Mandarin goby

emerald525 · Mar 10, 2011

CJO said:
She is a beautiful spotted mandarin.

CJ

Thanks! I love this fish. She reminds me of a humming bird the way she flitterss around picking at the rocks.How can you tell it is a female?

hawkfishman · Mar 10, 2011

what are you doing at PETCO that dude prob. makes 7 bucks an hr. and doesn't no jack!

Reef Breeders · Mar 10, 2011

Ya he was one of those but I do know some of the staff and they know what they are talking about. He just said we feed them brine, I asked if he ate it, of course the answer was yes, but I wanted to try keeping this fish even though he was probably lying.

Reef Breeders · Mar 10, 2011

I have a question about the pods. What do they look like on the glass? I have all these white dots with a bunch of tendrils that frequebtly appear all over the glass. They are about 1/4 to 1/2 mm accross not including the legs. Are these pods?

emerald525 · Mar 10, 2011

anemonekeeper said:
I have a question about the pods. What do they look like on the glass? I have all these white dots with a bunch of tendrils that frequebtly appear all over the glass. They are about 1/4 to 1/2 mm accross not including the legs. Are these pods?

Pods look to me kind of like what I used to call roly poly or doodle bugs. Google it.

Reef Breeders · Mar 10, 2011

I think that they are pods, Ive seen my clownfish occasionally swallow one or two, I just assumed that they were clearing the tank for eggs.

Reef Breeders · Mar 14, 2011

Good news, this morning I woke up and the mandarin was skimming the surface. I turned off the pumps and threw him some food. He went to the bathroom and then ate flakes and dry brine chunks and bloodworms, you name it. I dont have any pics yet bc I woke up late, but they will be coming soon. Im going to buy pellets in the near future but Im going to wait for when I get a 90 gallon.

CJO · Mar 14, 2011

emerald525 said:
Thanks! I love this fish. She reminds me of a humming bird the way she flitterss around picking at the rocks.How can you tell it is a female?

The males have a large spike on the dorsal fin.

CJ

CJO · Mar 14, 2011

emerald525 said:
Pods look to me kind of like what I used to call roly poly or doodle bugs. Google it.

Those are amphipods. Dragonets will eat smaller amphipods, but their main diet is of copepods.

CJ

CJO · Mar 14, 2011

anemonekeeper said:
Good news, this morning I woke up and the mandarin was skimming the surface. I turned off the pumps and threw him some food. He went to the bathroom and then ate flakes and dry brine chunks and bloodworms, you name it. I dont have any pics yet bc I woke up late, but they will be coming soon. Im going to buy pellets in the near future but Im going to wait for when I get a 90 gallon.

Good stuff. It would probably be a good idea to move from dried brine to frozen mysis as soon as you can. It would be even better to get some more variety. Mine is starting to really like Rod's food.

CJ

Captain Nemo · Mar 14, 2011

The mandarins do eat pods, you are very lucky to have one that eats reg fish food wether its flake or mysis or brine. They are very picky eaters.

Reef Breeders · Mar 14, 2011

I know, Iam very surprised, it happened so suddenly, he is usaully in hiding as soon as I turn of the lights, but he ate and stayed at the surface instead today, maybe he ran out of pods? Anyways Im very excited about it, hopefully I can feed him when he is in a 90 gallon, I might have build him a mandarin diner or something similar when I get a blue tang.

Reef Breeders · Mar 26, 2011

Here is a little update: the mandarin is now in my 90 gallon and still eating flake. He still hides a little during the day, but he moves towards the front of the tank to coat himself in a mucus secretion (natural camoflouge similar to a parrot fish's) and sleep. He is getting along fine with a foxface and four clownfish.

I will get a pic of the mandarin when he comes out of hiding to eat.

CJO · Mar 26, 2011

It really surprised me the first time I saw mine asleep. I thought it had died. Apparently, they get very pale when they sleep to better blend in with the sand.

CJ

Tabasco1 · Mar 26, 2011

Glad to see you have had luck! Did you do anything in particular to get him to take prepared foods? Congrats!

Reef Breeders · Mar 26, 2011

Nothing in particular, but I tried to get as much brine in front of him as possible. He still eats pods more than flakes, but whenever he gets hungry hell eat some prepared food.

Tabasco1 · Mar 26, 2011

Have you noticed a dent in your pod population or is it pretty balanced? Do you think you will have to boost the population at all?

Reef Breeders · Mar 26, 2011

No, my pod population is fine, whenever he runs out he eats flake until the supply replenishes.

Rockfish · Mar 29, 2011

I have one of those fancy ORA spotted madarins and when they promised me they'd eat just about anything.....man they weren't kidding!! mine's eating everything from mysis to flake food to cyclop-eeze!!

these are them Spotted Mandarin | Synchiropus picturatus | ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums

Tabasco1 · Mar 29, 2011

Rockfish-very nice. When did you get yours? I had read on some other forums that results were still a bit mixed, but that was from the initial offering.