Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log!

[mwp]

Divaman, I think you kinda answered your own question when you refer to your mandarin "destorying" your pod population...what's he gonna eat now???

I'm not sure you need to go all the way back to the "breeder net live brine training method" (page 2 in the first 40 pages of this split thread, half way down the 2nd post) ...if he'll take frozen mysis, well, he'll take frozen mysis and I think the "movement" factor could easily be overcome because the thing SMELLS right and LOOKS right, he may fast for a little while but hunger should get him over the "movement" hump.

I know it sounds scary, but try the feeding station now....he may not "pick up" on it right away, but as long as you don't have other fish that are "pickers" when feeding, the food will just sit there uneaten until he finds it. There's a lot of info on feeding stations for Seahorses, I actually started with Melev's Mandarin Diner method (google it) but found solutions I liked better amoung the seahorse crowd (i.e. I didn't like the jar in any way shape or form, but if you have pickers sharing the tank, you'll need to go the jar route).

Basically, add some food in the morning, and if it's still there in the afternoon, remove it, and add some fresh. Hunger and natural "curiosity" should help him find the feeding station...a few weeks of only finding food there should get him "hooked". From there, simply introduce new foods with existing foods, or try a fast followed by the new food in the familiar setting.

All in all, if your mandarin is eating frozen, I think the hard part is over. Just keep in mind that EVERYTHING with adjusting mandarins seems to be a slow process of weeks or months. I posted a poll somewhere asking how long folks had maintained mandarins...it seemed that for a larger part it was either less than a year or 5 or more. Don't know what their natural lifespans are, but I think I've broken the year mark and then some.

Of course, with all of this comes the caveot of being prepared for an uncooperative mandarin...watch for the telltale signs that problems are arising (i.e. flat or concave belly, that long "Rib spine" starting to show as that protruding bony line running down their laterals etc...

One last thought regarding your intial question - "So from what you said teh only way to keep a pair, letalone two in a small tank, is too feed a lot?" - YES. I'm not happy until my mandarins are FAT like little sausages (someone wrote that about mandarins somewhere and looking at my long-term residents, I'd say that's a GREAT description).

'Nite!

MP

[mwp]

BTW, FWIW, if I had the room, someone a while ago suggested the best way for me to turn a buck on mandarins wasn't breeding them, but probably selling pairs trained onto frozen foods. MAN I WISH I had the facilities to do that...it'd be a REALLY good thing for some WC mandarins that otherwise probably won't last all that long!

Oh well, FWIW, the info is in the thread on how it's done, no secrets there.

(man, I REALLY want to get back to the mandarin babies...heck I'd settle for the Red Scooters!)

MP

[apistomaster]

Hi Matt,
It has been a few months since I last checked in on your progress with the Mandarins but I see that you are dealing with setbacks so likely it will be awhile before you resume trying to get the larvae through the early stages.
Sorry to hear that they jumped out.
Larry Waybright

[mwp]

Well Apisto, the biggest setback is not having the free larval tank to try them in...I think at any moment if I could get the tank free for 2 weeks, I could try getting my crazy copepod / ss rot soup going again, and then try hatching babies from Pair #1 (if they are still spawning). I have to raise clownfish to help pay some bills...that's just the way it goes right now!

But yeah, setback after setback lately. The Seahores/Mandarin tank that houses pair #1 is going through a MAJOR outbreak of ICH. I'm doing all I can short of medicating (as it IS a reef tank) and I may even move some babies around to free up a larval tank to use as a hospital tank. The odd thing to me is that while Female #1 is completely LOADED with ICH (which IS supposed to be highly unusual for Mandarins), Male #1 is entirely clear, not a mark on him.

I'm just totally PO'd at the tank, it's been running fine since it's inception, there were no new introductions that I can readily "Blame" for the outbreak, lost the spare male Barbouri (to be fair I actually put it down, it was on it's way out). Doing massive daily water changes to control the parasite population, the tank has a UV on it, I'm dosing with Marine Max daily (Vitamins and Probiotic Bacteria), I'm dosing with full doses of Novaqua Plus to help with slime coat, I'm dropping the salinty (NOT Hyposalinity, but going for 1.020 ,1.019, however low I can get it without killing the corals to help ease the osmoregulation pressures on the fish), I'm cleaning the prefilter sponges daily (to help remove any parasites that are settling in there). I'm keeping the fish PUMPED full of food, leaning towards selcon enrichment due to increased caloric content, am double dosing Reef Plus (Vitamins / Amino Acids), have done freshwater dips (will probably suck it up and do another round tonight), basically everything I can short of throwing copper or dropping salinity to the point where it'd kill the invertebrate life in the tank.

That's the way it goes sometimes I suppose...January overall has been a BAD month compared to anything I went through in the last year.

FWIW,

Matt

[apistomaster]

I won't go into some disasters of my own but suffice it to say they cost about $1000. Disease caused.
I have a thought, FWIW, the use of NovaAqua may actually inhibit the effectiveness of your medications. The stuff can chelate an awful lot of things so that they become sequestered and ineffective. It's a thought.
I have been raising a lot of Corydoras sterbai to help defray my costs so I definitely understand.
Larry Waybright

[mwp]

Hey Larry, unfortunately I can't use ANY meds...it's a reef tank. Novaqua won't cause any problems, can only help slime coat in my particular case.

Matt

[freaknmetalhead]

Any new updates!! It took me so long to get through the threads!

I myself am experiencing a mating pair of mandarins and am going to try hatching myself even though the results might be few!..

Any information is great!!
Thanks, Mitzzi
Here is a pic of my girl with a big fat belly and getting lots of video!!
http://www.salt-city.org/showthread....0680#post10680

[jacob30]

Matt is no longer on this forum along with many others. They have moved to a new site. What a shame to lose so much knowledge on RC in such a short period. Now I have to go to two sites for info.

Jacob

[abgg118]

Which site have they moved to? Are they continuing with the Mandarin breeding there? Please post an URL if possible.

Thanks

[jacob30]

An URL cannot be posted here.

[OldmillXxX]

Why the move? No announcement? Just leaving us hanging? Does not sound like Matt...

[Fady]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=1

[Kmiec123]

Sorry, but Matt cannot post.

[OldmillXxX]

Wow! Hopefully things can be resolved between all parties and Matt can give us an update on his own.
From a hobby standpoint, he is truly working very hard to do something very few in the world have been able to do. Breeding in the home is truly going to save and accelerate this hobby for years to come. Government regulations on wild fish are going to continue to jump exponentially. That is why I am hooked on RC for all of the good I truly believe it has offered; not just in the hobby, but the ocean's residents worldwide.

[martinphillip03]

Matt, any updates or is this thread dead?

Marty

[BrianD]

The thread starter cannot respond, so I am closing this thread.