feeding mandarin goby

[mismodliz]

We've had a mandarin goby for about 7 or so months now, and he's doing wonderfully. When we purchased him, they told us to feed him frozen brine shrimp - so we do, in cubes.
From what I'm reading here, though, that should not be a part of his staple diet. The owner at a new aquarium shop in town told us we'd have to switch up soon, also. What else should we be giving him?
He picks around on the live rock, also. In the tank with him are a scooter bleny, watchman goby (new), emerald crab, hermit crabs, and a coral banded shrimp.
Thanks for any info you can offer.

 

[rossv]

The mandarin eats pods from the sand/rock all day long. Many people have a hard time keeping one because it it hard to supply them with enough live food. my suggestion would be to get a refugeum. You can use it to grow pods and harvest macroalgae. Also, i would get rid of the scooter blenny becuase it competes with the mandarin for food. A 30 gallon tank is pretty small for a mandarin. How many lbs of live rock do you have?

 

[mismodliz]

I couldn't give you a decent guess - it's actually my s/o's tank. I've recently started taking a more active role in it, so I'm trying to submerse myself in knowledge.
I would guess maybe 40ish pounds, but I'm really bad at that stuff - I'll see if he knows. We also have live sand.
We've had the blenny longer than the goby. They both really seem to be thriving in the tank. Now that I have read a lot of posts here, though, I see why many of the big hobbyists in town have been surprised at our ability to keep them going for so long.

 

[mismodliz]

oops, forgot to ask...what is a refugeum?
Is that something we can set up in another tank? We have a 10 gal fw tank that we have been wanting to switch over to something useful for the sw tank.

 

[mismodliz]

how would we go about setting one up?
If you know of a previous post that would help, you can point me there... or you can e-mail me a link to a site that describes it, also, since you can't post links here.
Just grateful for any info... thanks!

 

[razoreqx]

Originally posted by mismodliz
how would we go about setting one up?
If you know of a previous post that would help, you can point me there... or you can e-mail me a link to a site that describes it, also, since you can't post links here.
Just grateful for any info... thanks!

Here is a design I came up with.. Its a Wet/dry and fuge setup.
HTH

 

[rossv]

if you search for DIY refugeum there should be many different types you could make. Until then, comme you might consider adding something to the frozen brine to make it more nutrtous or make your own brine shrimp to feed them. I can remember what its called that you add to it... selcon maybe???

 

[007]

I must be reading this incorrectly, but it seems to me that you state that your mandarin is eating brine shrimp that you feed. Is this correct? What about the scooter blenny? Does it eat the brine shrimp as well?
If this is the case then keep doing what you are doing . . . and based on the fact that you have kept it alive in a 30 gallon tank for 7 months I assume that it is in fact eating prepared foods.
True that a diet of strictly brine shrimp is not ideal, but with a mandarin, just getting it to eat frozen foods is fantastic. Try supplementing with cyclo-peeze. Chances are good that itf it eats the frozen brine it will also take to the cyclo-peeze.

 

[mismodliz]

Yes, the mandarin and the scooter blenny both eat the brine shrimp we give them - they took to it from the start. I never knew that people had trouble getting them to eat prepared foods.
I will look for the cyclo-peeze, though, and add it to their diet. Anything that increases nutrition levels is good for me!
(They both pick around a lot on the live rock during the day, also).

 

[007]

Keep doing what you are doing then! You are obviously doing something right here.
I think . . . not sure, but I think that there are supplements that you can soak food in prior to feeding. You could look into that as well to provide more nutrition for your fish. But definitely look into the cyclopeeze as well.

 

[dirtj]

I have a kept a spotted mandarin in my 15g for several months now. He is the only type fish i have, though, that feds on pods . When i was deciding on him, my lfs told me about cyclop-eeze. They began carrying it beacuse people wanted to keep mandarins, and not see them slowly starve. I purchased him and the food, and he has been doing fine since. I also have alot of liverock that he picks at constantly, and just recently i set-up a small 5g refugium to help with the pod population.
I would definatley recommend the cyclopeeze (it is in about 8" long red bars). I have read somewhere that frozen brine shrimp has little nutrientional value, so thats anonther incentive to change. I just hope he will accept a different diet.

 

[steel]

Try some ZOE I put all my food in it all my fish love it dont ask me y but they do but it is a good additive and has the trace elements that frozen foods loose