New Mandarin

[Ariel'sMom]

My husband just “surprised “ me with a mandarin goby. While I thanked him for his kindness, I’m also a wreck because I was not prepared for this. It’s too late now to go to LFS for pods. What would you suggest to keep this little beauty alive? My tank is peaceful with happy fish, corals and anemones. Thank you for any advice!

 

[Cell]

Gotta hatch up some baby brine shrimp but it takes a couple days.

 

[forge55b]

Gotta hatch up some baby brine shrimp but it takes a couple days.

With warm enough water 24 hours usually works. But you should have at least some copepods in the tank already. Just may want to seed more.

 

[DaJMasta]

How big is your tank? At over 75G or so with no other major pod eaters it should be fine indefinitely. In the short term, if you train it onto prepared foods, it can still work out fine.

My method has been to confine them to a mesh breeder box and feed some frozen twice a day, removing the old stuff before the next feeding. They usually start eating some within a week and will eat when fed within two, and if it's not already emaciated, it should be able to last that long.

To help things along and help it settle in, you could add a few amphipods to the box from a sump or the like, and while I think it's less common to get them eating pellets, trying a few out could speed the process if they already recognized them.

Artemia nauplii are a good temporary food source in a pinch, with decent eggs you can hatch in less than 24 hours, but while it is easy to do, not having a shrimp hatchery on hand means you've got to wait for shipping or find one elsewhere. Some LFSs have live copepods for sale and those could work, but mandarins will accept live bloodworms (or similar) too - just not sure whether they'll go after them quickly, and the saltwater probably kills them fairly quickly.

 

[Ariel'sMom]

How big is your tank? At over 75G or so with no other major pod eaters it should be fine indefinitely. In the short term, if you train it onto prepared foods, it can still work out fine.

My method has been to confine them to a mesh breeder box and feed some frozen twice a day, removing the old stuff before the next feeding. They usually start eating some within a week and will eat when fed within two, and if it's not already emaciated, it should be able to last that long.

To help things along and help it settle in, you could add a few amphipods to the box from a sump or the like, and while I think it's less common to get them eating pellets, trying a few out could speed the process if they already recognized them.

Artemia nauplii are a good temporary food source in a pinch, with decent eggs you can hatch in less than 24 hours, but while it is easy to do, not having a shrimp hatchery on hand means you've got to wait for shipping or find one elsewhere. Some LFSs have live copepods for sale and those could work, but mandarins will accept live bloodworms (or similar) too - just not sure whether they'll go after them quickly, and the saltwater probably kills them fairly quickly.

Gotta hatch up some baby brine shrimp but it takes a couple days.

Thank you for good information! My LFS opens at 10am and hopefully they have copepods.

 

[Ariel'sMom]

With warm enough water 24 hours usually works. But you should have at least some copepods in the tank already. Just may want to seed more.

Thank you! I hope my LFS will have them in the morning.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

A mandarin will go through a pack of pods in a few days, it’s not sustainable to keep buying them. If you have a small tank or a new tank, then you should return it to the store and trade it for something else.

 

[john92708]

I just flow some brine shrimp egg in a bottle in the sump or back filter if you have an AIO. they'll hatch in 24 hours. look up PaulB mandarin feeder. if you can't create one yet than put the mandarin in a feeder box and put the baby brine shrimp in there. get some TOD pellet, you might be able to train the mandarin to eat that over time. good luck and happy reefing

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I just flow some brine shrimp egg in a bottle in the sump or back filter if you have an AIO. they'll hatch in 24 hours. look up PaulB mandarin feeder. if you can't create one yet than put the mandarin in a feeder box and put the baby brine shrimp in there. get some TOD pellet, you might be able to train the mandarin to eat that over time. good luck and happy reefing

I second TDO. Get some of the smaller size pellets.

 

[littlefoxx]

Dose pods. I dosed pods for a while for my mandarin pair but they are always eating and fat. Dose once a month now just to be safe. Youve got corals and nems so chances are youve got pods. How big is the tank? Nothing to stress out about tonight if its healthy it will be okay until you can get to the store tomorrow