mandarin dragonet question

[sparty059]

I just acclimated my mandarin dragonet. I placed him in my refugium and noticed after an hour he's sitting in the corner not moving and his skin looks like it is tight against his body. He looks very pale and isn't moving. Is he stressed, is this normal? What should I do? Please help!

 

[2quills]

Where did you get it from? It's probably already half starved to death. Just let him be for now, and monitor. I assume all of your parameters are in order? You're fuge is full of pods?

 

[sparty059]

Bought him from swf.com and the fuge has pods galore. Water parameters are also doing well. You think he should be ok?

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/385672/mandarin-dragonet-question#post_3383247
Bought him from swf.com and the fuge has pods galore. Water parameters are also doing well. You think he should be ok?
Honestly, the odds probably aren't in it's favor and it's not your fault. The mortality rate of these fish in captivity is pretty high. The Ora bred mandarines are a little bit easier since they've been trained from birth to eat frozen foods. Sometimes it can take many monthes but alot of times then just end up starving to death. Makes me kind of wonder why they were offering these fish for free with a purchase of pods the other day. You've got pods galore, that's about all you can really do other than wait and see. Maybe someone else has some more sugguestions for ya. Good luck with it Spartan. I hope it does well with your system. It may turn out to be ok.

 

[xcali1985]

Sad to say I agree with the other posters. I've had mine for 4 months now I seeded the tank and refuge at night every other week for 3 months before I put him in. Tank is 2 years old also.
You can see if he will accept food. Turn off pumps and see if he'll go for it. As it slowly falls in still water.
Outside of that. Place him in the fuge to see if he will fatten back up a little then place him back in the tank. While he's in the fuge. Seed the tank weekly.

 

[sparty059]

Ok, so this is what I have been reading. I've been doing plenty of research to make sure I know everything before I start to freak out. Mandarin's lose color when they sleep and look near dead as well. It's possible when I was looking at him he was just extremely stressed and that could be why he has lost some of his color. His dorsal fin is laying against his body and his other fins are also closed up which is really leading me to believe he's just stressed from the move right now. As I mentioned before he's currently in the fuge so food is available for him. I don't know what exactly they are supposed to look like when they are "fat" and I don't know if the fish is truly skinny at the moment. The area where the propeller type fins and his pectoral fins meet is where it looks like it might be a bit thin. I can't see any other type of "thinness" in the body aside from the area I mentioned. Last night I took a look at him when the lights on the fuge came on (around 1 in the morning) and he was moving around still low against the ground (I believe they stay against the sand bed for the most part, correct me if I'm wrong) but making an attempt to eat some of the copepods along the glass and along the sand bed. With that being said... MANY of them made their way towards the mid area of the tank and the Mandarin didn't care to go that high up to get them off the glass... do I have to push them down for him or do healthy mandarin's typically eat from top to bottom side to side (no offlimits area)?
Also, I don't have any type of cover for my fuge... are mandarin's known to jump? If they are I will be getting a top on my way home from the office today.
Lastly, I didn't at all think of seeding my DT. Thank you for the idea and I'll be working on that today as well. Any suggestions beyond that?
Thanks all for the comments again!

 

[xcali1985]

A healthy mandarin will find his food. Beware hell probably wipe out your entire pod population in a matter of weeks down there. So once hes back in the tank reseed the fuge. Another thing you can do is tank a filter sponge not the floss but the sponge and place in there. Pods will populate it over a week or so. then place it in the tank and they will populate the tank. I do this probably once a month with a 2x4" sponge. In the fuge for a week. In the tank for 2 days. Rinse in hot water and dry out then again in a few weeks.
If you have decent algae in your fuge they will thrive in there.

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xcali1985 http:///forum/thread/385672/mandarin-dragonet-question#post_3383422
A healthy mandarin will find his food. Beware hell probably wipe out your entire pod population in a matter of weeks down there. So once hes back in the tank reseed the fuge. Another thing you can do is tank a filter sponge not the floss but the sponge and place in there. Pods will populate it over a week or so. then place it in the tank and they will populate the tank. I do this probably once a month with a 2x4" sponge. In the fuge for a week. In the tank for 2 days. Rinse in hot water and dry out then again in a few weeks.
If you have decent algae in your fuge they will thrive in there.
+1
You can alsomake a pod pile in the fuge. You can do it by stacking some rock rubble in order to give the pods a place to reproduce without being eaten by the mandarin. Here's a link of a diy pile. http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f76/diy-pod-condos-92373.html?highlight=pod+condo

 

[sparty059]

 

[sparty059]

This is a picture of the little guy. He seems to be doing better today however he still does not move around much. I'm thinking he might be getting used to everything still. He also keeps his top two fins collapsed quite a bit. I can't recall a time I've seen them up and I watch him quite regularly at the moment. Any thoughts? Think he is too thin or does he look healthy at the moment?

 

[sparty059]

Corey, awesome topic you sent me to! As soon as I read up on it I immediately went to the store and picked up everything I needed. It was an extremely simple project. I'm hoping it works out well for me. i plan to place one in the back on my dt out of sight as well. Thanks!!

 

[sparty059]

 

[sparty059]

Clyde (yes that's his name) is looking good! Thank you everyone for helping out. I'll continue to have more updates

 

[meowzer]

Glad to hear it

 

[2quills]

He looks good, Sparty. Not too skinny or anything. Have you tried offering him any frozen foods yet to see if he'll go for it? The more variety he'll eat the better. Pods aren't their only source of nutritian in the wild.

 

[sparty059]

Corey, I tried to give him some mysis shrimp but the water flow in the refugium pushed it out and he wasn't in any mood to go for it. I'll try tomorrow but thank you for the info again. I was under the impression copepods were all they ate. Mistake averted!

 

[meowzer]

Some will take to frozen foods.....Mine do....

 

[sparty059]

Meowzer I'll trade you ;-) haha. I'll see what I can do. What do you feed yours? Brine and formula?

 

[meowzer]

I use the h20 Frozen foods pro variety pack....My 1st mandarin ate frozen...and my 2nd was too.....LOL..you should seethe LMB go after it...takes it from the feeding tongs too
they also like the scallops I buy

 

[sparty059]

Thanks! I'll see if I can find those. They sell them in stores or online or is it something you put together yourself? Also you feed from tongs? You don't thaw it and rinse it off and feed by just dropping it in from a cup or anything like that?