Salutations! Mandarin owner

guarda

guarda

Reefing newb
Hello all. Just picked up a bc14 last month after watching BBC Life :)
Cycled it with 10lbs of lr and 3 gallons of water from a 3 yr old tank so after a couple of weeks took out the shrimp and tested. (everything close to 0, ph at 8.2) Went to the lfs and saw a 1inch mandarin in a tank with a bunch of 3 inch ones that were like 3 times the girth on the smaller one. Went home and researched for a few days and decided I would take a chance and try to train it to eat frozen/pellets/roe. That was two weeks ago and Sony is now eating roe and occasionally frozen brine along with the live brine. My next step is to get her to eat frozen mysis which I'll introduce next week. Well, just wanted to say hi!
 
thats great! its quite a challenge to get them on frozen, however you may want to wait a while to have her eating brine consistently before you try mysis... also because she seems too small at this point. good luck my friend!
 
Welcome to the site :) We like pics here! Don't forget mandarins need to feed all day long, so make sure to really feed him throughout the day.
 
Thanks lilduud! Here's a pic on day 1 podpickin. Her concave belly behind her gills has thankfully filled in and she doesn't look so emaciated anymore. The selcon should be coming in tomorrow so I can start bathing the brine in it. I'm trying to find more info on how nutritious Tobikko (fish roe) actually is for her since it's so cheap and available 3 blocks away from my apt.

30mo1p3.jpg
 
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Thanks Daugherty. I went downtown to chinatown (first one who remembers which movie this is from wins all 6 of my aipstasia anemones that I have to look at til i get some meds lol) and picked up some pieces of acrylic for 3 bucks and made a feeder. I'll snap a pic in a sec. Now whenever I open the lid she darts right into the cylinder.

One strange thing though, the first 2 or 3 nights, right after shutting the lights, I found her floating at the top in circles, letting the pump current swing her around. When I turned off the pump, she would look around and wiggle her body all the while looking at me. Has anyone who's had a mandarin witness this behavior?
 
mandarins do strange things at night haha... watch out for the first time you see her sleeping haha they loose almost all theyre colour and sit in the corner not moving... they look dead haha. ive heard of them doing the circles at the top of the tank as well but mine never has.
 
Thanks everyone. Here's a pic I just took of the feeder I made. Sony tends to go in the feeder when I approach the tank so I took another one.

2zs056e.jpg


167l0gi.jpg
 
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I wish my mandrine would stay out long enough for to get a pic of him.
Looks great.You got a great start there.
 
lilduud said:
mandarins do strange things at night haha... watch out for the first time you see her sleeping haha they loose almost all theyre colour and sit in the corner not moving... they look dead haha. ive heard of them doing the circles at the top of the tank as well but mine never has.
Click to expand...

That sill freaks me out the way they look when asleep.

My mandarins Estes frozen brine with no issues but won't touch mysis or pellets.

I only feed the mysis every second or third day, should I be target feeding the mandarin with brine shrimp on the days I use pellets in the tank?

I really need to get out and get a turkey baister.
 
Sammydog, I read that flying fish roe has more nutrients than brine shrimp (nonexistent) and mine started eating them the 3rd or 4th day I introduced them with the brine. A lot of other mandarin owners have had success with roe. Here in NYC you can get a big handful in a plastic container for less than 2 USD at most asian supermarkets. Also, from what I read and experienced with mine in the 2 weeks I've had her, once the mandarin accidentally eats something you want it to, your job is almost done. When it realizes it's edible, the next morning when it's starving (small stomachs, need to constantly eat), try some of the new food first and watch it's reaction closely.

Also, I think a lot of my success thus far has been as a direct result of the feeding station. Kind of like a geographical Pavlovian conditioning. After a week, she knows where the food comes from. The last two nights she slept in there haha, white as a ghost.

Good luck!
 

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