reef in your Sump? Try getting pods to grow in Refug

What other fish do you have?

Add more pods like Blaxsun said the eat pods 5-10/sec. 20 plus hours a day....

perhaps i wasnt clear already. the eco pods were just what i added a month or so ago, and that was in addition to what the tank already had. i added to more containers, just today, and have 2 more coming on monday. my refugium as already going with pods previous to that, in addition to the ones i have added to that today as well.

how many containers do you buy per month from algae barn?

my intent right now, other than what i can grow in my tank and sump, is to supplement with minimal purchases from algae barn, but to mainly grow my own, so that im not having to spend TONS of money by buying from AB.

my other fish, in this tank is 2 clown fish, a cleaner shrimp, bi color blenny, clown goby, sailfin/algae blenny, and two chromis.

p.s. as far as i know, this was a captive bred mandarin.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

If you are adding pods hoping they will reproduce in your system, be sure you’re buying the right kinds. I am not familiar with Ecopods, but I do know that Tigger pods do not breed at the temps we usually keep our tanks — they are a colder water species. Tisbe pods have worked really well for me. Again, not saying Ecopods are bad, but wanted to share my experience.

 

[mehaffydr]

So I have my Captive bred Mandarin in my IM 40 for almost 4 years, I have been adding jars of Algae barn pods monthly, Plus Mine was raised on PE Calanus, I also add Algae barn Dragon roe.... Mine now seeks out PE Mysis.....

Do you have a reef in your Sump? Try getting pods to grow in Refug

What other fish do you have?

Add more pods like Blaxsun said the eat pods 5-10/sec. 20 plus hours a day....

They don't eat 5-10 pods a sec. You have misquoted what Blaxsun said. They would have to swim around like Flash Gordon. They eat 1 pod every 5-10 sec.
I woudl think that if you have a good refugium and No other Pod eating fish you may be ok with your system producing pods but if you do have things like 6 line Wrasse that also eat pods your system is most likely too small to produce enough on its own.
Try looking in your tank at night with lights out using a flashlight and see what your pop population looks like. I know in mins the sandbed is crawling with thousands.

 

[melonheadorion]

If you are adding pods hoping they will reproduce in your system, be sure you’re buying the right kinds. I am not familiar with Ecopods, but I do know that Tigger pods do not breed at the temps we usually keep our tanks — they are a colder water species. Tisbe pods have worked really well for me. Again, not saying Ecopods are bad, but wanted to share my experience.

based on algae barns advertisement....take it for what its worth, the eco pods include 4 species. tisbe, apocyclopss, tigriopus, and oithona, but some of those that i added earlier today were more tisbe

 

[Lavey29]

perhaps i wasnt clear already. the eco pods were just what i added a month or so ago, and that was in addition to what the tank already had. i added to more containers, just today, and have 2 more coming on monday. my refugium as already going with pods previous to that, in addition to the ones i have added to that today as well.

how many containers do you buy per month from algae barn?

my intent right now, other than what i can grow in my tank and sump, is to supplement with minimal purchases from algae barn, but to mainly grow my own, so that im not having to spend TONS of money by buying from AB.

my other fish, in this tank is 2 clown fish, a cleaner shrimp, bi color blenny, clown goby, sailfin/algae blenny, and two chromis.

p.s. as far as i know, this was a captive bred mandarin.

You have to factor in that most if not all of your other fish actively eat pods also. Maybe not as their primary food source but secondary between feedings.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

based on algae barns advertisement....take it for what its worth, the eco pods include 4 species. tisbe, apocyclopss, tigriopus, and oithona, but some of those that i added earlier today were more tisbe

Interesting. I wonder why they include tigriopus (“tiggers”) at all. Actually, I’ve been curious about any mixture of pods sold in the same jar… bigger pods eat littler pods…

 

[melonheadorion]

Interesting. I wonder why they include tigriopus (“tiggers”) at all. Actually, I’ve been curious about any mixture of pods sold in the same jar… bigger pods eat littler pods.

the pods in general, when you get the container, you dont see any real size difference, so that is probably why? ive read the same thing about pods, and of course believe it to be true, but they dont have any version of those pods in the same container that are big enough to eat the others. not that it wouldnt happen, but there isnt a noticeable difference in the sizes of what you get, so i can only assume thats why

 

[131696]

perhaps i wasnt clear already. the eco pods were just what i added a month or so ago, and that was in addition to what the tank already had. i added to more containers, just today, and have 2 more coming on monday. my refugium as already going with pods previous to that, in addition to the ones i have added to that today as well.

how many containers do you buy per month from algae barn?

my intent right now, other than what i can grow in my tank and sump, is to supplement with minimal purchases from algae barn, but to mainly grow my own, so that im not having to spend TONS of money by buying from AB.

my other fish, in this tank is 2 clown fish, a cleaner shrimp, bi color blenny, clown goby, sailfin/algae blenny, and two chromis.

p.s. as far as i know, this was a captive bred mandarin.

