Need your help raising my Mandarin Dragonet

[ttran1999]

Hi,
I have a 55gl tank and it's been setup for about a month now with 35 lbs of live rocks. I know that mandarin feeds on Pods but is there an alternative way to feed them something else since my tank is only a month old and I don't think I have enough or any pods available for them. If so how do I go by doing so. Please let me know. Thanks for your input.
BTW, Is there a site out there where I can purchase Pods since I don't have enough of not any?
Tony

 

[acez28]

Mandarins need a mature system....at the least about 6 months to a year old. I say take him back to ur LFS. Otherwise he will starve slowly.

 

[perchpsk]

You can buy live brine shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp to keep it alive a while longer. in the meantime get a fuge, get pods growing in it. add some live rock and hope it doesnt die. you may just want to get rid of it and buy a new one in 3-4 months after you have a lot of pods and a fuge set up.

 

[fishtanker]

i agree that mandarins need a mature system...with that being said you might want to try frozen brine (thawed out of course). i know that my green mandarin eats this along with the pods from my fuge. the brine might support him until you get get more LR and a refugium. IMO

 

[zafirablanca]

There have been alot of threads here about the care and feeding of mandarins. I would recommend doing a forum search at this site for 'mandarin' and going through some other threads. You will get much more information in a much shorter time frame that way. You will also get to see about other hobbiests experiences and practices.
It seems that many mandarins will eat nothing but live food, you will need to find out first thing if yours will or wont. Then go from there.
Good luck and keep asking questions.
-Christine

 

[chris s]

i have two manderines and they are doing fine in my 125. i do know that they are nocturnal feeders. i cant get them to eat flakes but they eat some of the frozen brine shrimp i throw in tank. good luck with everythin, hope i helped.
chris s