ORA Blue Mandarin Rant

[jck16]

Does anyone have any experience with these guys? Not the spotted mandarin from ORA, but the blue mandarin. I have to rant a little because I'm pretty disappointed because usually I'm really careful about what I put in my tank and shoulda researched them more since now I hear similar stories. But I assumed though that since it was ORA, he would be eating frozen mysis and other frozen foods.

Actually, I'm pretty sure he was eating frozen mysis at the store but I have him in my 30 gallon now and he's only picking off my small copepod population and getting skinnier. He's pretty much had a frozen mysis shower and he's still not interested. I've tried live enriched brine and live mysis as carryovers from feeding my seahorses but he's not interested. He shows no interest in other foods, only picking once in awhile at something I can't see, and still get skinnier. In fact, I have a swarm of baby mysis in the back of my tank which I was sure was going to be decimated by him, but he just casually skips through them. My next attempt will be using Nutramar Ova, but again, I'm disappointed that he's supposed to be eating frozen as per ORA but instead I have to (re)train him.

I'd like to hear if anyone else has any advice or comments...I'm really worried I may just have to sell this guy because he doesn't belong in my tank if he's not eating frozen.

 

[duke62]

People put the ora name on things that really are not..did you get him from a store ?

 

[jck16]

I got him (it's a male) from a MR vendor's store, so I don't wanna make any allegations about the place I got it from or even mention any clues to identify them. I just trust them to not mislabel their livestock.

 

[beerfish]

These are living creatures.

ORA will ship fish that are eating mysis, but after a long trip to the fish store where they are tossed in a tank, and then a trip to your tank, which is small for a mandarin, there's a good chance that the fish will revert to a natural state and look for the food that it's born to eat. That's not ORA's fault.

 

[marrone]

I really haven't heard a lot of success stories about the ORA Mandarins doing well. Most are very small in size and even the ones that do eat the prepared foods are still tough to keep. I wouldn't call this a success story for ORA.

 

[The_Robert_Loo]

You can try purchasing a bottle of tiggerpods and slowly wean them back onto the mysis or raise tiggerpods in your sump and use that as a source of food or them.

 

[jck16]

My plan is first to try the Nutramar Ova, then order the bottle of pods if I'm seeing that he's not showing interest.

beerfish: Yes, I realize that he's a living creature. But when you affix a brand onto a living creature, it becomes an associated commodity of that brand. And when that brand puts on their website "All of ORA?s captive bred mandarins will accept a variety of prepared frozen and dry foods upon acclimation to their new tank. They may be offered Nutramar Ova, finely chopped Hikari Frozen Blood Worms, fish roe, frozen or live baby brine shrimp, frozen daphnia, and New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets. Some have also shown interest in Cyclopeeze." that's false advertising. So yes, I am not only blaming ORA for pre-emptively releasing this product (aka living creature), I am also accusing them of false advertising if I can't train this guy.

 

[jcs11236]

hey jck16--if u like to try the nutramar ova--come by my place--i give u a a chunk of mine so you can try it out first before buying and see if it works for your mandarin. let me know

 

[jck16]

jcs11236: sent you a PM. Thanks for the offer, very generous of you!

 

[Imbarrie]

Best of luck.
There was a method talked about recently that included a breeding net.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t256327.html

Good luck

 

[skene]

Have you tried frozen cyclopeez?

 

[Mattl22]

Be patient if he is happy he will start eating !

 

[motortrendz]

i used the breeding net method.. took almost a month but my mandarin is happy and healthy, eats pellets as well as any frozen cubes i defrost rinse and put garlic on.. but i still think i got lucky..

 

[Mattl22]

I got a non Ora green spot he was painfully thin lived on whatever live copeopods he found after bout 6 months he started eating mysis now he is an aggressive eater!

 

[jck16]

Well, I'd like to sit around and be patient but I don't think there's enough copepods in my tank to do that unfortunately. I tried the Nutramar Ova yesterday but I don't know if he's actually eating it or not tbh because he doesn't come to the front of the tank to check out the food clump and then when it melts it gets spread out everywhere (I suspect my large sea plume catches a lot of it). He's still picking at stuff on the rocks at more or less his usual rate during feeding. In the meantime, I'm going to order live copepods to keep him going just in case.

I've heard the spotted mandarins are easier to train, but I'm still holding out hope for this guy. I'd like to try the breeding net but I haven't had an opportunity to catch him without tearing up the tank since he usually lurks in the back areas of the tank so I might try the shotglass method from that link.

 

[jck16]

Oh yah, I did try my last cube of SF frozen cyclops once but he showed no particular interest in that. I decided not to get a pack of the real cyclopeez because the store clerk told me the ova is more appealing. I mean how often do you get told not to buy something by a clerk at a store haha.

 

[prattreef]

From their website:
All of ORA?s captive bred mandarins will accept a variety of prepared frozen and dry foods upon acclimation to their new tank. They may be offered Nutramar Ova, finely chopped Hikari Frozen Blood Worms, fish roe, frozen or live baby brine shrimp, frozen daphnia, and New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets. Some have also shown interest in Cyclopeeze.

You'll notice no mention or claim of them eating mysis and only possible interest in Cyclops.

 

[cardoctor]

Sent you a pm on how to train him onto ova in a baby food jar. Any questions feel free to get back to me. My video link to one of my mandarins eating in a jar
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=HjJ68CBQtyU




Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Imbarrie]

If you are using Nutrimar Ova place it in a sheltered place and use the same spot at the same time all the time. If the mandarin keeps returning to that spot you can be sure it is eating the food.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Sent you a pm on how to train him onto ova in a baby food jar. Any questions feel free to get back to me. My video link to one of my mandarins eating in a jar
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=HjJ68CBQtyU




Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

Link seems not working