He's not captive breed ,he would be eating frozen food ,you bought a wild 1, a captive breed mandarins eat everything you put in front of them ,pellets,frozen food small flakes, blood worms they just eat ,a wild 1 does what yours is doing.

 

[Karen00]

perhaps i wasnt clear already. the eco pods were just what i added a month or so ago, and that was in addition to what the tank already had. i added to more containers, just today, and have 2 more coming on monday. my refugium as already going with pods previous to that, in addition to the ones i have added to that today as well.

how many containers do you buy per month from algae barn?

my intent right now, other than what i can grow in my tank and sump, is to supplement with minimal purchases from algae barn, but to mainly grow my own, so that im not having to spend TONS of money by buying from AB.

my other fish, in this tank is 2 clown fish, a cleaner shrimp, bi color blenny, clown goby, sailfin/algae blenny, and two chromis.

p.s. as far as i know, this was a captive bred mandarin.

If it's captive bred can you find out from the seller what it was being fed and stock up on that as well? Everyone except the algae eaters that you mentioned will consume copious amounts of pods. My captive bred loves blood worms (she sucks them in like she's eating spaghetti) along with pods and pellets

 

[melonheadorion]

He's not captive breed ,he would be eating frozen food ,you bought a wild 1, a captive breed mandarins eat everything you put in front of them ,pellets,frozen food small flakes, blood worms they just eat ,a wild 1 does what yours is doing.

you have to remember that i literally put him in the tank, and within an hour of him being in the tank, attempted this. it is not indicative of him being captive or wild caught. if it were weeks between the point i put him in, and attempted, then i would probably say youre right. at the point i did it, i also had not seen him eat or search for any copepods either, so i wouldnt jump to a conclusion just based on the one time i attempted it, that he didnt go for it. if i base it off of that one time, at that one point, then i would say he just doesnt eat anything, including pods, but we know that to not be true either

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

He's not captive breed ,he would be eating frozen food ,you bought a wild 1, a captive breed mandarins eat everything you put in front of them ,pellets,frozen food small flakes, blood worms they just eat ,a wild 1 does what yours is doing.

This is not necessarily true. If you buy a CB mandarin directly from the breeder and it’s been eating “everything”, then yes, it should continue to do so. But if a CB has been in another tank for a while and not fed a variety of foods, it could be a lot pickier.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

you have to remember that i literally put him in the tank, and within an hour of him being in the tank, attempted this. it is not indicative of him being captive or wild caught. if it were weeks between the point i put him in, and attempted, then i would probably say youre right. at the point i did it, i also had not seen him eat or search for any copepods either, so i wouldnt jump to a conclusion just based on the one time i attempted it, the one time

I think from your original post, you’re in pretty good shape. I am almost positive the mandarin I got a few years ago was wild caught originally, but like you, I stocked the tank heavily with pods at first, and now I have them everywhere— sump, tank walls, crawling on rocks at night (although my eyes are getting old and I need a magnifying glass to see them now, lol). I also have a six line wrasse and a marine betta, among other fish, and my mandarin still has plenty to eat.

 

[131696]

He's not captive breed ,he would be eating frozen food ,you bought a wild 1, a captive breed mandarins eat everything you put in front of them ,pellets,frozen food small flakes, blood worms they just eat ,a wild 1 does what yours is doing.

Now you got to train him time to be really patient,he's your kid now , you can get him to eat everything but you got to have the time like 2/3 hrs a Day training him because he eats like a hummingbird,he needs food 24/7 . first get a small container put in corner of reef put all his pods in there show him where his food is at eventually put mysis shrimp in there a few not many after a month of him going to the container you got to trick him start taking more and more pods out and put mysis shrimp a few blood worms a flake or 2 . Yes told you it will,take awhile and patience months and months but it can be done or another idea is cut up blood worms smaller pieces turn off pumps put the blood worms on rocks and watch to see if he eats again be patient get a recliner and chill you can cut up mysis shrimp also and do that also .lots of work but after months and months you will,have a trained mandarin if you dont have that much patience bring him back and get 1 for sure a captive breed from ORA or another place.

 

[131696]

Yea before he bought the fish he needed

I think from your original post, you’re in pretty good shape. I am almost positive the mandarin I got a few years ago was wild caught originally, but like you, I stocked the tank heavily with pods at first, and now I have them everywhere— sump, tank walls, crawling on rocks at night (although my eyes are getting old and I need a magnifying glass to see them now, lol). I also have a six line wrasse and a marine betta, among other fish, and my mandarin still has plenty to eat.