[Sad day] My ORA Mandarin - Progress Log

This morning I brought home an ORA mandarin. She is TINY! Barely bigger than my clown goby. She is beautiful - and really cute!

I've been wanting a mandarin, but I've read a lot about how the wild caught ones are collected, and I did not like what I read - so I waited for the ORA mandarin to be released. These ORA mandarins are tank raised on prepared foods.

Several people have brought these home already and some are having issues getting them to eat prepared foods. My mandarin would not eat prepared foods at the LFS, but appeared to be hunting. They kept trying to get her to eat prepared, but she wasn't accepting it (they let ORA know this). She was there for over two weeks, so she must have been eating something.

Since I'm up for the challenge, I decided to bring her home. I thought, better me than someone else! Plus, I really like the fact that she is tank raised, whether she ever takes prepared food or not. My tank already has a good pod population and I added 6,000-8,000 pods this morning - so she should be set; if she hunts.

I will update this thread with her progress. Wish me, and her, luck! I'll get pictures when I can. Currently she's hiding in the rocks.

 

Good luck and keep us posted, you are now the official 3reef ora mandarin guinea pig ;D

 

Congrats! I will definitely follow along with this! My Green Mandarin eats brine and mysis... Lucked out on that one! Best of wishes for the new little one! Im sure you can do it! Green Spotted Mandarins are pretty easy to get to eat prepared food from what Ive read.

 

I'm glad you posted this. I don't usually pay more for a fish just because it is ORA, but I was planning on purchasing one of the ORA mandarins since they are suppose to eat prepared foods before ORA ships them.

I hope your mandarin starts eating and good luck. If she does, I will buy one from ORA. If not, I guess no mandarin for me. :-[

 

congrats kc can't wait to hear how it goes. yep mine eats just about everything but it has to "hunt" for it so good luck i will be following this.

 

Thanks guys!! I hope she makes it. She is so precious. The LFS gave me a guarantee, which they normally don't offer, so I thought I would go for it.

I feel good that she's tank raised, so that makes me happy, but I really do hope she gets on prepared foods. We shall see! ORA told my LFS exactly what they were feeding at the facility, so I will go get the same foods. I did see a video of them eating very well at the ORA facility, so I think the not eating may be a mixture of shipping/new environment stress and how young they are. They are really small.

I'll keep this updated!

 

Best of luck and I will be following, too.

 

Good luck with the new little beauty! I bet once she adjusts she'll begin eating the prepared foods again.

 

Wow I'll be following along. I'd like to get a green spotted goby sometime in the future. Good luck!

 

Congrats kc and yes keep us, your 3 reef family posted.