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Mandarin Fish Special Nutritional Requirements

By Bang Guy.

 

The success rate in keeping Mandarin/Dragonettes fish with small tanks and new setups is dismal. Copepods, Amphipods, and smallish Isopods are only usually available for Mandarins in established tanks. Refugiums help a lot as far as growing critters to feed Dragonettes.

 

mandarin fish.jpg

 


There are no sure fire frozen foods for Dragonettes. Once in a while one can be trained to eat frozen foods but it's not all that common.

Brine Shrimp are not an acceptable substitute. Dragonettes will eat them but they are nutritionally deficient. Frozen Mysis would be a great alternative if you can get one to eat it.

I would recommend that you assume a Dragonette will not eat frozen food unless you witness it yourself.

It typically takes 3 - 6 months for a Mandarin to die of malnutrition from inappropriate foods. Typically the clock starts ticking the day they are removed from the wild.

Comments (21)

RPMx Images 1/31/11 at 10:35pm
I waited for a Year, In a 40gal Sea Clear Tall Tank, with three inches of Live Sand and Lots of Live rock and Live Branch Rock. With fish only, Bought a Red Dragonett and he is doing Great. Add live Copepods about 1000 for times a Year at night.. Thats what I found to make this cool Dragonett happy...  It takes a well season tank, to keep this guys alive....
Cynthia 3/31/11 at 11:42am
Psych-cyd - I have a 90 gal. tank for over a year. Was breeding cope-pods in refugium. Bought a Mandarin and he was doing great for about two months and disappeared. I figure he died and the crabs or shrimp got him. The cope-pods made a mess out of my tank.
saltaquarium 4/24/11 at 8:39pm
What a lovely photo. I'm too inexpert to even think of raising such a sensitive fish, but maybe some day soon I'll be able to get a Mandarin - and keep it. Sorry to hear of yours, Cynthia.
morayeelkeeper 5/28/11 at 9:34pm
This was the first fish I got four years ago when my tank first cycled because it was free I still got him so either I did something right or mines just badass
coral guy 6/24/11 at 12:22pm
mine was my 2nd fish lived for 3 years i trained it eat frozen
multihulls 7/2/11 at 3:50am
Beautiful shot..it is rare to get such a great shot.
Lagoon Catamarans
Hendrickgoby 7/23/11 at 8:10pm
Mine eat mysis shrimp along with some copepods :)
Calen45 8/2/11 at 11:29pm
Awesome!!
First time watching such a clear and beautiful photograph.
next day delivery
Iowasteve 8/4/11 at 7:43am
Have you all seen the captive bred mandrins? there supposed to be raised on frozen food and accept it regularly... May put such a beautiful fish in my reach!!!!
seahorse5 8/29/11 at 12:00am
Mine eats the New Life Spectrum Marine Life Formula small pellets; every day he comes out and starts picking them up (at least until my tank electrocution :(
.
Hapalochlaena 10/30/11 at 7:13pm
Mine eats live and frozen blood worms, all i have to do is cut them up for him because he's still very young. He loves them, although i'm trying some frozen mysis shrimp on tuesday and hopefully it goes well. Although mine is the spotted mandarin, from what i've heard the only difference is that mandarins don't need to be fed daily....correct me if i'm wrong.
Ffishter 12/16/11 at 5:35pm
I have a target mandarin. Anybody know if it is okay to put this red mandarin with the target mandarin? I have a 250 gallon tank. Lots of rock in it too. I don't want them to fight....do they do well with each other?
Ffishter 12/20/11 at 1:08pm
Okay, so I went and checked with my local fish store and they advise me that it should be okay to put the two together, but to keep a close eye on them. Wish me luck.
Fish Fanatic 12/22/11 at 4:33pm
Good luck! I have three mandarins in a 300 gallon aquarium and they do fine. One of them even eats live food..
Deton8it 12/23/11 at 2:05pm
I have a Target Mandarin that has been in my tank for about 10 months now. I got her for free from a friend that was convinced that she was the reason all of his fish were dying. Its funny to think that he was convinced that such a peaceful little fish was killing all of his other fish. She pics at the rocks and sand all day long and occasionally will eat frozen food when I feed the rest of the tank.
Sasha 12/25/11 at 4:49pm
I got a mated pair of mandarines about 3 months ago. I have a well established tank with lots of pods that i keep adding to. The Mandarines so far seem to be doing quite well, and have grown conciderably since i got them. So far, so good.
Deton8it 1/4/12 at 3:52pm
I guess I spoke too soon. I lost 2 fish in 2 days. One was my Mandarin...Sad face
saltwatershamie 2/6/12 at 2:29am
i lost all my fish a porcupine puffer and five damsels and three seabay nemos =~((
JROD60647 2/18/12 at 8:17am
Can i add this fish with tangs in my tank? I have a sohl tang and another one. I have a 240gal with alot of pods and alot of live rock and live corals?
Deton8it 2/19/12 at 5:43am
Mine lived peacefully with 3 tangs in the tank. They are small fish that wont harass anyone but are easily harassed by everyone. As long as the mandarin doesn't get picked on and has lots of live food it should be fine.
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