mandarin food Q

[saltn00b]

hi all, happy holidays and a happy new years to all!
i am now currently quarantining a psychadelic mandarin.
i had a few questions though. A) do mandarins really need quarantining, or can i just pop him in the display? B) how long can they go without food, because i dont think there is much of anything in the quarantine tank for him, though i have seen him occasionally pick up a mysis shrimp. but most importantly, C) my tank is a 75g FOWLR established 9 months now with 100 lbs of LR. however i have only once seen pods, and then never again. i think its pretty clean of pods, unfortunately and have been calling around to find these cheato balls you SWFers have been talking about, and nobody knows what that is, let alone have it in stock. i did recently install a coralife skimmer that im hoping will prove to be a pod breeding ground like some people said, but i have seen nothing yet. so then, where can i order these cheato balls of cope /amphipods to seed my system? any advice will be appreciated! :help:

 

[mitzel]

It doesn't need to be cheeto. most live SALT water plants will prove to be a breeding ground. I have some chelurpa(sp) in my display and the mandarin is always picking around in there.

 

[saltn00b]

i heard that live sw plants quickly become overgrown , and a menace to keep in check ?

 

[mitzel]

Nope not really just need to be pinched back every so offten.

 

[saltn00b]

do pods usually come in on the chulerpa?

 

[saltn00b]

thanks, but what about questions A + B ?

 

[mitzel]

My mandarin was picking in it right away. but the chulurpa I bought came from a huge refugium at the LFS.

 

[saltn00b]

do mandarins need to be quarantined, or do they have a good immune system where that would not be necessary ?

 

[sw-newbe]

I don't think you need to QT Mandarins. I don't think they have scales so Ich isn't an issue. As for your pods, get a red flashlight, like they sell for Astronomy, and look at your tank in the middle of the night. I'd bet your crawling with pods. I know that's the only way I ever see them.

 

[mitzel]

How long have you had it in QT? I didn't QT mine and it was fine. BUt I was lucky with not getting ich up untill my last additions. no I'll never not QT for at least a few days. try feeding it some brine shrimp I've herd about some of them taking it.
Also if your QT has never been treated with copper you can drop in some rock and or plants. although this is JMO

 

[saltn00b]

he has been in the QT for 2 weeks now with a fairly large royal gramma. both doing fine. where do i get a flash light like that? can i just wrap red seran wrap over a flashlight lol ?

 

[reefiness]

tank the mandarin out of the QT. it will die. its not getting enough food in a QT tank. Also i know that Mandarins do have a Slime coating that protects it from ich, so there is no need to quarentine it.
so take the mandarin out of the QT and put him in the Display because i would say that the mandarin hasnt eaten for 2 weeks and is probably really really thin right now.

 

[saltn00b]

i have been watching his body for just that, and althought he is a small guy to begin with, i havent noticed much if any shrinking (of waist size?). like i said, i have been feeding mysis shrimp once a day and i have been seeing him munch one or two up occasionally. but i will transfer him in there tonight. thanks all!!

 

[corally]

Originally Posted by reefiness
tank the mandarin out of the QT. it will die. its not getting enough food in a QT tank. Also i know that Mandarins do have a Slime coating that protects it from ich, so there is no need to quarentine it.
so take the mandarin out of the QT and put him in the Display because i would say that the mandarin hasnt eaten for 2 weeks and is probably really really thin right now.

 

[promisetbg]

There are copepods in a bottle you can buy...just search online or an LFS in your area may carry them.I buy some a few times a year just to re-up my supply,even though I do have a fuge...just for peace of mind.Put some LR rubble piles in the back of your tank if you can't do a refugium and the pods will breed there.Keep feeding him the mysis as well.

 

[sw-newbe]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
he has been in the QT for 2 weeks now with a fairly large royal gramma. both doing fine. where do i get a flash light like that? can i just wrap red seran wrap over a flashlight lol ?
That would work fine

 

[stanlalee]

when do you look for pods? If you cant find a red or infered light you can also go into the tank room about 2 or 3 am in the morning. anytime its been dark for several hours. Flick on the tank lights and watch the live rock. if you have pods they will be scrambling for cover! My tank doesn't look like it has any pods either unless you do that (doesn't even have to be that dark. can turn the tank lights on at 8am same thing) or search with red light. If you've seem them once its likely there are pods in there. I use my Sony video cam with nightshot and nightshot plus on a tripod. Its infered light doesn't appear to shine ANY light on the tank like red light and you can see as clear as daylight (its like looking thru those movies where they have the helmets/glasses and everything looks green).

 

[saltn00b]

aha! i will use my russian submersable nightvision monacle!!!! i cant believe i havent thought to use it before!!!

 

[37g joe]

if you have used any medications in your quarintine tank you dont want to put your mandarin in thir like frogs thier skin ubsorbes cheicals easily so coper based products or some ich cures can cause a lot of problems for him id did not know this and I lost my mandarin after i had a break out of ich also they saposidly have a poisiness muchas membrane that when you see them get frighten by other fish they release but it dosent kill the fish I just think it iritates them but cant say for sure I bet if another fish ate it it would die from the poisin

 

[corally]

I read somewhere before that you are supposed to acclimate the bottle of copepods, how do you do this? Pour the contents of the bottle into a bag and acclimate them the same way you would a fish?