Mandarin Compatibility

[Dazed1]

Before anyone starts shouting about a mandarins special needs, I do know about that. :) I recently found a mandarin at the LFS which eats frozen brine. I have been going there for the last 3 days and feeding it to make sure it eats every day. They are still going to hold it for me till friday. I am also hatching live baby brine.
Now with that aside, I'd like to know if a Mandarin Dragonete is compatible with the fish I have :
Tomato Clown
Clown Goby
Six Line Wrasse.

I have a little over 75-80lbs of LR, with sand. I bought the tank used, hence it is established and has been running for approx 4 years now.

:)

[hcs3]

IMHO, no. the 6-line wrasse will out compete the dragonette for food. it may even attack it since it is a food competitor.

HTH

[®eef©entral]

I have trained my mandarin to eat dry pellet food after getting tied of frozen blood worm. Now if I could only teach it to sit and roll over

[bob124578]

Yes -- I agree -- the wrasse would outcompete it for food.

Brine shrimp are not a nutritional food either, consider them as potato-chips are for us. You need live pods crawling everywhere. A 46-gal could never sustain two active critter peckers for very long.

But if you want to maximize the number of pods your tank can generate, I suggest placing deep piles of Aruba Shells where you can. You'll be amazed how many will live in the spaces between. Then your six-line will be happy!

On a tangent, I did an internet search for Mandarinfish a while ago and found the majority of the results were sites about cooking them.

[ozadars]

Daze, a mandarin cant live w/ just eating frozen food or brine. He needs pods. I am not saying that like you cant have enough pods if u want u can have but just giving frozen food or brine wont be enough. About pods and tankmates... w/ sixline and a clown goby u can never get enough pods for your mandarin. With these 2 fish u probably dont have any pods in the tank right now or when u add the mand u wont gonna have w/ in few weeks. So u should choose goby + sixline or mandarin... your choise but there are lots of colorful active fish at the pet store which dont have eating problem like grammas or firefish

[Masterofnonsense]

If it eats frozen brine, then it might eat frozen mysis. P.E. mysis is very high in hufas. If you soaked that in some selcon I would think you have a very nutricious food source.

Thoughts?

[Dazed1]

Thanks guys. :)
Today we fed it frozen brine soaked in selcon, and it ate it. We also tried feeding it Brine shrimp plus but it ate none of that.
I will be setting up a 10 Gallon tank just to populate pods.
I know there are a few threads about this, but I can't seem to find them :(

[aqua_obs]

I have a mandarin in a 60 with a 20 gallon sump. He's fat/fit as a fiddle. He eats what he finds in the tank and from time to time I throw in some live Brine Shrimp, which he eats too. I picked him up from the LFS because they couldn't put any fat on him and I had so many pods it looked like a floor of ants! I put in a 6 line and they seemed to do okay together, but the 6 line committed suicide. :( I was bummed. You need to setup that pod tank for certain and gravity feed the pods back into the main tank. You can make a sump arrangement. My current sump has pods galore and it is below the main tank. I think the Mandarin must go out to dinner down there after close.

IMO, do the pod tank and add the shells inside the main tank or a pod sponge and try Mysis. Good luck!

[bob124578]

Dazed, I offer micro-invert kits on eBay check me out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2350942036

And have taken care of some people here on RC, check it iut:


http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=232994

Anyway, I'd be happy to put something together for you. I could give you a few cups of Aruba shells and 100's of live Mysis shrimps and Gammarus shrimps in addition to some smaller critters. I try to offer more diversity of species or greater numbers of critters for the dollar, then IPSF and Inland Aquatics. Although I do think both companies are great. :o)

Let me know if your interested.

[ChaosReefer]

This is a great alternative for pods.

Once you get the mandarin put it in a quarintine by itself. Buy frozen gut loaded brine or plain frozen( u could try cyclop-eeze which is a bit expensive). Dip it in Garlic Extract, Selcon, and ZOE, and the mandarin will not only be getting all the nutritional needs but it will go after it like it was marijuana for fish. After its put in your main tank then youll have to net it to the top of the tank and drop the food into the net but then you can release it. The result is happy long lived mandarins with nice coloration. If you dump enough brine into the tank you wont have to net the mandarin but there is a chance that it might not find the food.

Do all wrasses eat pods??

[Dazed1]

Originally posted by ChaosReefer
This is a great alternative for pods.

Once you get the mandarin put it in a quarintine by itself. Buy frozen gut loaded brine or plain frozen( u could try cyclop-eeze which is a bit expensive). Dip it in Garlic Extract, Selcon, and ZOE, and the mandarin will not only be getting all the nutritional needs but it will go after it like it was marijuana for fish. After its put in your main tank then youll have to net it to the top of the tank and drop the food into the net but then you can release it. The result is happy long lived mandarins with nice coloration. If you dump enough brine into the tank you wont have to net the mandarin but there is a chance that it might not find the food.

Do all wrasses eat pods??

