Training a mandarin on live food...

[Dylan]

Hi,
So I have full access to live brine shrimp now, having my own hatchery and a fish store that supplies it. I want to get a mandarin and train it... I do understand it will wipe out my pod population in a couple days, etc.. How likely is it for a mandarin to actually take live brine? Because there's no point in buying one and having it not eat live food...

Thanks!

 

[Pitcom]

Mandarins, (at least all the ones i have owned) go nuts for frozen blood worms. I have never had a problem keeping a mandarin fat. Its comical to watch them eat, it looks like they are sucking up spaghetti. Any time one comes in skinny, my LFS qt;s them in a tank and feeds them blood worms to help them recover.

 

[Dylan]

Really! Do you ever have to get them on live food, or do they just go straight to bloodworms?

And do you target feed them, or just blow the food their way.

 

[Pitcom]

I have never tried to train one on live food. Once in a while i will throw some melanogaster fruit flies into the tank as a treat for the fish. I keep Poison dart frogs and sometimes have too many flies. The mandarins will eat them, but thats the only live food i actually put into the tank. I have had a pair of targets in my 30 cube for 15 months now and they are both fat and happy. I feed them blood woms once a week. They rest they find in the rocks just fine.

 

[Dylan]

That's awesome... I will try and get some bloodworms. Have you ever had a mandarin not take them?

 

[coralfarm123]

A mandarin should love live brine shrimp, but they don't supply much nutrional value unless you gut load them first. Mine likes frozen mysis, which was the first non-live food he started eating. Now that I've had him for over 6 years he has adjusted well, and he'll eat just about anything I put in the tank.

 

[Dylan]

Okay... my LFS has a mandarin that has been in their coral tank for about 6 weeks. It has about 15 pounds (literally) of live rock, so they are pretty sure he's taking the frozen food. It doesn't look very skinny so hopefully I can get him.

 

[subielover]

Do not buy a skinny mandarin to begin with, especially if you plan on putting him into a nano tank. JMO

 

[Dylan]

Sorry, i shouldn't have said "doesn't look very skinny".

I don't see any signs of skinnyness... I've never seen a plump one though. I'll bring live brine to the store and see if it takes it.

 

[kiraburk]

What size tank do you have? I have a good sized mandarin in a 90, and I've had him for a couple months now and he's still the fattest mandarin I've ever seen. He hasn't been eating any frozen foods, I haven't done live brine (not enough nutrition to bother with it IMO). I think to say it'll wipe out your pod population in days really depends on the size of your tank. I'd also recommend putting in a ball of chaeto in your tank. Pods'll thrive in it, so it's a great place for them to repopulate so you can be sure your mandarin's always got some pods to eat.

 

[Dylan]

He is going in a Biocube 29. He should wipe out the pod population in a couple of days. I am only interested in him eating live brine so that I can wean hiim on to frozen... I intend on putting the live brine in a tube and having him eat it from there, and slowly switch it out for frozen. Unless he takes the bloodworms right away. I also have a small basket of chaeto in the display, and I will start dosing phytoplankton soon.

 

[montipora]

Ya I keep one in my BC29 but I never tried feeding frozen foods I culture 2 types of pods and put them in once a week, the corals and him seem to love it!!!

 

[rock_lobster]

I kept mine in a 5 gallon bucket and starved him without pods for about 2weeks until he just finally submitted to eating mysiss and now he doesnt even bother with copepods anymore he loves mysiss frozen or live.

 

[Dylan]

I kept mine in a 5 gallon bucket and starved him without pods for about 2weeks until he just finally submitted to eating mysiss and now he doesnt even bother with copepods anymore he loves mysiss frozen or live.

Oh my gosh. That's horrible.