QT a Mandarin?

[Fl_Seagull]

How do you keep a Mandarin feed during QT? I have had people tell me you don't need to QT them and others just look at me dumb when I ask.

Seems very likely they would starve to death in the typical QT tank for 4+ weeks. I haven't had anyone tell me mandarins will eat pellet food.

 

[Anonymous]

most mandarins wont eat prepared foods..unless you have harvested pods ready to feed regularly for the next 4 weeks i doubt that it will help the health of the Mandarin...i honestly dont know how you would keep one fed since it searches for pods constantly throughout the day...

 

[psiico]

Don't quote me on this but mandarins have a slime coat. They don't usually get ich or other parasites because of this so you may not need to QT them. but like I said, don't quote me on that.

 

[Anonymous]

i wont quote you but all fish have a slime coat i know what you mean though..just f'ing with ya :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

A mandarin's slime coat is different from the rest, since they also use a lot of mucus at night to create a litle cocoon to sleep in; very creepy the first time you see it! They have these little jets behind theyre gills that they can shoot little clouds of mucus out of when they eat somthing they dont like (like a bubble); also very weird, but kind of funny to see too.
Hey, my mandarins ONLY eat frozen "Marine Cuisine" soaked in Garlic Extreme; that and whatever pods they can catch during the day. I know they eat frozen preps because they sat in a Petco dealer tank with NO live rock, and they were only fed based on the schedule of incoming fish, for 4 weeks! Dont settle for what rule-quoting ninnies toss at you (no offense, ninnies :lol: ); life itself is unpredictable to a great extent. More so with aquatic life, the proverbial crux of life on earth; you think that millions of years of evolution is suddenly going be thwarted by what type of food is presented?! I think not. Specialized diets, un-altered existence, extreme envirnments, yeah yeah, blah blah... If youre hungry, youll eat; bottom line.
Just make sure you have something in there for them to hide behind; that will make them take it alot better. Being a specialized feeder is one thing; being a shy specialized feeder is another! Whats your mandarin got, anyway?
Hope that helps in some small way at least!

 

[WannaBeReefer]

DEWR, I have to disagree. I went to Pet Smart about a month ago and noticed they had a mandarin in the tank. I thought to myself, he's a goner. No salties buy there fish from this place, they are terrible. I went back the other day for some dog supplies and noticed the same manadrin (confirmed with sales person) pretty much dead, only a day or 2 left for the poor guy. Skinny and a desperate look on its face. The sales person told me they tried to feed it everything and showed me the fridg packed with opened frozen food stuffs. He said it just wont eat! I wish the manager of that department was there, I would have voiced my opinion.

 

[tangir1]

Every fish is different, even for the same species. With that said, I kept Mandrain for years, and I never feed my tank. They survivied on the *pods in the tank alone.

 

[Anonymous]

Disagree, if you must. A sign of ill-faith, it is. To the Jedi council, we must go.
Talking like Yoda is fun. :lol:

Well, all I can say is that I love watching my mandarins; eat, play, court, and even just swim! Watching them sleep is the weirdest... Sorry you cant enjoy the same exeriences because your disagreement with my practices put you in a position of defending your authority as a reefkeeper... :roll:
Man, I just keep on taking shots at people these days! I dont know why; maybe its cause I lost my clownfish...

 

[Anonymous]

PS. Ninny! Neener neener neener!

 

[Dinoflorist]

Well how about mandarin gobies, anyway. In a small tank of 20 gallons with a large copepod population, is it going to decimate the copepods and THEN starve? Or will it maintain a happy balance of eating vs. copepod reproduction?
The tank is somewhat mature, it was cycled with rock and substrate from an established tank, so this one has had rock and sand thats had 6 months to reproduce.

 

[Anonymous]

Lots of people have reported success balancing predator vs. prey, but I'm not one of them.

I let my 30g tank mature for 6 months.
I set up the mother of all pod farms in the fuge.
I made rubble rock pod havents/nurseries in the fuge AND the display.
In some parts of each (fuge and display), the pods were so thick, they swarmed.

... I got my psych mandarin and in about a week the tank was pretty much devoid of pods. He died about two weeks later despite my effots to cultivate more pods and also augment his diet with frozen/prepared foods.

