Mandarin Dragonet - Spotted and flatworms

socko6774

socko6774

Member
my lfs told me that this little guy will eat copods and flat worms, so i got him.. well for 3 days i have not seen him eat 1 flatworm, as a matter of fact he skips right over them and keeps on moving.
i have a 30 gallon with about as many lb of rock, been up n running for about 7 months. i dont know if i have sufficient copods for him to eat, now that i notice he's not touching the fglat worms, i dont know why i ever listen to the friggin LFS!!!
where can i buy copods to put in my tank ?? i cant find them anywhere???
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
If your tanak does not have a sufficient supply of pods to keepo the madarin going long term my suggestion is try returning it. I can't say they do or don't eat flat worms, but my flatworm population never got smaller when I had one in my larger tank, and he too passed up those flatworms. I just have to belive that flatworms are not a part of his diet or he will only eat them when all other sources of food is gone. Not a good thing. You can buy pods online. IMHO its kind of pricey and what is in a single bottle (150 IIRC) will not last those madarins vert long..perhaps a day or two or three. so its going to be a pretty pricey situation to keep buying food...that they will eat. I think the price was somewhere around $15.00 for a bottle of 150 pods plus overnight shipping....The inability to feed and the lfs refusal to take back this mandarin is how I got it. A person bought it as the tanks first fish and it started ot go downhill fast.....I happened to be at lfs when they tried to get store to take it back, so I took it off their hands. I currently have it in a 10 gal tank that is so packed with cheato / caulerpa and live rock there is little room for that mandarin to go for much of a swim, but he seems to be justcontent and satisfied as its simply loaded with pods so he is one happy camper. Been inthat tank for over a year now, and I hate to move him since he is doing so fine in that setup.
 
socko6774

socko6774

Member
thanks man , i dunno if there gona go with the refund route, but i dont want the little guy to die. ugh, and one in NE pa want a mandrine!??
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
talk to the owners, tell them you are dissapointed with the misinformation and if something isnt done you just might shop somewhere else from now on. losing just5 one marine customer can hurt alot just think about the amount of money you spend there. if they dont go good on it is it really worth shopping there?
you can try feeding him capelin roe (sushi roe) that you can find at aisian markets or maybe buy some from a sushi resturaunt, it might eat it (no gaurantees though)
 
johnny84

johnny84

Member
Originally Posted by socko6774
thanks man , i dunno if there gona go with the refund route, but i dont want the little guy to die. ugh, and one in NE pa want a mandrine!??

Is it a male or female mandarine ?
 
socko6774

socko6774

Member
Originally Posted by Johnny84
Is it a male of female mandarine ?

um i dunno? i didnt flip it over lol...
how can u tell, i'll try n take a pic of it
 
johnny84

johnny84

Member
you dont have to flip it over, a male madarine has a long skinny fin just below its head and before its back.
the males can be distinguished from females by their elongated dorsal spine.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
the lines on the side of its body are signs of starvation, he will die if he cannot find ample food. as I mentioned above sometimes mandarins will eat sushi roe. poor little guy.
 
johnny84

johnny84

Member
I have a green male mandarine, mine eats frozen food so I guess I kinda got lucky but I do know that it also has plenty of pods to eat as well. If a male green and a female spotted can live peacefully together I would be interested in taking her off your hands
 
socko6774

socko6774

Member
Originally Posted by Johnny84
I have a green male mandarine, mine eats frozen food so I guess I kinda got lucky but I do know that it also has plenty of pods to eat as well. If a male green and a female spotted can live peacefully together I would be interested in taking her off your hands

lemme know ASAP, i can meet ya half way
 
socko6774

socko6774

Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
the lines on the side of its body are signs of starvation, he will die if he cannot find ample food. as I mentioned above sometimes mandarins will eat sushi roe. poor little guy.

where can i get it other wise, i live in PA not too many suchi place....i feel horrible now!!
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Johnny84
have you tried the live brine yet? I would try that first.
Live Brine will not keep an animal from starving. Unless they are very freshly hatched or stuffed with nutrient rich food they are nutritionally useless.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Your best bet is to give it to johnny84. It would be much better off if you don't return it to the lfs, it would probably die if he tries to feed it flatworms
I would still let him know what a jerk he is :mad:
 
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