HEY BYRSELF

get rid of that spotted m,adarin before u kill it there is not even enough live rock for that thing for 2 days of food.some guys cant even keep one with 50-60 pounds of lr....so save a life
 

demosthenes

Active Member
How much LR does he have? Is 125 lbs with a DSB(120 lbs) enough, w/ good pod population good enough to keep one?
 
But manderines dont only live on pods, you can train them to eat live food such as brine, blood, small krill, etc. I have seen a tank at the LFS that had a small 6 gallon nano tank with a spotted manderine, and a small clown, and everytime i go there, the manderine seems healthy. Doesnt matter how much LR you have,it only matters how many pods you have on that LR or, how much food you feed it. Im pretty sure Byrself knows what he is doing. Im glad you want to make sure a fish lives, but how is your filefish doing? Byrself, if you do not think you have enough pods, try to train it to eat live food. Also, kepp this is mind; if you do think you have enough pods, they will run out sooner or later and they cant always multiply when you need them to. Manderines can eat about 200 pods a day, so that supply will go down slowly until there is nothing left.I have no clue how to train you manderin, so keep that in mind. Also, could you please do something for my joe, WORK ON YOUR SPELLING! It just gets really hard to read at times and it is getting anoying. No hard feelings, just i cant read what you are saying. ;)
 

byrself

Member
woah, chill out! what's up with all this, did i miss something??
what am i going to do? take it back to the fish store to be put into a tank with no live rock? i got some pods growing in the next tank over but i haven't figured a good way to move them over.
anyway, why are you yelling at me? some people got worse conditions than me? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />
 
Originally posted by byrself:
<strong>woah, chill out! what's up with all this, did i miss something??
what am i going to do? take it back to the fish store to be put into a tank with no live rock? i got some pods growing in the next tank over but i haven't figured a good way to move them over.
anyway, why are you yelling at me? some people got worse conditions than me? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
I will answer all your questions 1 by 1. What did you miss you say: joe felt needed and wanted to help, but he doesnt know that he makes the matter worse!
What are you going to do you ask: Listen to me!
Take it back to the LFS to die you say: Dont do it!
Anyway, why are you yelling at me you ask/say: Im not, joe is. He is just worried that the fish will die, and now he is trying to help you by making it worse, and then corecting the mistake he made, and will feel sorry.
Remember, im not joe and joe knows some things i dont. Just remember, we all make mistakes, even the sharks and SWF admin.
<img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" />
And also, if you do want to keep this ting alive, you will have to start training it to actually feed prepared food, or else <img src="graemlins//dead.gif" border="0" alt="[dead]" /> The less LR, the less pods. I would say it is doomed if you dont start to get it feeding prepared food. I missed the part where he only had 20 lbs LR, thought he had more like 50 lbs.
Also, trojan, i read in a book once that a manderin in the wild can eat up to 200 pods per day. Now, im not sure if that counts in tanks as well.
 

byrself

Member
i got plenty of pods growing in the next tank over. a 10 gallon with no fish. any helpful suggestions on how to get them from one tank to another? like a pod tank? i've asked questions on here before on this with a couple decent suggestions but nothing seems to work. you got any good suggestions on that? or are you gonna just sit here and criticize me? otherwise you aren't helping anything for the situation.
don't be pissed at me cause i bought a mandarin out of a tank with no, none, zero live rock and it was skinnier than it ever was when i bought it. otherwise it would have stayed there in a bare tank or have been taken home by someone who doesn't even know jack about aquariums. sorry for being human there for a minute. don't blame me, blame the fish store that orders them in droves to pass off for the quick bucks, pity money or otherwise. if i hadn't bought it then someone else would have. so what?
 
TO get pods from one tank to another, thats hard...
Have you tried taking some LR out of your big tank, and then shook it in the small tank so the pods all fall out into the small one? Also, some LFS's i have been selling pods for about $.99 per scoop(50 pods pr scoop). I have been to two LFS's that did that. I have even bought some to put in my tank. Thats the only thing i can think of, my mind is burning from all the thinking i am doing,
 

byrself

Member
hey thanks bob :D
yes, i have tried to move live rock from one tank to the other, but it hasn't seemed to do much. i was even suggested to take a piece of pvc pipe, but it in the tank for a few days, and cup one end with your hand and just pour them out....no luck. i wished i could find a fish store that sells pods. i had made a trip to kenner, la to a fish store (aquatic specialties-nice store) and they had some mandarins in their tank that were fat. i tried to ask him if they fed them anything cause they were so fat, but he was kinda busy and really didn't get around to answering me. he just said they live off of live rock. like he was trying to sell them to me. that's why i rely on you guys for suggestions. i was even told of ipsf.com, that sells them mail order, but that doesn't seem to practical right now. would have to order too many for that. i'm gonna check into some more stores around the area and see if i can buy some. i'll drive out the way if i have to. but regardless, do you really think if i took it back it's gonna fair any better? it's not like it's ever going to be back in the ocean anyway. where it should have been all along. <img src="graemlins//yeahright.gif" border="0" alt="[yeahright]" />
anyway, i got alot of the little spiral pod things all over my glass, and i read that they eat those too. i've been thinking about getting some real live sand and losing the goby, but i don't have a place for him yet. regardless, the mandarin is here to stay for now unless i happen to find someone with a better tank for it. it's teeny tiny anyway (about an inch and a half), so it's been doing okay so far. i'd post a pic but my pic server is down.
anyway. thats all the rambling on i'm gonna do on this. i appreciate your concern joe but i'm stuck with the mandarin for now, and will do whatever is feasable to provide him with a fighting chance. go back and read the "how many have died in your hands" thread and you'll see i'm not as big a murderer than some of you all are (sorry you all). why pick out me? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />
also joe, why you didn't answer to "how many have died....?" <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" />
 

