mandarin fish in biocube???

Hhhmm well thanks for the help here's some k+

 

I've done a lot of reading about Mandarins since I'm planning to get one. From what I've read if you get a tank bred one that is already trained to accept frozen Mysis then is as any other fish you have that takes frozen food...but since they are rather slow eaters I wouldn't put them in with aggressive fish.

Just be sure at you LFS that they are actually eating the frozen food.

 

ya and since they have a very fast metabolism be prepared to feed them 3 times a day

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/information-mandarin-dragonets-81663.html

 

I feed mine 1x every day, and sometimes every other day. I wouldn't say 3x is necessary (you will pollute the hell outa your tank especially if its small), but I agree with them having a high metabolism. I must admit the pellets 1x a day keeps her fatter than Mysis 1x a day, so if you can get them on pellets, this is key! I also have a fuge, so she does get live food.

 

Once again I think I have to disagree with most of the thinking about Mandrins....The days of needing a tank full of Pods to keep a Mandarin are way over. They can be trained to eat frozen foods and live very long and healthy lives doing just that. No don't get me wrong, its not a real easy thing to do but it can and has been done many times

You can find tons of information on MOFIB about training them to eat frozen, Matt Pederson has been extremely successful in doing this. Here is a link with his explanation on how he does it. In reading this you will also find out that he keep them in small tanks or Bio cubes all the time.

I have a Spotted Mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus) who has been eating Frozen mysis, brine shrimp and even crab pellets for 2 years now, healthiest little fish you have ever seen. He gets fed once a day every day. Here is a link to one of my post on 3reef with a picture of it back in August of 2008.

I also have a Red Mandarin (Pterosynchiropus splendidus var.) that I have just started training and she seems to be catching on really well. As far as needing to feed them 3 times a day, well the only reason a Mandarin would ever have to be fed more that that is if you trying to get them to breed, then you would feed small amounts 3 times a day or even more.

 

Well what do y'all do when u go out of down for like4 days will they survive that long

 

i have had a mandarin for over a year now and i never feed mine. I do however had a fuge and over 100lbs of live rock in my 90 gal dt.

 

You can go 2-3 days without feeding. I try not to, but when I go out of town this is the case. She fattens right back up after a feeding or two.

 

Any well fed fish can survive 7 to 10 days with out eating with no detrimental effects, I wouldn't ever push it that far but they can.
And if you talking about the Mandarin, it will most likely pick on the pods that it hasn't eaten because its being feed really well by you.

I go on vacation every year for 1 to 2 weeks twice a year. When I do I basically post a message on my local reef clubs web site and
ask for volunteers to come over and feed and top off my tank. This is one of the reasons I joined the club and its never failed me
yet. Plus that way I feel better than having someone that hasn't a clue what they are doing.

If you don't belong to have a local reef club start one, you will be surprised how many people live within a short distance that are into
reefing. Or get to know someone here on 3 reef or another board that lives near you.