Mandarin feeding

Its not that they will fight....its everything you are doing is against most peoples beliefs with mandarins. People say no less than 55 gallons per mandarin and at least 1lb rock per gallon. One mandarin can wipe an entire pod population in a 30 gallon overnight. 2 couple probably wipe it in a couple of hours. You are very lucky to have them both eating something other than brine at this point. It is not easy to train them. I have had mine for 4 months in my 72 with a 20g fuge and its so skinny. Keep us posted and good luck.

 

you could continue to add pods and it shouldnt be a big deal if you can afford it. haha i couldnt. the only thing I have to add is that from what i have heard frozen foods like brine and blood worms doesnt give them the nutrition that pods do. it just passes through them. i kept a scooter blenny (a member of the manderin family) and i watched him wither away because of his lack of copepods. he still ate his brine and bloodworms, but had already depleated the copepods in the tank. so he wasnt getting adaquet nutrition. awesome little fish manderins are, but i think i will wait a while for another one.
good luck.

 

Thanks for all the input. Putting in the pods the way I am is not to expensive about $8 bucks a week. I have spent more in my life and gotten less. My Scarlet Macaw eats much more then that a week and she is worth every penny just like my Mandarins. The LFS i use has my pods waiting when I go in. It would be cheaper to buy 6 bottles at once but I am afraid they will not survive so i will continue with the 1 bottle every 2 weeks. I will post later to let everyone know how I make out. Thanks again

Tony G

 

you can dump all 6 bottles in and just add a little extra food for the pods. Mine like algae wafers, flake food and poo. LMAO.

 

Thanks whippy, you reminded me to put some algae wafers chunks in my pod piles!

 

Lmao!! It works! It looks so funky after lights out too!

 

I will do it. I like funny. Thanks again. How long will 6 bottles last. One more thing. When I add the pods I turn my pumps off for a few minutes to give them time to settle in. i was worried that they would be sucked into the filter are. i do the same thing when adding live brine. Good idea od bad?

Thanks again,

Tony G

 

Great idea. I leave mine off for a half hour or so to give time to settle in. I use a baster sometimes to shoot them into rock piles. Rubble piles are a good idea to have since they're areas for the pods to breed that the mandarins can't ravage. LOL!

you can also grow your own pods. I'll find the bucket o' pods thread for you.


http://www.3reef.com/forums/fish-food/going-start-pod-farm-65860.html

 

Check out my thread in the DIY thread about a HoB fuge, it will help keep your pod count WAY up!

 

Just an update on my little buddies. Both have taken to frozen foods. I tried many different kinds and tried no less the 9 times for each kind. My wife was the one who got them hooked on frozen. I had to spend some time on the road at work. 4 days out each week. It was quite funny how she feeds them. She stands in front of the tank with a small plastic cup. If green and spotted are hungry they meet her at the glass. She turns off the pumps puts the food in they both go crazy eating. I mean pig out eating!!! Going to start going less and less with the copepods and see what happens. Only real problem now is the wife is starting to like the tank. At first she thought way too much money and you cannot play with them. Now she is hooked. You are probably thinking good thing but she wants a bigger tank. MUCH BIGGER!!;D Good thing I know but we are not ready yet. Looking at maybe Christams making the move to a bigger tank. We will see how things go. Anyway just an update. All is going well.