MANDARINS- ANYONE HAVE SUCCESS WITH THEM

dark waters · May 3, 2016

I think they all are violent especially the females.... my 300 can house three because they can claim there own areas.... 75gal is pushing it.

ReeferReefer said:
On a more serious note... get some macro in there ASAP. Local reefers will often give it you for free. It doesn't need to be pretty.

Lol....man please yes it does lol..... I will wait for the type really want..... the Marco is for looks, a place for pods, and to help with nurients.... the tank is not starving for nurients reduction at this point....no rush

dark waters · May 3, 2016

I think they all are violent especially the females.... my 300 can house three because they can claim there own areas.... 75gal is pushing it.

Ninal422 said:
I had an established tank, 2 years, 50lbs live rock. I went through sadly, 4 mandarins before I could train one to eat frozen. They are beautiful fish, I felt like I was killing them when they wouldn't eat. I couldn't keep my copepod population stocked to sustain them and a ruby red dragonet. My Mandy now lives in the seahorse tank with not a lot of rock and is thriving on frozen mysis and brine. He is taking it right from the baster. They are very stubborn eaters but once they do give in to the frozen it's smooth sailing!

I don't know if we are looking at the same mandy but your mandy looks in need of some love..... I'm rooting for it but man It looks like it is starving...

jerseypete · May 13, 2016

the little scotter is doing well. He's getting fat. Eating live brine and mysis now. My pod population is through the roof now. Culturing and dumping them in the tank. I could see the difference in the scooter before he started eating brine or frozen.

dark waters · May 13, 2016

Looking good from what I can tell....I'm not a fan brine...lol because you got the enrich them with vitamins... you can just buy food the naturally has what they need lol.....

jerseypete · May 13, 2016

Brine is just one part of their diet. Also eat mysis. And in my experience mixing mysis with live brine. Will get them to eat mysis. All they have to do is eat I t once and their hooked. The tank has more then enough pods even with 2 wrasse. My mandarin is fat. And the scooter is doing well. When I got him he was skinny. You could see his bone structure. Now he's fattening up. And fill out nice.

dark waters · May 13, 2016

jerseypete said:
Brine is just one part of their diet. Also eat mysis. And in my experience mixing mysis with live brine. Will get them to eat mysis. All they have to do is eat I t once and their hooked. The tank has more then enough pods even with 2 wrasse. My mandarin is fat. And the scooter is doing well. When I got him he was skinny. You could see his bone structure. Now he's fattening up. And fill out nice.

Wow...sorry to hear you bought a unhealthy animal and had to play roulette to see if you could get him fat.... I BOUGHT MINE FAT....HE EATS PODS... FISH EGGS... AND MYSIS... the way it should be in this expensive hobby...people should not expect skinny and starving animals... I make it a habit to watch an animal at least two weeks at the lfs before I buy..... and only buy from places that a guarantee similar to Vivid aquariums...

dark waters · May 13, 2016

dark waters said:
Wow...sorry to hear you bought a unhealthy animal and had to play roulette to see if you could get him fat.... I BOUGHT MINE FAT....HE EATS PODS... FISH EGGS... AND MYSIS... the way it should be in this expensive hobby...people should not except skinny and starving animals... I make it a habit to watch an animal at least two weeks at the lfs before I buy..... and only buy from places that a guarantee similar to Vivid aquariums...

jerseypete · May 13, 2016

dark waters said:
Wow...sorry to hear you bought a unhealthy animal and had to play roulette to see if you could get him fat.... I BOUGHT MINE FAT....HE EATS PODS... FISH EGGS... AND MYSIS... the way it should be in this expensive hobby...people should not expect skinny and starving animals... I make it a habit to watch an animal at least two weeks at the lfs before I buy..... and only buy from places that a guarantee similar to Vivid aquariums...

Wasn't unhealthy. Just most lfs don't have the pod populations or the time to train them to eat mysis. Not really playing roulette as knowing my tank is healthy enough to fatten him up. Sorry uou have to pay so much to have someone else train your fish to eat for you. LOL. $28 for both fish.

dark waters · May 13, 2016

jerseypete said:
Wasn't unhealthy. Just most lfs don't have the pod populations or the time to train them to eat mysis. Not really playing roulette as knowing my tank is healthy enough to fatten him up. Sorry uou have to pay so much to have someone else train your fish to eat for you. LOL. $28 for both fish.

Really dude... you are saying that we are suppose to buy skinny animals... and that is a good deal for both fish ...listen....please private message me...I don't want this post be about who got what better than someone else...

jerseypete · May 13, 2016

dark waters said:
Really dude... you are saying that we are suppose to buy skinny animals... and that is a good deal for both fish ...listen....please private message me...I don't want this post be about who got what better than someone else...

No not really. But you last post seemed to warrant my post. That it. Done.

seattlefishboy · May 13, 2016

jerseypete said:
the little scotter is doing well. He's getting fat. Eating live brine and mysis now. My pod population is through the roof now. Culturing and dumping them in the tank. I could see the difference in the scooter before he started eating brine or frozen.

She

Greenstreet.1 · May 21, 2016

My little reds are still around

Maritimer · May 21, 2016

Coincidentally, just as I'm reading this, I watched my ruby scooter pair rise off the top of a rock, she riding his pelvic fin a few inches from the algal cover . . .

I've seen him court her, flashing the stripes of his dorsal flag, but I'd never seen them make a spawning rise before!

~Bruce

rjl45 · May 21, 2016

Maritimer said:
Coincidentally, just as I'm reading this, I watched my ruby scooter pair rise off the top of a rock, she riding his pelvic fin a few inches from the algal cover . . .

I've seen him court her, flashing the stripes of his dorsal flag, but I'd never seen them make a spawning rise before!

~Bruce

Need to show a photo, or it never happened [emoji6] lol

Jk. That's awesome! Happy little fishes.

Ledreef · May 22, 2016

yes I have 9 for morer than 3 yrs all sound very well for me

Ledreef · May 22, 2016

Doing *

dark waters · May 22, 2016

MOHAWK is doing well... just an update... I got him to finally eat tiny fish eggs that are naturally packed with fats proteins and vitamins... plus he is in pod heaven...

dark waters · May 22, 2016

HEY GUYS....scooters are cool animals but please don't make my post about scooters.... this post needs to stay focused on the hard to adapt mandarins.....thx

Paul B · May 22, 2016

I didn't read al these posts but mandarin problems seem to be a common theme on many forums. I really don't know why there are so many problems with this fish as they are an easy fish to keep and spawn if you just allow them to eat like they were supposed to eat. I also see that so many people spend so much on tiger pods and that is an expensive meal. A healthy mandarin will eat an entire bottle of those in an hour. Brine shrimp eggs are so cheap and easy. I have been spawning mandarins for decades and they just require a little different feeding methods than many fish but I di feed my pipefish, and ruby reds the same way and they are all spawning.
If you just let the mandarins eat natural pods in your tank, and your tank is not old or large, they may live a few years, but they will never be healthy enough to spawn and a healthy mandarin is a spawning mandarin because they spawn constantly. Here is an article I wrote about feeding them.
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/

And a video

Ledreef · May 22, 2016

dark waters said:
HEY GUYS....scooters are cool animals but please don't make my post about scooters.... this post needs to stay focused on the hard to adapt mandarins.....thx

Look inside the little box the mandarin stop feed u will see one