Piggy Mandarin Slowed Down

[Symoluck]

Good morning/afternoon/evening.

I just recently got to the point where I felt my tank had enough of a healthy pod population to temporarily house a mandarin.
That is to say, I am working on putting together a 75 gallon DT + 33 gal sump system, and in the meantime have a fairly established 21 gallon cube AIO. This AIO has all sorts of gubins bolted on to it in addition to the normal filtration, such as a skimmer and a roller, along with a sort of dark refugium in the rear compartment.
This, along with biweekly dosing of three species of pods for the last 3 months, led to the tank being absolutely saturated with them, to the point where the glass looks almost hazy at night with pods.
So I decided to finally get myself a mandarin.
I picked him up from a very reputable store in my area, and he had a slightly sunken tummy, but with all the pods I figured that wouldn't be a problem. The first day and night he was in the tank, all I saw him to was eat. Non-stop pigging out. Since then ( about 2 days later ) I haven't seen him hunting nearly at all. All he's been doing is hanging out in crevasses and moving from place to place to find new spots to hang out in. This worried me a bit given that mandarins are meant to always be on the prowl.
I managed to catch him without too much of a fuss and popped him in a container to inspect. No signs of any sort of injuries, torn fins or illnesses at all, and his belly seemed extremely full. Not swollen or anything, but visibly stuffed.
Has anyone else had something of the sort happen? I had a six-line wrasse do something similar where it got incredibly fat from gorging about 3 days after introduction and didn't want to come out of it's hole for almost a full week, but since dragonet's don't seem to do that at all in anything I've read, I figured I'd ask.
Thanks for any input!

 

[Channas]

Good morning/afternoon/evening.

I just recently got to the point where I felt my tank had enough of a healthy pod population to temporarily house a mandarin.
That is to say, I am working on putting together a 75 gallon DT + 33 gal sump system, and in the meantime have a fairly established 21 gallon cube AIO. This AIO has all sorts of gubins bolted on to it in addition to the normal filtration, such as a skimmer and a roller, along with a sort of dark refugium in the rear compartment.
This, along with biweekly dosing of three species of pods for the last 3 months, led to the tank being absolutely saturated with them, to the point where the glass looks almost hazy at night with pods.
So I decided to finally get myself a mandarin.
I picked him up from a very reputable store in my area, and he had a slightly sunken tummy, but with all the pods I figured that wouldn't be a problem. The first day and night he was in the tank, all I saw him to was eat. Non-stop pigging out. Since then ( about 2 days later ) I haven't seen him hunting nearly at all. All he's been doing is hanging out in crevasses and moving from place to place to find new spots to hang out in. This worried me a bit given that mandarins are meant to always be on the prowl.
I managed to catch him without too much of a fuss and popped him in a container to inspect. No signs of any sort of injuries, torn fins or illnesses at all, and his belly seemed extremely full. Not swollen or anything, but visibly stuffed.
Has anyone else had something of the sort happen? I had a six-line wrasse do something similar where it got incredibly fat from gorging about 3 days after introduction and didn't want to come out of it's hole for almost a full week, but since dragonet's don't seem to do that at all in anything I've read, I figured I'd ask.
Thanks for any input!

Just leave him alone and dont take him out, its very stressful for the Fish, mine do the same after he has gobbled down a few Mysis shrimp, i dont see him for a couple of hours then i see him back plucking pods on the glass and rocks

 

[sgdnycct]

Hmmm you’re right this is not typical behavior for a Mandarin. Not that I’ve seen anyway. It could be that it gorged and is resting. They don’t have stomachs so it could be that it just had to stop and digest for a bit.

 

[Symoluck]

Hmmm you’re right this is not typical behavior for a Mandarin. Not that I’ve seen anyway. It could be that it gorged and is resting. They don’t have stomachs so it could be that it just had to stop and digest for a bit.

I unfortunately had to euthanize the poor fella a few days after the post. He ended belly up floating about midway up that tank unable to turn himself over, swim, eat, or even do much of anything, with a massively distended belly and absolutely gasping. My wrasse started going after him once he was incapacitated so torn fins too. I figure it was some sort of swim bladder issue.

 

[sgdnycct]

Oh no I’m sorry. Poor guy. I’ve never heard of this situation.

I reread your post for hints about what may have happened.

For one, if you saw that it had a sunken belly at the store, that’s a bad sign. Once they start showing signs of starvation or malnutrition they’re could have already collapsed and you wouldn’t be able to save. Sad- many of these fish die because their digestive system is so specific.

You mentioned the six line wrasse. What happened to that fish? If it never recovered you could have an aggression issue in the tank. It’s unusual for any fish to mess with a mandarin but in an enclosed in system it is possible.

I know they are more expensive but I highly recommend a captive bred mandarin. I got a baby pair from Biota and they are doing great. They were small but grew very quickly.

 

[Symoluck]

Oh no I’m sorry. Poor guy. I’ve never heard of this situation.

I reread your post for hints about what may have happened.

For one, if you saw that it had a sunken belly at the store, that’s a bad sign. Once they start showing signs of starvation or malnutrition they’re could have already collapsed and you wouldn’t be able to save. Sad- many of these fish die because their digestive system is so specific.

You mentioned the six line wrasse. What happened to that fish? If it never recovered you could have an aggression issue in the tank. It’s unusual for any fish to mess with a mandarin but in an enclosed in system it is possible.

I know they are more expensive but I highly recommend a captive bred mandarin. I got a baby pair from Biota and they are doing great. They were small but grew very quickly.

The wrasse has been a model citizen with every fish I've had, unless there has been some sort of unusual circumstance that may have stressed the tank. He'd get a little antsy then, but even at that point would never harm a fish, just get extra skittish. There was nothing of note happening in the tank at that point, so he must've just picked on the mandarin because it was an easy get.
As for a captive bred fish, that's what I'm planning on doing for the big tank I'm working on rn.