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TommyP

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Mandarins are very finicky when eating. They do eat pods and I have researched and researched and very few mandarins eat frozen or any other foods besides pods. They can wipe out a whole population over night. I've read that you should have a very well established tank and pod population with excellent reproduction rate. A fuge is good for this obviously. I had pods and was dumping live tiger pods in my tank that I got from Pets Warehouse where I got the mandarin too but it didn't make it. I believe it was due to poor water quality though because my rodi machine was broken and putting out a high TDS reading. I wish you the best of luck and I'm sure they'll do fine in your tank. Just get some pods as soon as you can. If they eat brine - tell me where you got em lol.
 

duke62

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Even if it eats brine they have no nutritional value and the mandarin will die. You need to have a healthy well established tank. If you want to try and get it to eat frozen food you need to try mysis. But you will still need a healthy population of pods
 

NYCEnglish

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Mine eats frozen mysis (thawed of course) but I also have a substantial pod population in the fuge. I never had much luck/faith in trigger pods but check out pods2go - they do pods by the bag and are excellent.
 

Imbarrie

PADI Dive Inst
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New York
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I have a mated pair of Mandarins that eat mysis completely by luck.
The first one I bought took immediately to Hikari mysis right away.
I have heard you can train them to eat mysis using a breeding net and there is a good chance are you only need to get one to start and the other can learn from the first one.

I have seen pods in Fishtown and I know Pets Warehouse and Village Aquarium in Carle Place sell them. I would get a breeding net and try getting them on Mysis, Nutrimar Ova, or Cyclopeez as soon as possible.
 

KaeSean

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I have a mated pair of Mandarins that eat mysis completely by luck.
The first one I bought took immediately to Hikari mysis right away.
I have heard you can train them to eat mysis using a breeding net and there is a good chance are you only need to get one to start and the other can learn from the first one.

I have seen pods in Fishtown and I know Pets Warehouse and Village Aquarium in Carle Place sell them. I would get a breeding net and try getting them on Mysis, Nutrimar Ova, or Cyclopeez as soon as possible.

I purchased frozen mysis, I'm not sure if they are eating it. I out food in and have a few savages in the tank wiping it out I just hope some is getting down there. Maybe I can syringe brine shrimp in its direction
 
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I've had mandrins for many years for me the key is mysis shrimp and shut the current off let the food settle to the bottom and give them some time to pick away there are very slow eaters ...also haveing fish that aren't aggressibe eaters in the tank with them will help they wount do good in a tank with pigs .
 

KaeSean

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I've had mandrins for many years for me the key is mysis shrimp and shut the current off let the food settle to the bottom and give them some time to pick away there are very slow eaters ...also haveing fish that aren't aggressibe eaters in the tank with them will help they wount do good in a tank with pigs .

I put frozen mysis in a syringe with salt water and spray it into there cave and let it settle
 

Imbarrie

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New York
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I did the same with a mixture of Cyclopeez and Nutrimar Ova through a syringe.
The bristleworms were really happy until I was able to get them feeding on their own.
I have heard some people use a plastic bottle with holes cut out just so the mandarins can get to the food and nobody else.
 

KaeSean

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I did the same with a mixture of Cyclopeez and Nutrimar Ova through a syringe.
The bristleworms were really happy until I was able to get them feeding on their own.
I have heard some people use a plastic bottle with holes cut out just so the mandarins can get to the food and nobody else.

I would love to see a picture of that. I was thinking of a little baby net with food inside and put it under there cave for them
 

Imbarrie

PADI Dive Inst
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New York
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That was over a year ago in my 75. They favored a spot behind the rocks to sleep so I would feed them there every evening until I was sure they were eating. Then they ate from the substrate around the tank.
I moved and set up a 150 tall and they are doing really well in there now.
I didnt take any pics and it is not an involved process.

This was the syringe I used and have a stack of new ones still, if you find yourself on Long Island I will give you some.

http://www.riversupply.com/product/West-System-Syringes,2778.aspx
 

jhart

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Yonkers
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Keep them in the Ocean!

I bet more than half of those fish will be dead in 4 months.. Be a responsible reefer don't get sucked into sales just cause its a deal...

Yeah yeah yeah You might have one that lived 10 years dont brag about how your so great and you do this or that that fact remains there survivability rate in closed systems isn't for the novice reefer . Its like the same person that brags.. I keep this coral and that coral and I never do a water changes.. Thats an irresponsible reefer and this hobby isnt for you..

Just pointing out the truth..
 
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Paul B

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Yeah yeah yeah You might have one that lived 10 years dont brag about how your so great and you do this or that that fact remains there survivability rate in closed systems isn't for the novice reefer

That may be true for novice aquarists but it is also true for all fish we buy, they all die in our tanks, and I "can" brag about keeping mandarins as I find them to be one of the hardiest, least maintenance, disease resistant fish there is, but I am not a novice.
I have been keeping them for almost 40 years and they spawn constantly. The problem with this fish and many fish we buy is that we don't research the fish before we buy it and just assume that we can feed it mysis or pellets even though that is not what that fish is supposed to eat.
 

jhart

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Yonkers
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Paul well said .. But your by far not a novice .. :)
What gets me sick is when I hear , I just bought a manderin , how do I keep him alive..
Well when I worked at a certain store I would ask the customer how long has your tank been up? As you know a mature tank is the way to keeping manderins. Oh only 3 months well let's move on to another fish.. It's sad that stores don't ask you whats in your tank , just simple questions , instead just sell and hope it dies so i can sell you more so i can make more money. oh and its on sale . absoultely pathetic practice! oh but hes a good guy that has the best prices around , he'll do anything for you .. but in fact he'll sell you a fish he has no idea him self how to keep and your selling it at stupid low prices .. thats a real resposible owner .. But he's a good guy!! I am not talking about anyone in particular , you can all take this how you want as I know some of you guys will jump down my throat. Or erase my post . Be as it may ..be resposible when your buying a live animal. Especially from ill informed owners ..
 

Paul B

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Copperband butterflies are another one that few people know how to feed. They buy it and ask about feeding it flakes and pellets. There is no problem with almost any fish if you can feed it what it is supposed to eat and not what you have on hand or what you can easily get.
 

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