mandirin goby being LAZY

duhwun

duhwun

Member
help me, i just bought a mandirin goby and had it for three days so far. when i first bought it, it seem to be doing fine. it swam around and explored the tank. but recently i just sits on the bottom of the cave and wont come out, i swear its been under that cave for like 2 days straight. im afraid it will die if i doesn't come out anytime soon. wat can i do !!!
 
pallan

pallan

Member
looking at some of your other posts i see that this tank is only about 3 months old. the Mandarin needs a well established tank to survive. with i think ive heard at least 100 pounds or so of live rock in order for enough copepods to populate the aquarium.
some may eat regular fish food but i think more often than not ive heard they will starve in a new set up.
My advice is return him to the LFS and chew them out for selling it to you.
the only reason i know this is i SOOOOOO want one but do not have a refugium nor near the live rock i would need to keep one. I was soo bummed when i started researching and found that out.
Good Luck.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Pallan is right. Mandarins need 100 lbs or more of LR and a tank that is at least a year old to survive. VERY FEW mandarins will accept brine shrimp but even those that do will die of malnutrition because brine has zero nutrients unless it is newly hatched.
 
cabin7882

cabin7882

Member
I have a mandarin in a new tank cause I didn't know any better and have been feeding it frozen brine shrimp he seems to be doing ok I have live sand but no LR. I have had him for about a month or so do you think he'll eventually die? There is brown stuff on the sand will he eat that? I have seen him eat the shrimp should I try something else? I'm unsure about adding live rock it seems to be alot more work than I want or need, u know.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Yes he WILL eventually die, he will slowly starve to death.
You have to have at least 100 lbs of LR for him and an established tank. Brine shrimp has no nutritional value. He will not eat the brown stuff on the sand.He needs pods, unless you can get him to eat mysis shrimp (the chances of that are about 1 percent) he is going to die. Please take him back.
Research, research,research before you buy! :joy:
 
cabin7882

cabin7882

Member
I have found some bottled live copepods I'll try that. What do you think ever heard of such a thing? And by the way I would never want to kill a fish but the LFS told me he would be fine and able to eat off the live sand and frozen shrimp. I also just purchased frozen mysis shrimp he'll eat that cause he eats the brine shrimp I'm going to try it tonight, will he be Ok if he eats the mysis shrimp?
 
aelene

aelene

Member
Originally Posted by cabin7882
I have found some bottled live copepods I'll try that. What do you think ever heard of such a thing? And by the way I would never want to kill a fish but the LFS told me he would be fine and able to eat off the live sand and frozen shrimp. I also just purchased frozen mysis shrimp he'll eat that cause he eats the brine shrimp I'm going to try it tonight, will he be Ok if he eats the mysis shrimp?
The problem with buying copepods is that it's mainly something that is good to seed a fuge, etc. Most of the pods in that bottle are too small to be eaten by a fish anyway at this point, and without a safe haven for them to hide/populate then it really doesn't do any good to introduce the bottle. Plus, at 25$ a pop you're going to get tired of continuing that habit.
I'm no expert, but the whole "he'll be find with eating off the live sand" doesn't fly in my book. One reason why the live rock is a necessity is because they congregate and hide in it, I don't know that they can do that in live sand. What will happen is that he will continue to eat his food source until he's depleted it. Mysis shrimp is suppose to be the popular alternative, but you have to make sure he will take to it and I have no idea if mysis alone will sustain the health he needs.

I know all of this b/c I recently bought a mandarin... then alas, decided to take him back. Like you, I figured I could at least maintain him for now with bottled pods while establishing a refugium, but it just doesn't work that way. Although I'd like to think he would have been ok in the long run, I really didn't want to risk him dying just to be right.
GL with yours..
 
cabin7882

cabin7882

Member
Thanks for your help! Maybe I'll take him back I really don't want him to die or be suffering I'll try the mysis shrimp tonight and then decide what to do.
 
kelly shaw

kelly shaw

Member
i love the manderin dragonet (goby). don't have one yet but will. i have read that they will eat brine shrimp. they are pretty much a bott fish. not real active. they will bounce around your live rock and eat what they can off of it. if you have alge on the bottom he should be fine. if not get some brine shrimp. but they do love live rock.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by kelly shaw
i love the manderin dragonet (goby). don't have one yet but will. i have read that they will eat brine shrimp. they are pretty much a bott fish. not real active. they will bounce around your live rock and eat what they can off of it. if you have alge on the bottom he should be fine. if not get some brine shrimp. but they do love live rock.

They do not eat algae.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by cabin7882
I have found some bottled live copepods I'll try that. What do you think ever heard of such a thing? And by the way I would never want to kill a fish but the LFS told me he would be fine and able to eat off the live sand and frozen shrimp. I also just purchased frozen mysis shrimp he'll eat that cause he eats the brine shrimp I'm going to try it tonight, will he be Ok if he eats the mysis shrimp?

I think he will be okay IF he eats the mysis. That's the problem with lfs's, you can't trust most of them.
 
cabin7882

cabin7882

Member
I think something is wrong with my mandarin now he is not hiding when I come close to the tank and he usually does, also he is breathing kind of heavy. I fed him mysis shrimp last night but he wasn't doing well so I didn't even see him eat. I am very tempted to spend $25 a bottle for copepods and have them overnighted for $20? I don't know what to do now please help! He's been eating brine for a month and been fine but maybe like everyone says he might be malnutrioned.
 
cabin7882

cabin7882

Member
my tank has been set up for a little more than 2 months. I know what your going to say I shouldn't have gotton a mandarin but my LFS sold it to me and said it would eat off live sand which obviously is not true. I also was told that that is what the salinity should be so that's what I was aiming for.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
lfs

Well, most of us have been there. It only makes sense that you walk into a pet store assuming they know what they are doing. But, unfortunately, it seems like most of them don't.At this point, if the mandarin is starving, I really don't think pods will be any good. He has to have the energy to go after them. Is everything else in your tank acting okay?
 
cabin7882

cabin7882

Member
I only have a clown fish with him in a 46 gal tank and he's doing great he seems really happy! But I was planning on buying some cured live rock tonight and was going to hope for the best with the mandarin! What do you think?
 
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