Madarin WILL eat prepared food,OK?

[d-monic]

Hey all... sorry to be pestering w/questions again..i dont wanna get mauled by the madarin police,so if im being a total jerk wad just say so lol

i have always loved mandarins,but of course realized they are so hard to care for,that most likely i could never have one (the whole copepod population thing). Well today at the fish store i noticed a particularly fat mandarin and was oogling it for awhile,and the guy who runs the place *whom ive talked with before alot,very nice and honest guy* told me hed trained the mandarin to eat prepared food, brine etc. i asked him to show me,he proceeded to put in some frozen mysis,and indeed the mandarin ate 3 peices! I was amazed and told them to hold him for me until tommorow....do you think i would be ok? i would make sure i saw him eating again once hes in my tank,and if i noticed it had stopped,i would immediately sell him to someone else with a much more prepared tank...but the chance of a mandarin that can eat prepared foods is so tempting...what would you do? *again if its wrong,just let me know and i wont do it...but i cant help but feel i might be in luck...but am i too optimistic?*

 

[nicetry]

If your lfs guy is a helpful honest guy, ask him to hold the fish for a week. Stop back a few times and watch the fish eat each time, if possible different foods. If you can do this, it might be worth the try.

 

[joojoo]

How big was the mandarin? Many juveniles will pick up on frozen foods for a while and just stop as they mature. Even adults that are eating frozen are not guaranteed to keep accepting frozen. Better safe than sorry.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by joojoo
How big was the mandarin? Many juveniles will pick up on frozen foods for a while and just stop as they mature. Even adults that are eating frozen are not guaranteed to keep accepting frozen. Better safe than sorry.
Hey there! it was big,i would say almost-if not fully grown....thanks much for the advice he definately wasnt a juvie...i def. need to mull it over..i mean id love to give it a shot,because i could easily get him a good home if he stops eating prepared w/me..grrr..im so tempted!!

 

[1journeyman]

It does happen. Just not often enough for people to buy them and cross their fingers.
What other fish are you housing with it? Remember Mandarins can be slow eaters. Other fish can chase them away from food.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
It does happen. Just not often enough for people to buy them and cross their fingers.
What other fish are you housing with it? Remember Mandarins can be slow eaters. Other fish can chase them away from food.
It would be housed in a 65g with a midas blenny,royal gramma and cosmetus wrasse,the wrasse is definately a pig, but i for sure have the patience/time to spot feed, also i was thinking of trying the whole olive-jar thing where only he could get in to the food...that vid someone posted was inspiring!...hmmm though now that i think of it i think the blenny could fit in too...hmmm

 

[quakstar]

I just want to post my personal experience I had a mandarin that ate frozen brine shrimp like a pig and still did not make it more than a month
Also one of the employees at my LFS said she had the same thing that happened one that seemed to be rare and really love frozen brine but still died fairly quick
if i was going to get one I would buy a pack of copepods off of this site atleast help the population begin the bottles on here work wonders

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by D-Monic
It would be housed in a 65g with a midas blenny,royal gramma and cosmetus wrasse,the wrasse is definately a pig, but i for sure have the patience/time to spot feed, also i was thinking of trying the whole olive-jar thing where only he could get in to the food...that vid someone posted was inspiring!...hmmm though now that i think of it i think the blenny could fit in too...hmmm
Another good way to spot feed madarin that will eat prepared foods is to run an airline down inside the aquarium and stick it under a rock poking out in one of the mandarins prefered locations then you take a feeding syring and suck teh mysis shrimp up and inject them through the air line directly to the mandarin, they learn pretty fast that the syringe being prepped means get over to the tube, It can be time consuming getting him used to eating from the tube but it works. another good food for them is sushi roe (flying fish eggs) you can get them at most asian markets. (some times sushi resturants in a pinch)

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Quakstar
I just want to post my personal experience I had a mandarin that ate frozen brine shrimp like a pig and still did not make it more than a month
Also one of the employees at my LFS said she had the same thing that happened one that seemed to be rare and really love frozen brine but still died fairly quick
if i was going to get one I would buy a pack of copepods off of this site atleast help the population begin the bottles on here work wonders
Brine shrimp isnt very nutritious. even when fortified with vitamins they are only as good as the vitamin.

 

[tekdave]

My Mandarin loves Mysis soaked in Xtreme Garlic and Zoe. I do have plenty of pods in my tank so I dont know if she would be ok without them.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by TekDave
My Mandarin loves Mysis soaked in Xtreme Garlic and Zoe. I do have plenty of pods in my tank so I dont know if she would be ok without them.
I was thinking about buying some of that garlic gaurd,one of my LFS is going out of business and everything is half off, perhaps i should go get some!

