Spotted Mandarin Dragonette and Copepods
- Thread starter scotty37
- Start date
miaheatlvr
Active Member
Originally Posted by scotty37
Copepods are on here on sale by 200's. If I wanted to get a Spotted Mandarin, how many copepods would I need to get? 54 gallon corner tank, well established.
Do you have a fuge? Put them in there and then they will replenish your tank constantly via your REFUGIUM output.
Copepods are on here on sale by 200's. If I wanted to get a Spotted Mandarin, how many copepods would I need to get? 54 gallon corner tank, well established.
Do you have a fuge? Put them in there and then they will replenish your tank constantly via your REFUGIUM output.
puffer32
Active Member
And that stock will diminish eventually without a fuge to breed in and hide in from other fish as well as the mandrin. My mandrins share their pods with the other fish in my tank besides each other. I have seen my wrasse eat pods off the glass, and my basslets like pods also. Its just not advisable and rarely works without a fuge. I had a mandrin yrs ago (didn't know better) in a 75 gal with 100 lbs of LR, rubble and chaeto, and it starved to death in a yr, and he ate live brine shrimp, they need pods to survive long term. Sorry.
reefkprz
Active Member
if you add that many pods and your tank cant sustain them they will die off, its not like your tank can support an unlimeted amount their overall population density relies on availability of food and hiding places, it doesnt matter how many you add, adding 200 will give you the same population in 6 months as adding 1000. (roughly)
puffer32
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
if you add that many pods and your tank cant sustain them they will die off, its not like your tank can support an unlimeted amount their overall population density relies on availability of food and hiding places, it doesnt matter how many you add, adding 200 will give you the same population in 6 months as adding 1000. (roughly)
I agree
if you add that many pods and your tank cant sustain them they will die off, its not like your tank can support an unlimeted amount their overall population density relies on availability of food and hiding places, it doesnt matter how many you add, adding 200 will give you the same population in 6 months as adding 1000. (roughly)
I agree
murph
Active Member
IMO mandarins need to be food trained for long term success. To date I have food trained five prior to gifting/selling out to fellow hobbyist who I knew did not have the time and patients to do this but were dead set on having one in various size tanks.
First off make sure to purchase the largest fattest mandarin the LFS has. Be patient and wait until a good specimen is available. FME the smaller the mandarin the more difficult it will be to food train. Do not purchase a undernourished specimen thinking you can "save him". A well nourished specimen should look somewhat like a chubby muppet for lack of a better description.
Most LFS feed live brine to there mandarins to keep them going until they are sold. Make sure the mandarin you pick is taking live brine prior to purchase.
Now set up a small tank. I use a twenty gallon long. Use some southdown play sand some base rock, a small ball of cheato microalgea if available, a air driven sponge filter and it certainly cant hurt to seed the tank with a bag of commercially available pods. Make sure the air pump for the spong filter is strong enough to keep frozen mysis drifting somewhat. Once the frozen mysis settles to the bottom it is unlikely that the untrained mandarin will see it as a food item. A small powerhead can be used also.
You will also need a docile slow feeding fish to help show the mandarin that frozen mysis is indeed a food item. I use a medium size fire fish.
Once both fish are in the tank and settled in its just a matter of mixing live brine with frozen mysis. If you have the time several small feedings a day are best. For at least one of those feeding use exclusively frozen. If it makes you feel better you can enrich live brine through various means but I have never found this necessary. Keep in mind that you are basically overfeeding this small tank so keep a close eye on water quality and have water on hand for changes.
My personal success rate with this is 100 percent but the more likely figure is somewhere around 70 percent for any particular mandarin so be prepared for failure, it is a possibility. My mandarins have all figured out the value of frozen mysis within a week or two. The one that I still see every day in my brothers 40 gal breeder is actually boarder line obese IMO, as big around as the size of my index finger.
Also keep in mind that even a food trained mandarin is a slow methodical feeder and if placed in a large community of fast moving feeders will still have problems competing for food. IMO once food trained they can be placed in any size tank with tank mates of like minded feeding habits.
good luck with your mandarin they are truly spectacular fish.
First off make sure to purchase the largest fattest mandarin the LFS has. Be patient and wait until a good specimen is available. FME the smaller the mandarin the more difficult it will be to food train. Do not purchase a undernourished specimen thinking you can "save him". A well nourished specimen should look somewhat like a chubby muppet for lack of a better description.
Most LFS feed live brine to there mandarins to keep them going until they are sold. Make sure the mandarin you pick is taking live brine prior to purchase.
Now set up a small tank. I use a twenty gallon long. Use some southdown play sand some base rock, a small ball of cheato microalgea if available, a air driven sponge filter and it certainly cant hurt to seed the tank with a bag of commercially available pods. Make sure the air pump for the spong filter is strong enough to keep frozen mysis drifting somewhat. Once the frozen mysis settles to the bottom it is unlikely that the untrained mandarin will see it as a food item. A small powerhead can be used also.
You will also need a docile slow feeding fish to help show the mandarin that frozen mysis is indeed a food item. I use a medium size fire fish.
Once both fish are in the tank and settled in its just a matter of mixing live brine with frozen mysis. If you have the time several small feedings a day are best. For at least one of those feeding use exclusively frozen. If it makes you feel better you can enrich live brine through various means but I have never found this necessary. Keep in mind that you are basically overfeeding this small tank so keep a close eye on water quality and have water on hand for changes.
My personal success rate with this is 100 percent but the more likely figure is somewhere around 70 percent for any particular mandarin so be prepared for failure, it is a possibility. My mandarins have all figured out the value of frozen mysis within a week or two. The one that I still see every day in my brothers 40 gal breeder is actually boarder line obese IMO, as big around as the size of my index finger.
Also keep in mind that even a food trained mandarin is a slow methodical feeder and if placed in a large community of fast moving feeders will still have problems competing for food. IMO once food trained they can be placed in any size tank with tank mates of like minded feeding habits.
good luck with your mandarin they are truly spectacular fish.
blood shrimp
New Member
I want a mandarin but they are hard to keep unless you can get it to start eating prepared foods. Not only is it hard to get enough pods for your Mandarin to eat, but your other tankmaters will want some too. Not to mention you want pods to help with cleanup.
