Mandarinfish diet... Will pellet and frozen food provide adequate nutrition?

[Alpha_and_Gec]

I just found out that Biota will sell to individuals, and they produce captive bred mandarinfish, which is said to eat pellet and frozen foods and is independent from copepod and amphipod prey. My question is, will said pellet and frozen foods provide all the necessary nutrients for a mandarin to thrive? Do they need specific amino acids or vitamins from specific organisms that can't be found in frozen foods?

Mandarins that will eat frozen and pellet readily sounds too good to be true.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I just found out that Biota will sell to individuals, and they produce captive bred mandarinfish, which is said to eat pellet and frozen foods and is independent from copepod and amphipod prey. My question is, will said pellet and frozen foods provide all the necessary nutrients for a mandarin to thrive? Do they need specific amino acids or vitamins from specific organisms that can't be found in frozen foods?

Mandarins that will eat frozen and pellet readily sounds too good to be true.

You should always be prepared to have the diet readily available that the fish eat in the wild understandably it’s great if it eats pellets, but if it does not, it will obviously perish

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Do not put a mandarin in a tank that is new just because you think Biota has it eating pellets I have seen many cases more than half of people getting a fish from there saying it’s not eating, frozen or pellets right away but weeks later than it does start within those weeks. If there is no pods, the chance of it not surviving is pretty high.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

You should always be prepared to have the diet readily available that the fish eat in the wild understandably it’s great if it eats pellets, but if it does not, it will obviously perish

Do not put a mandarin in a tank that is new just because you think Biota has it eating pellets I have seen many cases more than half of people getting a fish from there saying it’s not eating, frozen or pellets right away but weeks later than it does start within those weeks. If there is no pods, the chance of it not surviving is pretty high.

yeah, that's why I'm skeptical of those claims... they're predators, if live prey is available(which it is, but in too small a quantity to support a mandarin) they will pursue them, and thus they may revert back to a live - prey only diet. I'm more concerned with the actual nutrients they get from pellet food and frozen food though, and whether they're enough to sustain them.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

yeah, that's why I'm skeptical of those claims... they're predators, if live prey is available(which it is, but in too small a quantity to support a mandarin) they will pursue them, and thus they may revert back to a live - prey only diet. I'm more concerned with the actual nutrients they get from pellet food and frozen food though, and whether they're enough to sustain them.

This fish has a super high metabolism. And this is why it must eat literally all day to survive. I would say yea it could get the proper nutrients from the frozen and the pellet food technically if it could be supplied all thru the day and be available for the mandarin to eat but this will be impossible due to water perimeters mainly nitrate and phosphate getting way out of control so it will be impossible.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I have seen baby brine shrimp hatchery’s used and harvested daily and poured into a feeder that sits at bottom of tank with nylon sock on it to hold baby shrimp in and mandarin can peck at this device to suck shrimp thru nylon sock. But again this would be live food and a whole lot of work and pain in the butt to do daily

 

[14 foot reef]

I just found out that Biota will sell to individuals, and they produce captive bred mandarinfish, which is said to eat pellet and frozen foods and is independent from copepod and amphipod prey. My question is, will said pellet and frozen foods provide all the necessary nutrients for a mandarin to thrive? Do they need specific amino acids or vitamins from specific organisms that can't be found in frozen foods?

Mandarins that will eat frozen and pellet readily sounds too good to be true.

Biota is a really forward thinking and well managed company, I wander if they have a specific food plan for this fish after selling them to the public. Lets let the experts there chime in on this. I have a Halequin Tusk and regal angel form them, and I could not be happier with their growth, health eating habbits and coloration. Biota is truly an A+++ company in our industry.
@Biota_Marine

 

[musaabi]

I’ve had 2 biota captive bred mandarins. The first one I got a couple of years ago and grew eating pods in my tank. Did not care for frozen or pellets. I just ordered another one. They’re tiny, almost the size of a krill, about the size of your thumb nail. I have it in an acclimation box and dried to feed frozen, pellets, as well as Masstick and it hasn’t gone for any of the stuff. I need smaller pellets because of how small it is. I noticed it picking off pods that are on the walls of the acclimation box and it seems active when I also drop on some tiggers.

I have enough pods for it to eat, my issue at this point is its size. I have a blotchy and based on the size, I think it can fit in its mouth, wether it will try to eat it idk.

I also bought a Cuban basslet which is gorgeous. It’s about an inch, inch and half. Tried providing pellets, mysis, and frozen food and it doesn’t go for anything either. Again it’s also sitting in an acclimation box with the mandarin and noticed it will also chase down pods that crawl into the box. My big worry is they’re not getting enough pods. I just hatched baby brine to keep them feed.

I’d recommend getting pods and having them heavily populated that they’re all over the glass and everything else.

 

[musaabi]

also not I’m not saying they WONT eat frozen or pellets. I think they just much prefer live food. Unless you had no pods in your tank at all and all they had was frozen, I’m sure they would eat. But if they have access to live food they will much prefer that over frozen or pellets. Would you rather eat an MRE or a nice fresh hot dinner?

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

I’ve had 2 biota captive bred mandarins. The first one I got a couple of years ago and grew eating pods in my tank. Did not care for frozen or pellets. I just ordered another one. They’re tiny, almost the size of a krill, about the size of your thumb nail. I have it in an acclimation box and dried to feed frozen, pellets, as well as Masstick and it hasn’t gone for any of the stuff. I need smaller pellets because of how small it is. I noticed it picking off pods that are on the walls of the acclimation box and it seems active when I also drop on some tiggers.