old hermit

Member
isnt that kind of rude to make a topic to bash someone for the fish he bought? maybe you should have told him something to help the problem instead of make a big deal out of it like he is a cold blooded killer. anyway you could get several small pices of lr and throw it in the 10 gal. wait a few days and take a few out and put them in the 20 gal. you could do that maybe once a week and still keep some pods in the 10 gal breeding. if all else fails and the mandarin gets pretty bad looking then maybe throw him in the 10 gal for a little bit until he gets a belly full of pods. :D i have never tried any of this so it may not work im just trying to help.
 

byrself

Member
thanks old hermit :)
i asked about moving it from one tank to the next, and was just wanting to wait awhile so not to stress it out too much. i also got rid of damsels and wanted to wait over 30 days for any dormant ich that might be left in the tank. all i have are inverts in this tank. i guess i'll try to move it if it comes down to it. i gotta get rid of my urchin first before any live rock goes in that tank. actually that's where the pods came from. a small piece i put in there and the urchin ate all the coralline, so i moved it back to the other after about a week. then all the "bugs" came out of nowhere! i just wished they would have hatched like that in the main tank. unless i am filtering them out, which has been a concern also. i got a way oversized filter on my 20. it's for up to a 100 gallon tank. that's why i want my next tank to include a refugium. trying to plan it out now so it will work like i want it to.
thanks to all for your help. suggestions are appreciated. :)
 

old hermit

Member
just throw some more small pices in there and you will have a pod farm in no time. i have 5 lbs in my refugium and they are all over the place. try some calerpa in your 10 gal as well that will give them some breeding area as well.
 

byrself

Member
cool thanks, i got some caulerpa looking stuff (not sure exactly what type) growing on my live rock, and was gonna use that for my refugium. i have a post on here about it with a pic but my pic server is down (dammit!). i'd like to know exactly what it is. thanks for the input though. i've been trying to vision what all i need and it keeps adding up!=) thanks dude, as soon as the urchin is out i was gonna add more rock so i could use it as a curing tank for the new setup (whenever it comes around). i did put a big ole piece of dead coral to give some area for my starfish to hide from my urchin, whose tried to make a meal out of it lately. i hope that helps the pods as well.
:)
 

fshhub

Active Member
training mandarins to eat other foods is NOT easy, sometimes it can be accomplished, SOMETIMES
here is another suggestion, put a sponge in the tank with the heavy pod pop for a couple of days(you can hide it behinc the rock if you like), then moveit to the tank with the mandarin, and then use another and rotate them, that is a good way to move some
HTH
 

fshhub

Active Member
if you put it nest to the rock, they will come, and also the food in the water will get caught in case they need some attractant
 

old hermit

Member
if your talking about a regular household sponge then read all fine print carefully. some put antibacterial things on them. i killed everything in a freshwater tank a few years back due to that. <img src="graemlins//freak.gif" border="0" alt="[freak]" /> <img src="graemlins//bah.gif" border="0" alt="[bah]" />
 

byrself

Member
cool thanks, i'm gonna try that. i also got another idea in mind i'm gonna do tomorrow. i'll post some results when i get some. thanks for the input fshhub.=)
 

fshhub

Active Member
sorry, get some filter sponge, it is cheap and reef safe, anyhow it was just a suggestion
hope it works fine
 

susiepan

Member
Byrself,
Hi, its Susie....Try the LR switch, I know in my LR, even when I take it out to re-arrange, or do 50 percent water changes (only when necessary) I have a ton of them swimming around...They definately are not the easiest things to see...I had two Mandarins, Lost the female :( , and a Scooter Blenny, and they are fat little suckers now, I'm happy to say...But I do agree that it is VERY HARD to train these fish to eat FLAKE, if not damn near impossible...I was lucky, mine will eat frozen, but that is NOT the norm at all..The bunch of us that do have Frozen or flake eating Mandarins, or Blenny's are few compared to those whos fish wont..It is not that easy to "train" the fish, before it dies of starvation...and it sounds like yours has plumped up a bit since you got it :) Good for You, (and him)
And honestly no offense BOB, try and chill about peoples spelling, it really wasnt all that bad, not bad enough that you couldnt read it, just IMO, it kinda makes you sound a bit snobish..And I'm not saying that because I agreed with him bashing Byrself, You kind of sounded off because he bashed, but then so did you..Some people just do not spell that well...Anyway, Good Luck with the little guy, and I forgot, there are some places online that sell Copepods too..
~Susie ;)
 
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