mandarin dragonet

[atoz255]

whats the easiest way to feed a mandarin dragonet in a 55 gal tank filled with 3 damsels, 1 strawberry pseudochromis, 1 yellow tang. also what do they like to eat the best, i try to feed him brine shrimp, flake , kwril, frozen shrimp. any ideas

 

[dave_15]

Hey. I feed mine frozen brineshrimp except for that it eats some of the alge there is on the live rock. I love mandarins! h*

 

[gafish]

I have done quite a bit of research on this subject, and I have found the following, They HAVE to have pods to survive, they will eat brine shrmp but over time they do not get the nutrition they need. They need to be in a tank that has been up and running for at least a year, and the tank needs to have a LOT of live rock at least one pound per gallon the more the better. JMO. I have been reading and gathering information for about two months because I would love to have one but just dont want to risk slowly starving him to death.

 

[dave_15]

I had my mandarin for about 2 years now

 

[puffer32]

Dave, I think you probably have pods in your rockwork and he is eating them, not algae. Congrats on being a successful mandrin owner!

 

[dave_15]

well i havent seen any but thx

 

[mr_bill]

Pods are very very small and usually easiest to see on your glass instead of the rocks them selves unless you have mass amounts of them.

 

[dave_15]

well maybe

 

[oceana]

Originally Posted by DAVE_15
well maybe

yup no maybe about it. if you see your little guy pecking around the rocks alot he sees pods.

 

[dave_15]

ok thankz now i noe

 

[gafish]

I didnt mean to offend you by no means, I was just stating what I have learned by talking to several people and alot of reading. Without pods a Mandarin will eventually die.

 

[jmick]

Brine shrimp alone has no nutritional value (think popcorn of the sea). If you were able to get a mandarin to eat brine and only brine it would slowly starve to death. Dave, it sounds to me as if your mandarin is eating pods off your live rock (it’s always sad when people buy fish without knowing what its need are but at least you’ve been lucky).
In order to meet its dietary needs down the road I highly recommend a refugium where you can grow pods/Mysis.

 

[copperband]

you can get the brine hrip inrichment stuff at a local fish store if u hAVE LIVE ROCK U SHOULD BE OK EVEN IF U DON'T SEE COPEOPODS THE ARE clssified as difficult i tink it is the easyest fish in my tank and i have a chromis

 

[bret61081]

Mine stays pretty fat off the pods in my 55G with 80 Lps of LR...I've only had it since the begining of june, but so farso good. about once a week I go and get brine that I soak overnight in Zoe for the fish too...they all love it including the manderine...such a cute little fish! I wish I had a big enough tank(and enough pods) for 2! hehe