Mandarin Fish Advice?

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brlaskowski

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 29, 2009
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Pennslyvania
Wanted to get some advice on a Mandarin Fish. I have read that they require a tank with high gallons and live rock, because of pods needs as a food source. I have also read that people are keeping them in a smaller tank and supplementing them with Brine Shrimp/Frozen Food. Does anyone have any advice on getting a Mandarin to accept frozen food over live pods?

My tank is 36 gallons. I have approximately 40+ lbs of live rock. My tank has been established for over 6 months, but will probably wait a little longer before the purchase; however, I wanted to get some opinions first.
 
brlaskowski;3974749; said:
Wanted to get some advice on a Mandarin Fish. I have read that they require a tank with high gallons and live rock, because of pods needs as a food source. I have also read that people are keeping them in a smaller tank and supplementing them with Brine Shrimp/Frozen Food. Does anyone have any advice on getting a Mandarin to accept frozen food over live pods?

My tank is 36 gallons. I have approximately 40+ lbs of live rock. My tank has been established for over 6 months, but will probably wait a little longer before the purchase; however, I wanted to get some opinions first.
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I have heard some people would bury cyclopeezes in thin layer of sand to them to take it. I've also heard some mandarins won't accept frozen food no matter what you do. I think its luck
 
brlaskowski;3974749; said:
Wanted to get some advice on a Mandarin Fish. I have read that they require a tank with high gallons and live rock, because of pods needs as a food source. I have also read that people are keeping them in a smaller tank and supplementing them with Brine Shrimp/Frozen Food. Does anyone have any advice on getting a Mandarin to accept frozen food over live pods?

My tank is 36 gallons. I have approximately 40+ lbs of live rock. My tank has been established for over 6 months, but will probably wait a little longer before the purchase; however, I wanted to get some opinions first.
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I don't know if they are being "advertised" as such, but tank raised Mandarin's are becoming more prevalent in the hobby.

I saw one the other day in my LFS (Tropic Isle in Framingham MA., they know what they are doing) in a 5 gallon, well established nano tank, it can be done but do your homework first.
 
i'm going to be setting up a tank soon and i will have it running for a little over six months before i get a mandarin and i am going to try and seed it throughout the whole six months
 
well unfortunately mandarins will not survive on brine shrimp they may eat some unintentionally but they need a massive amount of microfauna and zooplankton that comes from an aged tank that has a solid supply of both zooplankton and microfauna or a tank with a Fuge that has been up for over 6 months plus my advice would be avoid a mandarin don't buy it until your tank is very old and has a solid population of live food that they eat. Or wait till my good friend Matt sells his captive breed ones that eat pellets and will be a big step forward to us in the hobby and us at MOFIB.

mr.reef24
 
mr.reef24;3975325; said:
well unfortunately mandarins will not survive on brine shrimp they may eat some unintentionally but they need a massive amount of microfauna and zooplankton that comes from an aged tank that has a solid supply of both zooplankton and microfauna or a tank with a Fuge that has been up for over 6 months plus my advice would be avoid a mandarin don't buy it until your tank is very old and has a solid population of live food that they eat. Or wait till my good friend Matt sells his captive breed ones that eat pellets and will be a big step forward to us in the hobby and us at MOFIB.

mr.reef24
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Listen to this man.

Matt who? Not the shark Matt I suppose? I would be interested in tank raised mandarins.
 
mr.reef24;3975325; said:
well unfortunately mandarins will not survive on brine shrimp they may eat some unintentionally but they need a massive amount of microfauna and zooplankton that comes from an aged tank that has a solid supply of both zooplankton and microfauna or a tank with a Fuge that has been up for over 6 months plus my advice would be avoid a mandarin don't buy it until your tank is very old and has a solid population of live food that they eat. Or wait till my good friend Matt sells his captive breed ones that eat pellets and will be a big step forward to us in the hobby and us at MOFIB.

mr.reef24
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2nd time i have herd of these pellet trained madrins. I really want to see these and get a hold of one. To the OP, this is a fish that you could go threw a good 2 or 3 before you get one to live. I've always wanted one, just knew i didn't have what it took to keep it alive.
 
TheCanuck;3975610; said:
you could go threw a good 2 or 3 before you get one to live. I've always wanted one, just knew i didn't have what it took to keep it alive.
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That's why they are commonly discouraged in the hobby. Some say they should be totally removed from stores. Their just to hard to take care of properly. It kills me to see someone browsing mandarins at the store when you can tell they have no idea what their getting into. It's sad store owners would allow these fish to be sold to inexperienced people. Mandarins eat pretty much 24/7, they're constantly browsing "the menu" that the live rock has to offer. In far to many future homes of mandarins the menu is very limited. Having captive breed pellet eating mandarins would be great. Take some pressure off the species.
 
Otto_VonBacon;3975735; said:
That's why they are commonly discouraged in the hobby. Some say they should be totally removed from stores. Their just to hard to take care of properly. It kills me to see someone browsing mandarins at the store when you can tell they have no idea what their getting into. It's sad store owners would allow these fish to be sold to inexperienced people. Mandarins eat pretty much 24/7, they're constantly browsing "the menu" that the live rock has to offer. In far to many future homes of mandarins the menu is very limited. Having captive breed pellet eating mandarins would be great. Take some pressure off the species.
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very true. I mean i love the challenge of keeping another animal that needs certain things. The feeling you get after you have created their ideal home is wicked. Like having all my triggers together and my eel not eating them all lol. Mandrins terrify me, lol.
 
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