Well, i got the Mandarin. Since it was always eating frozen, its easier to directly put it in the tank. What i do is, soak the food in Garlic and tank water for a short while before feeding.
Turn off all the pumps / Power Heads, locate the mandarin, and drop the food there. It goes after frozen food really well. :)
I've seen that even after i turn on the pumps (usually after about 30 mins), if there is any food lying around, the mandarin eats it. Hence I "over feed" the tank a little bit for a later "mid-night" snack.
The six line I have is very calm compared to other six line's, it hasnt shown any aggression towards the mandarin, and does not snatch food from it, or around it.... yet. ;)

[ChaosReefer]

Its great that you got it with a thirst for frozen foods, but if you have truly studied mandarins you would know that brine shrimp is simply not nutritional enough to keep the mandarin going thats why you dip it in Selcon and ZOE

[Dazed1]

Originally posted by ChaosReefer
Its great that you got it with a thirst for frozen foods, but if you have truly studied mandarins you would know that brine shrimp is simply not nutritional enough to keep the mandarin going thats why you dip it in Selcon and ZOE


Yes, I know about ZOE and Selcon. The LFS didnt have those in stock on sat, hence for a day or so with garlic. :)

[mojodeli]

My mandarin eats cyclopeeze, mysis and selco soaked brine.

[glen talbott]

wow.....i agree the six line will out eat the manderine. i would be afraid of the tomato clown and how aggressive they are for tank space....those fish are mean as hell.....i agree with cyclop..eeeze in your tank, i like the frozen over the dry, put my fish eat the crap out of the stuff, along with my lps corals.... the manderine i think need a good supply of pods....i dont think you can have enough pods in your tank....i do have friends that only feed there manderines frozen brine shrimp, and they have lived for a couple of years....he has three in a 265 gallon tank, i would not try it, but it works for him.....i would be interested in finding out about the aruba shells....inland is a good company, but over priced on there detritus kits, pods, and grammas shrimp.....take care, interesting reading your opinions.....glen talbott

[Dazed1]

Originally posted by glen talbott
wow.....i agree the six line will out eat the manderine. i would be afraid of the tomato clown and how aggressive they are for tank space....those fish are mean as hell.....i agree with cyclop..eeeze in your tank, i like the frozen over the dry, put my fish eat the crap out of the stuff, along with my lps corals.... the manderine i think need a good supply of pods....i dont think you can have enough pods in your tank....i do have friends that only feed there manderines frozen brine shrimp, and they have lived for a couple of years....he has three in a 265 gallon tank, i would not try it, but it works for him.....i would be interested in finding out about the aruba shells....inland is a good company, but over priced on there detritus kits, pods, and grammas shrimp.....take care, interesting reading your opinions.....glen talbott


Well, like I said earlier, when i feed my mandarin, i feed the sixline and tomato clown first. Turn off all the pumps, then locate the mandarin. Drop the food over the mandarin, and it eats it. Since it is usually in the back of the tank, the other fish are in the front. I am starting to cultivate PODS and live Brine. I had the guy from justphish.com over one day and he said the belly of the mandarin doesnt look sunk in. I have to still get selco and cyclopeeze. :)

[Microcosmos]

It looks like you're covering all your bases, Dazed1, and it looks like you're one of the lucky ones that got a dragonet that actually takes prepared foods! I'd do like others have said and vary the diet somewhat whenever possible. I hope it gets all the nutrition it needs from what you feed it and lives a long and happy life.

[Peter Schmiedel]

Originally posted by Masterofnonsense
If it eats frozen brine, then it might eat frozen mysis. P.E. mysis is very high in hufas. If you soaked that in some selcon I would think you have a very nutricious food source.

Thoughts?

How shall a mandarin with his small mouth eat mysis???? This is imposible !!

[Tusken]

I have kept a Mandarin with a 6-line in my 80 g. that has 80 lbs of fiji LR for over a year now. My mandarin only eats pods and has gone from a very skinny and sad looker(when i first got it) to its now pleasently plump state. My observations are that the mandarin eats tiny pods that you can barely even see. While the 6-line may occasionly catch a larger pod.

[Dazed1]

Originally posted by Peter Schmiedel
How shall a mandarin with his small mouth eat mysis???? This is imposible !!


Tried cutting the mysis in smaller pieces ?? And just because it has a small mouth, doesnt mean it can't eat big. :)

[bob124578]

Frozen mysis are big yes -- but live saltwater mysis are the size of a grain of rice at most! They're smaller then adult Gammarus.

[Dazed1]

Its been two weeks since I've had the mandarin. Was able to get a decent pic of if today :
http://www.club3g.com/members/mayurb/nt/mandy1.JPG

[Peter Schmiedel]

Nice shot :)

If I see the lateral line it looks like he could use some more food. Hard to tell on this pic, do you have one where the belly is to see?

[Dazed1]

Originally posted by Peter Schmiedel
Nice shot :)

If I see the lateral line it looks like he could use some more food. Hard to tell on this pic, do you have one where the belly is to see?

Actually, i don't. Its difficult to get it in one place. I had an online vendor over at my place a last week, and said that she is healthy and doesnt have a sunk in belly. :)