mandarin fish new thread!

About a month ago I found a small mandarin nice and fat at a LFS. I took a chance that he was accustomed to eating something other than pods. I had plenty of pods in my tank but since it is only 14 gal. I know they wouldn’t last long and they didn’t. I started hatching live brine shrimp for him which he readily ate but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I was ready to start to try and raise my own pods in a separate tank then one day while feeding the other fish I saw him chasing a slow moving piece of frozen brine shrimp floating by. I decided to kill the pumps and try to target feed him with the baster I use for corals. While he wasn’t to keen on the baster he did come back and eat the frozen brine shrimp. Now when I kill the pumps he’s kinda figured it’s feeding time and will usually go to the corner of the tank where I typically feed him. If I just hold the baster in the tank he will come over and try to get the brine shrimp out of the end. Today after giving him some brine shrimp I began to feed my acans and the next thing I know he is over at one of my acans stealing the brine shrimp from them! He definitely loves frozen brine shrimp. Maybe I just got lucky or maybe feeding him the live brine shrimp first got him accustomed to the taste, not sure? I have heard of others having similar success. Definitely a cool fish!
John

 

I would also get more rock if you really want to try it. 80+ pounds total at least for a 55.

 

More rock can't hurt.

Eyesolator, I would try to feed a frozen food with a little more nutritional value than brine shrimp. If it eats frozen stuff, I bet it will adapt to frozen foods that will sustain him.

 

does anyone else have mandarin fish that eat brine shrimp and horkn what other frozen stuff is more nutritional brine shrimp incase i get a mandarin?

 

I have had a mandarin for about 2 months in my 55 gallon tank.
I do not have a fuge and my tank has only been set up since March of this year.
I have about 70 lbs of LR and two big handfuls of chaeto stuffed in crevices in the rock.
So far I have TONS of pods everywhere. The mandarin is constantly eating stuff. He will not touch frozen food though. He looks plump to me.
I also have a backup supply of pods in a little 2 gallon tank.

 

have mine for apx year and 1/2 in a 65 - plenty of pods around plus it eats mysis and brine as well. I soak all of my food in selcon and so far so good!

Make sure when you get one that it has a big belly and even if it's eating prepared food, these guys eat all day long so you MUST have a good pod population to keep them healthy.

 

I just got a mandarin about 2 months ago. I have a 72 with a 20g long fuge. I thought my mandarin would starve pretty quick but he surprisingly is not keeping up with my pods reproducing. My sump is stuffed with them. I'm glad because mine won't eat ANYTHING but pods. I rotate hunk of pod infested chaeto in the tank. Even though there are pods everywhere on all my rocks in my display, he still is not fat. I can see the lateral line going down his back so I doubt I will be able to sustain him longterm. I thought of popping him into my fuge for a couple of weeks to fatten him up but I'm sure it would stress him out to be moved.

I've tried roe (fish eggs), brine, live brine, bloodworms, rods reef mixtures, mysis, and everything else you can think of. Nothing appetizes him.

My blenny also has a small crush on him, the blenny follows him around for hours sometimes. Very cool fish, but don't get one in a small tank, your just going to watch him starve. And frozen brine has almost no nutrition.....even if he gets fat from it, he is not getting what he needs and will still most likely die.

 

Pretty much any frozen food has more nutrition than brine shrimp. I use rod's reef, but you may need to try several brands and varieties before he eats a different prepared food.

 

my 6line eats whatever food i put in there - pellets, flakes, zooplankton, home made shrimp-garlic-misc seafood concoction....



but to your question of having a 6line only eat pellets, no, you can not limit a fish to only eat one thing and ignore everything else... doesn't work like that.

the fish will eat whatever it feels like... you can get a fish sometimes to start eating something it use to ignore, but you can't really train a fish to stop eating something it already eats...

 

My algae blenny even eats omnivore/carnivore flakes and pellets. He's a dork. I guess I just got lucky with my fish......