terasparrow
Member
I always wanted a mandarin goby, even though I knew they rarely survive in captivity, since they often refuse to eat anything but live food. When I decided to buy one, my fish store guy told me to come back in a week and see if the mandarins he just got in would survive. I did as he advised, even though I knew It would take longer than a week for the mandarin to starve to death. So I went back the next week and purchased the brightest, healthiest looking male mandarin. At first he wouldnt even look at the food I was giving him (brine shrimp, flake, mysid shrimp, plankton), for atleast a week he would just hop around searching for pods in the sand and LR. I read somewhere that the 3 reasons fish are picky eaters are 1.) the fish doesnt recognize the source as food visually 2.) the fish doesnt recognize the smell and 3.) the fish is a visual hunter(meaning it needs to see movement).
I tried many different pittiful attempts to get him to eat, I even tried tying a single shrimp to fishing line and dangling in front of him..pathetic I know...I eventually noticed him accepting the brine shrimp that I gentlely injected into the sand. I used a small baster to squirt shallowly into the sand bed, so that a portion of the shrimp was exposed. I noticed the mandarin eating the shrimp from that area, and often searching the injection area when he was hungary. After getting the mandarin to accept the food once, he has readily accepted brines, and is now eating mysid shrimp as well. I used to have to inject the sand but now he snatches his food like everyone else, I still squirt shrimp near the sand every once and a while, since mandarins are such slow moving little guys I want to make sure he gets his share.
I Hope others can have as much success as I have with my little mandarin
Tera
I tried many different pittiful attempts to get him to eat, I even tried tying a single shrimp to fishing line and dangling in front of him..pathetic I know...I eventually noticed him accepting the brine shrimp that I gentlely injected into the sand. I used a small baster to squirt shallowly into the sand bed, so that a portion of the shrimp was exposed. I noticed the mandarin eating the shrimp from that area, and often searching the injection area when he was hungary. After getting the mandarin to accept the food once, he has readily accepted brines, and is now eating mysid shrimp as well. I used to have to inject the sand but now he snatches his food like everyone else, I still squirt shrimp near the sand every once and a while, since mandarins are such slow moving little guys I want to make sure he gets his share.
I Hope others can have as much success as I have with my little mandarin
Tera
