I know everyone says it's a fish NOT to get, but what if....

michelle

michelle

Reefing newb
Dare I utter the name? Green Mandarin. I know many starve, I know they are considered difficult to keep because of their diet.
But...
LFS has a couple that they have had for about 6 weeks. I HAVE seen them eat frozen mysis shrimp.
I have my old 33 set up with live sand and about 10lbs of live rock (mostly rubble) I added "tigger pods" yesterday to start a culture of them. I figured even if I dont get the mandarin they wont be wasted I am sure. ($20 for 200 of the little buggers)
So, obviously I want the mandarin.

1.How many copepods would they need to have daily/weekly/whatever as a healthy diet? The store said they will keep one long enough for me to get a good culture started (and of course there is always the option of buying more)

2.If they have copepods etc readily available, I am assuming they will give up on eating frozen, SO, should I leave well enough alone and just keep feeding frozen? I just figured they would be healthier/happier with their normally accepted diet.

3. Anyone raise the tigger pods (they are large red pods)before? do they breed readily? and do I need to worry they will be sucked into the filter?

AND finally
4. Do you all STILL think it's a terrible idea?:grumble:
Thanks!!:Cheers:
 
Even if you dump the whole bottle in the tank, the mandarin will eat them faster than they can reproduce. That's why a fuge is almost always a necessity for keeping a mandarin, the pods need a place where they can reproduce without being predated on. And yes, the pods will get sucked in the filter.

That being said, if the mandarin is eating frozen food, and you have seen it eating frozen food, it's not that important that it has pods in the tank. You can keep mandarins in tanks without live food if they eat frozen, so if you know that to be the case, then go for it.
 
oh. thanks biff, I expected you to weigh in on the other side of the debate. So should I bother with the 33 gallon to let the pods reproduce in? and what should I do about the filter? Cheesecloth?
 
I'd leave the 33 up to breed the pods in. If they are reproducing in there, that's great. It's similar to having a refugium except you'll have to manually move the pods over into the main tank once in a while.

Pods will tend to stay on/in the rocks and in macroalgae, so using a sponge on the filter intake should work okay.
 
Sorry Michelle but I have to be on the other side of the debate.Here is my reasoning but don't get worried.

I've read that frozen/pellets make good supplemental food but can't be their only source.They will still need pods as well.If it is indeed eating frozen already than give one a try but still get some kind of copepods to the tank.Mandarins graze all day looking for pods so adding some I think would be beneficial.Don't forget they are slow eaters so you may need to turn the pumps off when you feed it mysis or pellets.
 
Mandrains do good with rubble as pods reproduce in greater number where they have rubble to hide in, also piles of small/medium rocks where a mandarin can enter but not larger fish. Do not get wrasses or other gobies that will compete to heavily with a mandarin for the same limited food types and sizes.
 
is there a certain point that copepods start producing on their own in a tank without the addition of any? I really have no idea what they even look like.
 
one more question on this. How will I get the copepods from the breeding tank to the main tank since it isn't tied into the main tank?
 
just get a couple peices of live rock ans just put it into the dt after it has been in with the pods for awile. just a thought.
 
gosh I seem to have turned this into a "culturing pods" thread. I had previously used the "breeding tank" to hatch some brine shrimp. Seems that some must have bred and I have small (maybe a day old "spots) baby shrimp hatching in with my pods. will they eat the pods that I have in there now as they grow? right now they are not 1/4 the size of the pods, but they will get to be bigger soon enough. Are there other negatives to having the 2 species growing up together?
 
I have a copy of the "Culturer's Bible" titled Plankton Culture manual. It is the manual sold by and printed just for Florida Aqua Farms. They are the countries leading producers of plankton cultures, and equipment for same. The section on Copepod culture is only 11 pages, so if any body is interested, it should scan easily enough I could send it as an attachment to an email. I do not have an OCR program so I can not copy it to a text file, only a picture file. However, I do not think they would like be openly posting it on an online forum.
 
I have to say, I got a dragonet very eairly in my tanks life and was told "it will look prety for a wile but it'll just die off".

Well I'v had it for a wile now and it's looking great! I'v never seen a copepod in my tank so I really don't know where it's finding them or if it's decided to eat something els.

I figured maby my manderine has A.D.D and just forgets what he's hunting for so he eats what ever he wants.
 
Success with mandarins isn't measured in a few weeks or even a few months in captivity.It take up to six months or even more before they starve to death.If you had the mandarin over a year then that would be considered ''success''.
 
So I went to the lfs today to pick up my mandarin. They had been holding him for a couple weeks for me, so, I thought I'd bring him home. They had 4 last week. I went in and asked how the mandarins were doing; "not good-they are dead" was my reply.

So, I came home with a firefish and a bicolor blenny:)

Much safer choices I think.
 
As long as you used live sand you will be fine. I purchased a scooter blenny, which has the same difficulty and eating habits and has been alive in my 35 gallon for about 8 months, then moved over to a brand new 90 gallon after only a 1 month worth of running and has been alive and kicking for about 3 months now. No problems.
 
Place some rubble piles in your tank for pods and feed the pods phytoplankton and success with mandarins will go up. Also place some of your rock to provide caves and canyons a mandarin can fit into but not your other fish. Mandarins do not mind swimming backwards to get out of holes and such. Most other fish are pretty paranoid about going into openings they can not quickly exit.
 
fatman said:
I have a copy of the "Culturer's Bible" titled Plankton Culture manual. It is the manual sold by and printed just for Florida Aqua Farms. They are the countries leading producers of plankton cultures, and equipment for same. The section on Copepod culture is only 11 pages, so if any body is interested, it should scan easily enough I could send it as an attachment to an email. I do not have an OCR program so I can not copy it to a text file, only a picture file. However, I do not think they would like be openly posting it on an online forum.
Click to expand...

While I am working on my list of things that I will be ordering from FAF, which will include the Plankton Culture manual could you send me pictures fatman?

Thanks
 

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