Not a trick question... am I fat? Mandarin related

[JJKK]

I have a Reefer 525XL that I have been running with live rocks and a separate sump in the basement for about 10 months. Been seeding lots of pods (Reef Nutrition, Aquarium Depot, Pod Your Reef, etc.) every time those vendors having their buy one get one free. I got 6 bottles last time Reef Nutrition had the sale. I have seen a lot of pods activities at night before I got me a mandarin about 6 weeks ago.

Here he is today. Do you think he is skinny? It is tough for me to tell except I know I can see the line between the top half and the bottom half of the fish. I have seen really plump pics of mandys where you don't see the dividing line. But is mine wasting away? I have seen it eating frozen mysis, but he is outcompeted by all the other fish in the tank (Blue Star, Potter's, Pintail, Melanaurus, Magma Wrasses, Copperband Butterfly, Diamond Goby, Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, Midas Blenny, and Bellus Angel). Also, most of the wrasses and the Copperband are actively eating pods as well.

Please let me know if you think this guy needs a feeding intervention. 6 more packages of pods are coming next week from Aquarium Depot's BOGO sale. Thanks.

 

[Peach02]

What I've found with mine is that the line on their side is the best indicator of their fat reserves. They tend to put weight on starting at their back tail and moving forwards.

It does seem a little underweight but not in danger yet, It might need a intervention as it could be out competed for pods by the wrasse and butterfly

 

[truetricia]

I have a Reefer 525XL that I have been running with live rocks and a separate sump in the basement for about 10 months. Been seeding lots of pods (Reef Nutrition, Aquarium Depot, Pod Your Reef, etc.) every time those vendors having their buy one get one free. I got 6 bottles last time Reef Nutrition had the sale. I have seen a lot of pods activities at night before I got me a mandarin about 6 weeks ago.

Here he is today. Do you think he is skinny? It is tough for me to tell except I know I can see the line between the top half and the bottom half of the fish. I have seen really plump pics of mandys where you don't see the dividing line. But is mine wasting away? I have seen it eating frozen mysis, but he is outcompeted by all the other fish in the tank (Blue Star, Potter's, Pintail, Melanaurus, Magma Wrasses, Copperband Butterfly, Diamond Goby, Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, Midas Blenny, and Bellus Angel). Also, most of the wrasses and the Copperband are actively eating pods as well.

Please let me know if you think this guy needs a feeding intervention. 6 more packages of pods are coming next week from Aquarium Depot's BOGO sale. Thanks.

I saw a post ages ago about a contraption that only allowed small fish inside of it, and it was used to prevent out-competition of food. I know it was specifically used for mandarins, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it, what it was made out of, or anything. I do remember that it vaguely looked similar to a water bottle with a narrow neck that would prevent fish like tangs and large wrasses from getting inside it.

You could also try target feeding him while the other fish are going after free-floating mysis.

 

[TexasTodd]

Not fat, underweight.

 

[c.poindexter]

Looks like you can see the rib lines.

 

[JJKK]

I saw a post ages ago about a contraption that only allowed small fish inside of it, and it was used to prevent out-competition of food. I know it was specifically used for mandarins, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it, what it was made out of, or anything. I do remember that it vaguely looked similar to a water bottle with a narrow neck that would prevent fish like tangs and large wrasses from getting inside it.

You could also try target feeding him while the other fish are going after free-floating mysis.

Hi Tricia,

You may be referring to the Melev's Mandarin Diner: https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/melevs-mandarin-diner
I will probably try something like this as the intervention. The other alternative is to catch him and put him in an acclimation box where he can have all the mysis to himself. I am not sure if the stress of catching him will make him lose his appetite, so the Mandarin Diner may be the way to go.

The other thing is that I do not typically have free floating mysis. I normally put in a frozen cube of mysis or LRS in a Two Little Fishes feeding pouch. That way my Copperband has first dibs with his snout. The other fish are standing by till a couple of minutes later when the cube thaws out in the water. This is also very convenient as I don't have to wait for the cube to thaw. I can toss it in the pouch and go. It has kept my Copperband, another fish that can be outcompeted for food, well fed.

 

[philosophile]

Yeah it is underweight.

Although pods are their natural diet, adding pods to your tank to feed you mandarin is just prohibitively expensive, and not going to work long term. you need a prdu give refugium, lots of DT room for pods, or it needs to eat pellet food or alternative foods.

My suggestion is to supplement pods for now, and start trying to feed it pellet foods, in some kind of mandarin diner (google it) and consider raising white worms to feed your mandarin.

 

[smartwater101]

He's definitely skinny.

About twice a year (maybe three times) I'll buy a couple thousand amphipods from Aquarium Depot to seed the tank. (160g) They absolutely love these things. Both my Mandarin and Saddled scooters have absurd looking fat bellies lol

While I may get smaller things like tisbe copepods... over the last 20 years I've had MUCH more success when with larger Amphipods. They reproduce like crazy so plenty of little ones and even the large chuncky ones will get eaten by scooters.

I'm glad you mentioned they were having a sale 'cause I've been thinking about changing some rockwork out, and I like to get amphipods once I do so.


GL

 

[jsvand5]

Hi Tricia,

You may be referring to the Melev's Mandarin Diner: https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/melevs-mandarin-diner
I will probably try something like this as the intervention. The other alternative is to catch him and put him in an acclimation box where he can have all the mysis to himself. I am not sure if the stress of catching him will make him lose his appetite, so the Mandarin Diner may be the way to go.

