Biota Mandarin teeeny tiny

[mvallee]

For anyone looking to buy one of the captive bred mandarins from Biota be prepared, they are tiny. They advertise them as arriving at .75 to 1" but I was not prepared for this. Luckily I had a fish trap I could repurpose into an acclimation chamber in the main DT. It is going to be a lot of work injecting baby Brine and copepods from the refugium until I feel like this little girl can be released into the main tank. I sure hope she grows fast
There is really nothing I am afraid of eating her other than maybe the fire shrimps I have but she is so tiny like a pellet i sometimes feed or a piece of Larry's reef frenzy that she might get eaten accidentally so going to keep her seperated for a bit.
I am no cinematographer obviously but for reference the trap is 7" wide and the tank is 5', yes she is that tiny.


Wish me and her good luck

 

[dz6t]

Good luck, the mandarin is very cute. Those eyes are really big.


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[this is me]

Hehehe. Yup. Those Biota manderins are tiny! Some of the smallest fish I’ve seen if not the smallest. I first saw them at Aquatic Creation and my thought was exactly the same. It’ll probably be accidentally and fatally be injured by something in the tank. I was looking for a female to pair with my 2.5” male at the time. Any question from the male that cause it to bite the little one, it’ll probably be dead on the spot. Pairing manderin can be risky even if you’re certain that the smaller one is a female. The male still gives it a little bite to make sure. LMAO.
Did you buy it as a female? Are you planning on pairing it? They born sexed so make sure you get a male and a female. One of my most recent excitement in this hobby is my pair of manderin. Congrats!

 

[this is me]

With the rounded dorsal fin, that’s for sure is a female.

 

[mvallee]

With the rounded dorsal fin, that’s for sure is a female.

Hehehe. Yup. Those Biota manderins are tiny! Some of the smallest fish I’ve seen if not the smallest. I first saw them at Aquatic Creation and my thought was exactly the same. It’ll probably be accidentally and fatally be injured by something in the tank. I was looking for a female to pair with my 2.5” male at the time. Any question from the male that cause it to bite the little one, it’ll probably be dead on the spot. Pairing manderin can be risky even if you’re certain that the smaller one is a female. The male still gives it a little bite to make sure. LMAO.
Did you buy it as a female? Are you planning on pairing it? They born sexed so make sure you get a male and a female. One of my most recent excitement in this hobby is my pair of manderin. Congrats!

Thanks, yes I bought as a female from Algae Barn. I called the next day I bought her to ask when they would have males available again as I missed out on the males they had and they told me they are moving facilities and will not be bringing these in for a couple months. Live aquaria carries them too but they will not sell you a sexed male, they used to but not anymore and there suggestion was to buy multiples hoping I would get a male UGH!
I have been scouring the web looking for anyone I can buy a male from but so far bluezoo aquatics is the only site I have found that sells them as male or female but they are wild caught. I will continue looking for a male Biota for her as that is my goal.
I am already getting on the monthly ship program from algae barn of there copepods because while my tank is swarming with copepods they seem to big compared to her and I am not sure they will work out. I have lots of tiny copepods in the crevices and fuge but not sure how to get them to her if she is confined to the trap for now.

 

[this is me]

Give aquatic creation a call. I know they carry them. Be warned that you must not rely on them eating prep food. Your system must be sufficiently feeding them. Once they’re in your main tank with other fish, I’m sure whatever you feed will not reach the manderin in time unless you have a manderin target feeding contraption like the one Paul B designed. The target feeding is food and all but I, myself, would not be able to constantly do it for long term. I tried to avoid having stuff that I have to always give the attention to.

 

[mvallee]

Give aquatic creation a call. I know they carry them. Be warned that you must not rely on them eating prep food. Your system must be sufficiently feeding them. Once they’re in your main tank with other fish, I’m sure whatever you feed will not reach the manderin in time unless you have a manderin target feeding contraption like the one Paul B designed. The target feeding is food and all but I, myself, would not be able to constantly do it for long term. I tried to avoid having stuff that I have to always give the attention to.

Thanks I will call them and they are somewhat local so that's a huge bonus
I heard that about them being not as easy to feed as they advertise and have been reading up on the Paul B methods and yes seems like a lot of work but doable, I have a fuge and decent amount of live rock with tons of life so hoping they will be self sufficient sooner or later, as long as they are not more work than my dogs I can manage ;-)

 

[GraniteReefer]

I would put her right in tank, mine received some harassment from the tank upon introduction(nipped fins) but the access to copepods is more important and the amount found in the breeder container is likely insufficient. Definitely go to Aquatic Creations if you want another they will likely order you in one if they aren't in stock. Here is a link to my thread on my mandarins.
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/388519-rey-the-biota-mandarin-pellet-trained/
I don't think they will ever be self sufficient, they will need to be supplemented with frozen/pellets and live indefinitely. Also don't worry about her small size mandarins have a poisonous slime coat to protect them and the other fish know it, and she will grow fast given the right conditions

 

[s&sreef]

Im a biota retailer but Im up in maine. They shipped me 2 males and 2 females my last order but the males being bigger sold first. I find they eat frozen cyclops the best for me.

 

[mvallee]

I would put her right in tank, mine received some harassment from the tank upon introduction(nipped fins) but the access to copepods is more important and the amount found in the breeder container is likely insufficient. Definitely go to Aquatic Creations if you want another they will likely order you in one if they aren't in stock. Here is a link to my thread on my mandarins.
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/388519-rey-the-biota-mandarin-pellet-trained/
I don't think they will ever be self sufficient, they will need to be supplemented with frozen/pellets and live indefinitely. Also don't worry about her small size mandarins have a poisonous slime coat to protect them and the other fish know it, and she will grow fast given the right conditions

Thanks, I had found and read through your story yesterday very nice and thanks! i really think I might put her in the main tank. Shining the light around the tank before lights up the sandbed and rocks are all teaming with life but in the container I do not see anything other than what is deep in the cheato I put in there.

Im a biota retailer but Im up in maine. They shipped me 2 males and 2 females my last order but the males being bigger sold first. I find they eat frozen cyclops the best for me.

Thanks, I will look into finding frozen cyclops

 

[kgstei]

I was under the impression that one of the benefits of captive bred mandarins was that they are trained on pellets, which doesn't make them much easier to feed without a protective feeder. If i recall correctly it was something i read from sustainable aquatics breeding efforts.

 

[dz6t]

I have two mandarins that came in about 1 inch three years ago. Now they are all fat and large. I never feed them prepared food. Buying pods to feed mandarin is a hit or miss, sometimes they peck on the food particles but may not actually ingest them.
Any established reef tank contain countless copepods. The breed rapidly. There may not be a need to buy codepods in order to feed mandarins.

 

[dz6t]

I won't worry about other fish picking at a mandarin, despite it has no scale for protection, it is covered in tiny spines to inject a toxic mucus into anyone who tries to eat it and it also "smell bad" for other fish that near it.
Captive bred mandarin is basically no difference than wild caught in term of the ability of eating prepare food. ORA has stopped the breeding program for years now.

 

[mvallee]

She is in general population now My HiFin Goby was keeping a pretty close eye on her LOL

 

[CAPSLOCK]

She is about the cutest little thing ever.

 

[s&sreef]

One of mine

 

[dz6t]

She is in general population now My HiFin Goby was keeping a pretty close eye on her LOLView attachment 120322

She is so cute. Also looks healthy too.


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[Aquatic Nerd]

I have one myself. I got it from colchester pet. I have the little guy with a clown I raised in a pico tank. Destroys TDO pellets. He is always fat and happy.