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Mandarin Feeding
- Thread starter Chuck Spyropulos
- Start date
~Flighty~
Now with more baby
Mandarins are completely visual hunters. They study their food and wait for it to be looking the other direction, then they strike. You have to convince them that the dead thing in front of them is food. I have not had luck with tobiko but I know others have, I think that may be just the luck of if the individual fish liked eating eggs in the wild. Mine did not (and still don't) recognise it as food.
I have only had luck training them to eat by putting peMysis in a turkey baster (try to only use the small whole shrimp with eyes at first) and suck the water in and out so that the shrimp looks like it is alive and peeking in and out of a hole. When it does pop out of the hole the mandarin usually grabs it. It only takes a few times before they decide that mysis is good even if it is playing dead.
If the fish is too afraid of the baster at first, try live brine in it. The mandarins figure out really quickly that food comes out of that little cave and they will watch it like a hawk. Having them in a confined tank helps a lot with the whole process. They seem pretty nearsighted. Also, use caution to not get a dead brine in the mix. One bite of rotten food and they will be much more cautious to watch for motion before biting and your job will be harder.
The only other thing I would add is that if you have a pair and they are not on frozen mysis (frozen brine doesn't cut it) I would strongly recommend separating them. They will breed even if they are hungry and making the eggs every few days will sap the female's strength so fast she has almost no chance of long term survival (In my opinion)
I have only had luck training them to eat by putting peMysis in a turkey baster (try to only use the small whole shrimp with eyes at first) and suck the water in and out so that the shrimp looks like it is alive and peeking in and out of a hole. When it does pop out of the hole the mandarin usually grabs it. It only takes a few times before they decide that mysis is good even if it is playing dead.
If the fish is too afraid of the baster at first, try live brine in it. The mandarins figure out really quickly that food comes out of that little cave and they will watch it like a hawk. Having them in a confined tank helps a lot with the whole process. They seem pretty nearsighted. Also, use caution to not get a dead brine in the mix. One bite of rotten food and they will be much more cautious to watch for motion before biting and your job will be harder.
The only other thing I would add is that if you have a pair and they are not on frozen mysis (frozen brine doesn't cut it) I would strongly recommend separating them. They will breed even if they are hungry and making the eggs every few days will sap the female's strength so fast she has almost no chance of long term survival (In my opinion)
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Chuck Spyropulos
Non-member
Feeding
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think I will continue to feed tobiko and keep my pod population going with the refugium. I would like the mandarins to eat as much as possible from all sources. If I get them to eat prepared foods, I'll certainly post and let everyone know. Thanks again for the great ideas...now I am armed with the information I need to keep these little guys as healthy as possible.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think I will continue to feed tobiko and keep my pod population going with the refugium. I would like the mandarins to eat as much as possible from all sources. If I get them to eat prepared foods, I'll certainly post and let everyone know. Thanks again for the great ideas...now I am armed with the information I need to keep these little guys as healthy as possible.
Chuck Spyropulos
Non-member
Mandarin
Hmmmm....sorry to report that the Male Mandarin I acquired around a week ago died. I found him at the bottom of the tank in a cloud of "mucus". The little female I got a month or two ago is still doing very well. I think I'll just keep her and hold off on another male for a while. The funny thing is that the male was way more active then the female and actually got the female to come out of the rocks more often. It was really nice to see them feed together...followign each other around the tank. The male also looked fatter than the female...go figure. I really think there must have been something wrong with the male before I purchased him since the female continues to to very well.
Hmmmm....sorry to report that the Male Mandarin I acquired around a week ago died. I found him at the bottom of the tank in a cloud of "mucus". The little female I got a month or two ago is still doing very well. I think I'll just keep her and hold off on another male for a while. The funny thing is that the male was way more active then the female and actually got the female to come out of the rocks more often. It was really nice to see them feed together...followign each other around the tank. The male also looked fatter than the female...go figure. I really think there must have been something wrong with the male before I purchased him since the female continues to to very well.
Sorry to hear that... I was bumbed when I lost my mandarin as well after a few months... I can only imagine how nice a pair of them looked...
