Currently I have 135g tank in the middle of a fishiess cycle with a 40g sump/refuge. As the title states I love the mandarin dragonets but I know most only feed on copepods. How and when can I start adding copepods to the system? I plan on waiting to get the dragonet until the copepod population is stable. I want him to have the best chance possible.
In love with Mandarins
- Thread starter Narsysa
- Start date
You need to talk to guys on here who have macro algae that is going through a pod boom and get a nice sized clump and add it to a low flow fuge area. Pods go through cycles of breeding and become dormant at times. If you buy pods it's not often they all make it. Best to get established reef pods from another tank.
Some local fish shops have huge fuges but make sure the fish in the system are clean
Some local fish shops have huge fuges but make sure the fish in the system are clean
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You could also set up a small temporary tank to train one in. They seem to take to the PE mysis pretty quick. It takes a few extra minutes during feeding every night, but then you can target feed and not have to worry. I did it with mine and they're fat and healthy. They grab the mysis from the feeding tube even. Pods are always a big + of course, but training them to frozen is definitely better.then you can get a pair 
I have noticed that the spotted mandarin seems to take to the PE immediately, the green mandarin took a couple days. If you have the room you could even train it to eat inside a glass jar so it doesn't have to fight for food. Although again, my spotted ones eat like the rest of my fish whereas the green one is always in his own world lol.
I have noticed that the spotted mandarin seems to take to the PE immediately, the green mandarin took a couple days. If you have the room you could even train it to eat inside a glass jar so it doesn't have to fight for food. Although again, my spotted ones eat like the rest of my fish whereas the green one is always in his own world lol.
Weather you buy pods or get them from someone local to you, i would start adding them now. They will breed best when there are no predators to feed off them. Let them multiply and by the time you are ready for the mandarin maybe your tank will be too.
Also I would highly recommend you train your mandarin to eat prepared foods. even with a tank full of pods that mandarin will go through the entire population in a few months, then starve and die. best of luck
Also I would highly recommend you train your mandarin to eat prepared foods. even with a tank full of pods that mandarin will go through the entire population in a few months, then starve and die. best of luck
Man I really want one in my nano. I finally started seeing pods in my tank. And there are a lot living in my cheato in the refug. My tanks been up and running for about 4 months now. Would anyone recommend me getting one for a 12g nano ? And should I get one now or wait till my tank is a bit more mature
Also, you don't have to set up a temp tank to train, some just prefer to. I never did, just waited and target fed every night. I suggest the PE mysis because that's what I've had the best luck with. They're big, but even my baby that was barely an inch managed to eat them. They both started out that small and within about 3 months more than doubled in size.
I wouldn't recommend one for a 12g even if it's trained to eat prepared foods as these fish are constant grazers and need to eat continuously. These fish will need to be fed multiple times a day and even if that is done can easily result in poor water quality from the constant feeding and uneaten food.
I've had luck in my 8 gal seahorse tank with one eating frozen.. But only because the tank was so small and no real fast good competition .. Target feeding every night.. And throw a bag if pods in every month or 6 weeks ( w no fuge) once it went in my big est 90 it was all down hill from other fish getting all the good first, wayyy harder to target feed in a big tank. But like mentioned.. In a nano you must be careful about uneaten food.. Or it's a battle with nutrients :/
Personally, I wasted a ton of money on bottled pods and my mandarins would still die til I started training. I found the greens to be a lil more difficult, just took a lol more patience. My green is in a 29 cube with 2 clowns, 4 firefish, a blue spot goby, and talbots damsel to give you an idea. It's easier to train in a smaller tank simply bcuz of less space to chase him around in lol. I just use the coral feeding tube that looks like a turkey baster. Every night I throw some pellets in first for the rest of the fish, then slowly put the PE mysis right in front of the mandarin. At first they like a lil flow to hit the mysis, I guess they think it's alive that way? You really just have to target feed every night so they get the hang of it. Definitely best to start out with a fat one. I also try to place a few out of flow so they can find them. It's really just a matter of patience and daily target feeding. When you go to pick one out, have the store feed in front of you to see who interested. It's not as hard as I always thought it was. Just patience and persistence. Even training in a 135 is cool, so long as you can slow the flow at feeding time so he has a chance to catch the mysis and learn the drill. But to be totally honest, the spotted are easier, more personality too. I prefer the markings of the green, but spotted are easier in every sense, and definitely respond to you more. Just food for though. Either way, you just have to be persistent about target feeding. I also like to dangle the mysis at the end of tube, teaches them that the tube is where their food comes from, after a while, they start coming to you at feeding time.
Sometimes its not a lack of pods in the tank but the condition of the specimen itself. Rarely have I seen mandarins with full bellies from the LFS. Most of them look starved. Always look at how active the mandarin is and the silhouette of the belly. if the belly is sunken in considerably then the odds are heavily against you.