I have enough pods for it to eat, my issue at this point is its size. I have a blotchy and based on the size, I think it can fit in its mouth, wether it will try to eat it idk.

I also bought a Cuban basslet which is gorgeous. It’s about an inch, inch and half. Tried providing pellets, mysis, and frozen food and it doesn’t go for anything either. Again it’s also sitting in an acclimation box with the mandarin and noticed it will also chase down pods that crawl into the box. My big worry is they’re not getting enough pods. I just hatched baby brine to keep them feed.

I’d recommend getting pods and having them heavily populated that they’re all over the glass and everything else.

dangit, knew it would be too good to be true lol
Going to be a no - no to any dragonet for at least 3 more years then.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

dangit, knew it would be too good to be true lol
Going to be a no - no to any dragonet for at least 3 more years then.

In my opinion, three years is a long time to wait one thing that I’ll mention that I’ve noticed as part of my success with the mandarins, as I have built an auto growing and daily dosing phyto system. I have found that it’s easier and cheaper to daily dose. Phyto feeding the pods, allowing them to reproduce on their own than it is to buy pods continuously adding them to the tank phyto is easy and cheap to grow and easily manually dosed to a tank or an auto system set up within a couple months your pod population will be out of control.

 

[musaabi]

dangit, knew it would be too good to be true lol
Going to be a no - no to any dragonet for at least 3 more years then.

I wouldn’t say wait three years. Just seed heavily and the pods will grow. It’s also great for your other fish as well as corals and helps with your overall biome. I bought a half gallon from @HankstankXXL750 and they were so heavily concentrated that over night I had pods all over the glass and some I can see in the sand. I’d put a half gallon in, dose phyto to keep them eating and reproducing and avoid cleaning your glass as often(pods eat algae, bacteria, phyto, and detritus.) Usually when mandarins are small they’re not eating as much as when they’re adults.

 

[musaabi]

 

[PotatoPig]

dangit, knew it would be too good to be true lol
Going to be a no - no to any dragonet for at least 3 more years then.

Is this because you won’t have a large tank for 3 years? Or because you’re waiting for the tank to mature?

In terms of tank maturity if you have a refugium set up for pod production then you’re looking at closer to 3-6 months from starting with dry rock and seeding with a bottle of Tisbe pods, maybe less if you start with live rock that’ll bring a mix of pod species with it.

 

[dwest]

I have 2 biota mandarins that I’ve had for about 2 months now. Because of their tiny size, I’ve been growing them out in a 10 gallon quarantine system. There is a piece of liverock and a few pods, but the huge majority of their food is from TDO B2 pellets. They are still small but have grown for sure.

I plan to introduce them into my 180 reef soon.

My opinion (from growing them a relatively very short time) is they can be fed almost exclusively with high quality pellets. But, they would need to be fed often and without competition.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

In my opinion, three years is a long time to wait one thing that I’ll mention that I’ve noticed as part of my success with the mandarins, as I have built an auto growing and daily dosing phyto system. I have found that it’s easier and cheaper to daily dose. Phyto feeding the pods, allowing them to reproduce on their own than it is to buy pods continuously adding them to the tank phyto is easy and cheap to grow and easily manually dosed to a tank or an auto system set up within a couple months your pod population will be out of control.

I have never been able to keep a large population of pods in my system, not sure what’s happening to them but all I’ve got are some that comes up through the sump once in a while or I see one come out of a rock, they don’t seem to be a sufficiently robust prey population, when I pick up a rock they don’t come showering out the bottom.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Is this because you won’t have a large tank for 3 years? Or because you’re waiting for the tank to mature?

In terms of tank maturity if you have a refugium set up for pod production then you’re looking at closer to 3-6 months from starting with dry rock and seeding with a bottle of Tisbe pods, maybe less if you start with live rock that’ll bring a mix of pod species with it.

that’s about how long I’d think I have to wait for my pod population is big enough, now that I’m controlling tank parameters again.

 

[ti_lavender]

I have 2 biota mandarins that I’ve had for about 2 months now. Because of their tiny size, I’ve been growing them out in a 10 gallon quarantine system. There is a piece of liverock and a few pods, but the huge majority of their food is from TDO B2 pellets. They are still small but have grown for sure.

I plan to introduce them into my 180 reef soon.

My opinion (from growing them a relatively very short time) is they can be fed almost exclusively with high quality pellets. But, they would need to be fed often and without competition.

I had a similar experience with mine. I started it in an observation tank and then transferred it to my DT. Then my fish got ich and it's now in my large QT tank with copper power. It's still alive because its been consistently eating pellets. The key is the TDO B2 Pellets. I had trouble getting it to eat until I started those. The other thing is they don't rush to the food. The pellets fall to the bottom where they eventually get picked at by the Mandarin. I think it'll be awhile before he leaves the acclimation box. I feed at least 2 times a day. I setup an autofeeder so that I can feed more often.

 

[Paul B]

IMO pellets are not a proper food for any mandarin and I doubt they will live out their lifespan which seems to be about 10 years on them. They are sort of like a seahorse and need to eat constantly.
Here they are eating new born brine shrimp from a feeder that I invented. These fish are all spawning.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

IMO pellets are not a proper food for any mandarin and I doubt they will live out their lifespan which seems to be about 10 years on them. They are sort of like a seahorse and need to eat constantly.
Here they are eating new born brine shrimp from a feeder that I invented. These fish are all spawning.

There it is I knew I seen this feeder here somewhere