The other thing is that I do not typically have free floating mysis. I normally put in a frozen cube of mysis or LRS in a Two Little Fishes feeding pouch. That way my Copperband has first dibs with his snout. The other fish are standing by till a couple of minutes later when the cube thaws out in the water. This is also very convenient as I don't have to wait for the cube to thaw. I can toss it in the pouch and go. It has kept my Copperband, another fish that can be outcompeted for food, well fed.

It’s quite thin. I definitely wouldn’t do the acclimation box idea. Really to survive longterm the pods need to be the primary part of their diet. It’s a nice bonus if they will eat mysis but they need to be able to find food constantly all day long to survive. Do you have room in the back of your tank to add some rubble piles of live rock? That will give the pods an area to reproduce and will hopefully get the population in your tank high enough to fatten the mandarin up.

 

[OrionN]

He is really thin, to the point that I don’t think he will last long.
130 gal tank should be large enough for him unless you have a lot of Mandarin competitors. What other fishes do you have in there?

 

[JJKK]

He is really thin, to the point that I don’t think he will last long.
130 gal tank should be large enough for him unless you have a lot of Mandarin competitors. What other fishes do you have in there?

I too thought he would be okay with the fuge and over 120lb of live rock in DT with the previous pod seeding. Per my OP, the other fishes I have are mostly pod eaters, and that is likely the issue. The fish are Blue Star, Potter's, Pintail, Melanaurus, Magma Wrasses, Copperband Butterfly, Diamond Goby, Whitetail Bristletooth Tang, Midas Blenny, and Bellus Angel.

I do feed pretty often, but I still see all but the Diamond Goby and the Bristletooth Tang picking at rocks and glass. I do still see lots of pods at night. But they may be nocturnal and the Mandarin shuts itself down at night.

 

[OrionN]

I think the wrasses is the problem. They are too fast and also eat about the same thing as Mandarin plus othe food. You can see that they also constantly peck at the rocks.

 

[JJKK]

I think the wrasses is the problem. They are too fast and also eat about the same thing as Mandarin plus othe food. You can see that they also constantly peck at the rocks.

Yup. Also, I was out for 6 days on vacation so I did not feed the tank with any mysis or LRS. I just used an auto feeder with pellets. I did get 6 orders of amphipods from FloridaPets right before that trip. But I am sure the fishes in the tank were foraging to get to their normal fullness.

 

[smartwater101]

Yup. Also, I was out for 6 days on vacation so I did not feed the tank with any mysis or LRS. I just used an auto feeder with pellets. I did get 6 orders of amphipods from FloridaPets right before that trip. But I am sure the fishes in the tank were foraging to get to their normal fullness.

Order something like 6000 amphipods from Aquarium Depot (half price after all)
AND TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF THAT SALE. Put half in the fuge. Then the other half in the display. Maybe even at night after a heavy feeding day, so the pods have a better chance of making a home in the rock. More than enough pod babies for maaaany months to come, even with that livestock.

If you want to try and ween it onto prepared foods, definitely wait and do that later. Get him some amphipods pronto and he'll thank you for it. Easy peasy. GL

 

[JJKK]

Order something like 6000 amphipods from Aquarium Depot (half price after all)
AND TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF THAT SALE. Put half in the fuge. Then the other half in the display. Maybe even at night after a heavy feeding day, so the pods have a better chance of making a home in the rock. More than enough pod babies for months to come, even with that livestock.

If you want to try and ween it onto prepared foods, definitely wait and do that later. Get him some amphipods pronto and he'll thank you for it. Easy peasy. GL

Thanks. Got 6 orders of the BOGO sale on Aquarium Depot yesterday. Unfortunately, they could not ship out yesterday and I am traveling for work early next week. Right now scheduled for delivery on Friday the 30th.

I typically wait till lights are out and all pumps are off before I wedge the filter floss sponge between rocks and such. I normally put 2/3 or 5/6 of the order directly in the DT cause the fuge section of my sump is only about 15 gal.

This guy is already eating mysis. He is just too slow against the other fish. Will intervene with a bottle this weekend with live black worms. He did pick off some mysis from the Two Little Fishes pouch yesterday, but not today. I will see if he will also eat Sustainable Aquatics pellets in a diner.

 

[Proteus Meep]

Frozen Lobster eggs are another food readily eaten by mandarins

 

[GJak]

Any time someone asks if Mandarin is thin someone on here is going to pop up and say he's so thin he's minutes away from dieing lol. He looks fine. If you can watch him and he's picking at the rocks (not just looking at them) he's eating. If the pod picking is few and far between and he has to travel a lot in between finding one, keep seeding the tank until it's constant.

 

[OrionN]

Any time someone asks if Mandarin is thin someone on here is going to pop up and say he's so thin he's minutes away from dieing lol. He looks fine. If you can watch him and he's picking at the rocks (not just looking at them) he's eating. If the pod picking is few and far between and he has to travel a lot in between finding one, keep seeding the tank until it's constant.

@GJak
He is really thin. All skin and bone. Unless JJKK are doing something to get more food to him, he will not last long.
Perhaps you don't know what a healthy Mandarin should look like, he should look like this:

 

[GJak]

@GJak
He is really thin. All skin and bone. Unless JJKK are doing something to get more food to him, he will not last long.
Perhaps you don't know what a healthy Mandarin should look like, he should look like this:

Doesn't look any fatter than OP's pics in my opinion.

 

[OrionN]

Doesn't look any fatter than OP's pics in my opinion.

@GJak
This and this looks the same?????
Sorry but your opinion is in an extreme minority. But you are entitle to your opinion, no mater how pigheaded and wrong it is.