I don't think I'll buy a mandarin ever again, unless it's the only one of it's kind in a very well established and very large tank.

Maybe I just got a superpredator or something.

 

[Anonymous]

I would always quarantine, and before purchase I would ensure that I had a righteous 'fuge going with copious and various pod life before I got the mandarin. Eating the prepared foods is fine, but it's not what seems to really keep them going long term, nor gets them to full adult size (how many here have seen a 5" - 6" long mandarin?). There's a reason why those who've spent more than a couple of years at this say just what Hwa says, a very large (housing 100lbs. + good quality live rock), well-established systems are what's best for these animals. The point isn't to get the creatures we keep just to survive, is it? I think most folks want to see them thrive, as well.

So, a q/t in a system with access to the pod production 100lbs. or so would produce would be the ideal situation.

Dewr, I believe you misunderstand the difference between "eating" and gaining useful nutrition from that which is eaten.

 

[Anonymous]

*waves*

Hey lady! sup?

 

[silly34]

I have a Spotted mandarin, I was told they would eat mysis shrimp, is this correct?

B.

 

[Anonymous]

Me in my new Gentoo!

 

[Anonymous]

silly, i just read a few posts over the last couple of weeks about people being successful with that. give it a shot. i still hope you have a good population though. *shrug* let us know!

 

[Dinoflorist]

:evil: that sucks. We really wanted one, too.

but as long as I have all those copepods, I guess I might as well have something eat them. Maybe that sand sifting star will work after all.

 

[Anonymous]

its gonna come down to having a good population of pods...SM is right on quarantine any fish..(i should heed my own advise)ive been fish keeping for 15 years with out having too many pathogens in my tanks..mind you i dont quarantine however i do suggest it...pure luck knock on wood...i had a mandarin for months with no signs of starvation..but it jumped out..nonetheless i wont keep another one in my small tank because of luck i had the first time...i tend to agree that a small tank will more than likely not keep up with mandarin consumption of pods...

 

[Fl_Seagull]

To answer the question of why am I asking is that I would like to have one but I wanted to clear-up the contraditory information I have been getting.

Seems I will have to look into cultivating 'pods :wink: if I am going to QT the fish. The population in my 125 gal seems high but it would be difficult to know I was transferring enough to the QT.

I also was wondering if that would be a good idea :? . Since I am adding clean-up crew bit by bit to the 125 gal tank. Seems I could easily add "ick" to my QT. I am not sure my LFS's are keeping wild caught fish out of the same water used to house their snails and Hermits.

Suggestion on phytoplankton source cultures?

Has anyone set-up a system like this?

 

[Anonymous]

Im in the process of hatching baby brine shrimp for the first time now, because I want my mandarins to have something better to eat. I agree, seamaidem; I want my fish to thrive instead of just survive. I also want whats best for them. However, I am not going to say that its not possible to keep "happy" mandarins, because mine are just as active as theyve ever been, and more than I thought they would be for fish that are designed for "hopping". Theyre not going crazy, but theyre always courting each other and doing goofy stuff with one another.
Ive heard that baby brine shrimp are a good surrogate for copepods and such; we'll see in about 20 more hours!
On culturing pods, I also have wanted to know if its possible to cultivate them in the same or similar way that you could brine or mysis shrimp, and other such micro-shrimp and inverts. I would love to be able to provide exactly what my mandarins love!
On the adult size thing, I dont know if mine will ever be as big as those in the wild, but I do know that they have grown a bit in my tank on frozen foods. I dont think Im stressing the other half of the nutritional equation enough: GARLIC EXTREME! I know they ate the frozen preps without it, but that very substance may account for their vigor. I mean, thats what is SUPPOSED to do; I use the minimal amount, by the way. And Ive never had any parasites; too bad the stuff doesnt ward off bacterial infections! GARLIC IS GOOD. GARLIC IS YOUR FRIEND, AS LONG AS ITS EXTREME!
GARLIC EXTREME. Cant possibly be hurting anything, unless you super overdose or something...
Hope that my informational pittance helps someone in some way... :|