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
Another good way to spot feed madarin that will eat prepared foods is to run an airline down inside the aquarium and stick it under a rock poking out in one of the mandarins prefered locations then you take a feeding syring and suck teh mysis shrimp up and inject them through the air line directly to the mandarin, they learn pretty fast that the syringe being prepped means get over to the tube, It can be time consuming getting him used to eating from the tube but it works. another good food for them is sushi roe (flying fish eggs) you can get them at most asian markets. (some times sushi resturants in a pinch)
Thanks for that feeding plan! So you put the tube under a rock to feed, do you leave it there all the time?Or do you take it out when your done? *sorry slow learner!! lol* As for the sushi roe,have you tried that yourself? Sounds interesting.... :thinking:

 

[reefkprz]

Leave the tube in so you dont spook him every time feeding time comes around, the rock just hold it in place you can use airline suction cups if you want so the tip is just above the sand (about 1/4 inch). Just squirt some tank water through it when done feeding to make sure there is no food left in the tube to rot. the sushi roe I read about in an article. the author had succesfully kept a mandarine in a 12G cube feeding nothing but roe for over 2 years. (yes I feed it to my fish) and I have yet to meet a fish that wouldnt eat it.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
Leave the tube in so you dont spook him every time feeding time comes around, the rock just hold it in place you can use airline suction cups if you want so the tip is just above the sand (about 1/4 inch). Just squirt some tank water through it when done feeding to make sure there is no food left in the tube to rot. the sushi roe I read about in an article. the author had succesfully kept a mandarine in a 12G cube feeding nothing but roe for over 2 years. (yes I feed it to my fish) and I have yet to meet a fish that wouldnt eat it.
Im definately going to try both of those ideas,im going back to pick her up today and ill make sure to watch her feed again before i say yes about taking her home...lucky for me i know i could sell her quickly if things go bad and she starts not eating for me anymore,so i think its worth a shot!

 

[gubber]

Hey their

It sounds like your going to be a Mandrin owner

Good for you, they are slow eater though. If you can feed the other fish first and then the Mandrin. You can also cut off the pump for just a little bit until she eats. This way the food wont fly away while she's looking at it. I's not that their not hungry, it's just that they can't judge where the food is at when they lunge forward. I've had mine for 3 months now and it's eating brine,blood worms and now I'm feeding it mysis. I've tryed the Copepods but the sixline wrasse ate them all. Good luck and let us know how it go's. I also have noticed that it likes to jump out of the water for no reason. Not often but every now and then I hear a splash. Thank God I have a glass cover.

Let me know how it go's.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by GUBBER
Hey their

It sounds like your going to be a Mandrin owner

Good for you, they are slow eater though. If you can feed the other fish first and then the Mandrin. You can also cut off the pump for just a little bit until she eats. This way the food wont fly away while she's looking at it. I's not that their not hungry, it's just that they can't judge where the food is at when they lunge forward. I've had mine for 3 months now and it's eating brine,blood worms and now I'm feeding it mysis. I've tryed the Copepods but the sixline wrasse ate them all. Good luck and let us know how it go's. I also have noticed that it likes to jump out of the water for no reason. Not often but every now and then I hear a splash. Thank God I have a glass cover.

Let me know how it go's.
Hi there! I will def let everyone know how it goes, im planning on upgrading my tank in the upcoming week as well so im gonna start a diary to show how i do it hehe
Ill def turn off the pumps like you say and make sure the other pigs have eaten first *lol* im also going to try this idea!:
*****NO LINKS PLEASE*********
im gonna buy some live copepods from the LFS then breed them,hopefully to the point where i can put some in there each week, and i also plan on getting a HOB fuge in the not too distant future,will the copepods find their way to it and breed there too? Let me know if you have any more advice!! Thanks much!!

 

[gubber]

Wow, thanks for the web site. It's just what I needed. I'll try again with the copepods.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by GUBBER
Wow, thanks for the web site. It's just what I needed. I'll try again with the copepods.

No prob,i just found it myself,i already bought the tank and pump,gonna buy the rest tonight and hopefully have it set up and goin by tommorow !

 

[pontius]

the fish will very likely change it's behavior when it is placed into a new environment. I bought a mandarin that was eating prepared food at the lfs only to have it starve to death within a month. it is very unlikely that it will survive on frozen food. and the blenny probably won't be too fond of it either, which will further decrease it's chances of survival.

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by Pontius
the fish will very likely change it's behavior when it is placed into a new environment. I bought a mandarin that was eating prepared food at the lfs only to have it starve to death within a month. it is very unlikely that it will survive on frozen food. and the blenny probably won't be too fond of it either, which will further decrease it's chances of survival.
Not exactly what i want to hear but the truth is the truth! I dont want the mandarin to starve of course, but i do plan on keeping an eye on her...if i see that she isnt eating in her new environment within 4 days ill sell her to someone who has tons of pods,i could have her in a great home within one day of putting her up for sale *great saltwater community around here* id really like to give it a try though! Do you think that the breeding copepods idea might help? Id also buy a fuge and put some in there...will they be able to breed and perhaps keep a steady supply going if i were to do that? Let me know what you think,i appreciate your honesty..im very much an animal lover *infact im a vegetarian* so the last thing i want to do is starve the poor little girl to death.