Mandarin Gobie

kitty

kitty

Member
:) What do I feed a Mandarin Gobie? I just got him and the guy at ***** said he would eat the granular food I feed my damsels and clown. Not! Any suggestions? I also feed Kent Micro vert. I have shrooms, several small feather dusters, about 20 lbs of LR, turbo snails(?), 4 damsels, 1 clown, 1 shrimp, 1 hermit, light to moderate algae, in a 75 gal.
 
D

daniel411

Guest
They mostly eat pods. Sadly, they "normally" only thrive in mature systems with lots and lots of live rock. 100 pounds of quality live rock is commonly called the minimum to support a self-sustaining pod population. In rare circumstances, and I do mean rare, they may switch over to thawed froze food.... rare circumstances though. As well as long term survival being low in those cases, to my knowledge.
Welcome to the board though.
 
phishy

phishy

Member
Welcome to the board...
Sorry to hear you were mislead...
I would suggest you return the fish to *****, as it appears you haven't had the chance to fully research this very difficult fish. Next I would suggest you do as much research as you can on this fish (or any other before you purchase it) as you can.
As stated before, you need a mature tank with lots of pods and ~100lbs of live rock for this fish to survive. You will hear stories (even from people on this board) that you don't need the LR or that the mandarin eats regular food, but this is the exception...not the rule.
Good luck...
 
kitty

kitty

Member
:thinking: I've been wanting more live rock anyway. If I get more, what's the most you would introduce at one time? Can I get enough soon enough to keep him alive long enough to establish a viable balance?
Also, now that I think about how heavy the stuff is, I probably have closer to 50 lbs already. The formation is roughly pyramid shaped, 2 ft long, 1 ft deep and 16-18 inches high. How do I get the pods started in what I have?:nervous:
About the guy at *****, :mad: don't tempt me!!!
I do have some frozen brine I can try him on in the mean time.
You guys cross your fingers for me. I would really like to keep the little guy.
 
lovethesea

lovethesea

Active Member
At least you know to come here first. We always want whats best for the fish and so do you. *****/some LFS want $$$.
How old is your tank? Get as much rock as you can. Maybe you will have enough pods for now if your tank and rock is mature enough.
These fish usually need about 1 year mature tank and about 100 # LR as stated.
Welcome
 
razoreqx

razoreqx

Active Member

Originally posted by Kitty
:) What do I feed a Mandarin Gobie? I just got him and the guy at ***** said he would eat the granular food I feed my damsels and clown. Not! Any suggestions? I also feed Kent Micro vert. I have shrooms, several small feather dusters, about 20 lbs of LR, turbo snails(?), 4 damsels, 1 clown, 1 shrimp, 1 hermit, light to moderate algae, in a 75 gal.

If your lucky he might eat frozen brine shrimp. You'll have to test that out..
 
misskitty

misskitty

Member
Well I would hand or spot feed him a frozzen cube or big dried shrimp. As for LR.. thats a MUST! Gobies need loads of hidding places..I mean LOADS. Well I hope you have luck in your goby quest..they can be devilish lil buggers
Moshie moshie
Miss. Kitty
 
kitty

kitty

Member
Thanks for the encouragement. "My" tank is about 7 months old, but I got the LR and ~50 gal of water from my stepdaughter who had had it set up at her place about 6 months. I don't know how that counts agewise. The rock was mostly white "b/c she hadn't 'fed' it in a while"(?), but it bloomed right back out in a little over a week. (Lots of foraminiferans, calc. algae).
I have gotten 2 new small pieces of LR, one with the shrooms on it and one with up to about a dozen small dusters - probably 4 or 5 pounds worth of rock.
:confused: But how do I know if I have pods in my LR? Are there any indicators I can look for?
PS - I've gotten more help here (and other threads) today than I have gotten everywhere else in 7 months!
 
belothsurf

belothsurf

Member
search ---- and you may find some pod packages, although it will probably include macroalgae, which is good for a fuge. Just a thought.
 
belothsurf

belothsurf

Member

Originally posted by Kitty
Thanks for the encouragement. "My" tank is about 7 months old, but I got the LR and ~50 gal of water from my stepdaughter who had had it set up at her place about 6 months. I don't know how that counts agewise. The rock was mostly white "b/c she hadn't 'fed' it in a while"(?), but it bloomed right back out in a little over a week. (Lots of foraminiferans, calc. algae).
I have gotten 2 new small pieces of LR, one with the shrooms on it and one with up to about a dozen small dusters - probably 4 or 5 pounds worth of rock.
:confused: But how do I know if I have pods in my LR? Are there any indicators I can look for?
PS - I've gotten more help here (and other threads) today than I have gotten everywhere else in 7 months!
if you have live rock, you have pods, it just may takes some time to develop a healthy population. You will "know" you have pods when you can see tiny white bugs scurrying around the rock, I first noticed them on a dead crab. After several months of my tank maturing, I see them everywhere. The package I got off ----, I put into a refugium, and some of those are easily a half inch long. They look like mini shrimp.........:notsure: and I shall call them "mini-shrimp"....sorry...reminded me of "Austin Powers".................
..........HTH
 
chris17

chris17

Member
:nervous: If you have pods you will for sure know it. I have had my 30 gal set up for about a month and they are everywhere. the best way to see them is to take a flashlight , ( after the tank lights are out ) and shine it at the live rock and just watch for a min or 2. look on the glass of the tank and anywhere else u can think of ........ they are there .... just look at the same spot for a min or 2 ...... I cant beleive the guy at the petstore said that!!!!!!! what a morron.
 
elfdoctors

elfdoctors

Active Member
I have read that only 1 mandarin in 10 will take to eating brine shrimp. Unfortunately, brine isn't particularly nutritious so the live rock with lots of pods is still recommended.
 
kittykitty

kittykitty

Member

Originally posted by belothsurf
They look like mini shrimp.........:notsure: and I shall call them "mini-shrimp

"I will call him squishy, and he will be mine, and he will be my squishy"
 
misskitty

misskitty

Member
:happy:
HI Kitty and KittyKitty ! I am Miss. Kitty
Now I have a felling this will get confusing..:happyfish :joy: :joy: :jumping: :jumping: :joy: :joy:
 
klearstar

klearstar

Member
Kitty,
My mandarin is doing well with about 60 to 70 lbs of live rock. I've heard that a food called Cyclop-eeze works for them as a supplement to pods. I also feed mine frozen mysis shrimp that he likes. However most say that this is the exception and not the rule as most mandarins will not eat frozen foods. He pecks at all the live rock all day but I felt that supplying an additional foodstuff could not hurt. Just my opinion. Good luck.:)
 
blackomne

blackomne

Member
Mandain gobie use bloodworms or mysis shrimp. Brine tastes like cardboard to them I am told. Might need to tempt him in to eating it. I would try a little bit to see if he is tempted. As for pods they are white little critters no bigger than a grain of salt swimming around. Look around the substrate you might spot them.
 
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