Mandarin

Just went to petco and they just got a shipment of fish in, they had a mandarin dragonet in the shipment. I told them to put it on hold for me and i will go after work to pick it up. They didnt seem to know what kind of food it ate. What do you guys feed yours if you have one? I would think that petco probably has them accustom to something easy. I have been reading some articles and they say to feed them live stuff. Are frozen brine ok?


Need some help on this before i go buy it

 

If you're planning on putting it in your 26, then think again. Mandarins need tanks that have been established for 8 months to a year with LOTS of live rock. Ideally something in the 100+ gallon range with 150lbs of LR. They feed exclusively on Copepods. You may get 1 in 1000 that will eat frozen food or even pellets. But it's rare to say the least.

Not only that, but Petco has no clue what it eats because they have no clue on anything related to the saltwater hobby. Pass this by, my friend.

 

Most of time mandarins won't eat prepared foods consistently. You will have to have a large, well-established tank with a fuge (to keep pod populations healthy) in order to sustain one.

You're only chance of keeping a mandarin long-term with your current setup is to have your LFS demonstrate to you that the mandarin will eat prepared food before you buy it. If it doesn't, it will die in your tank eventually. (Based on the tank in your signature.)

Also, I wouldn't buy fish at Petco, but that's another issue.

EDIT: Oops, sorry. Brandon beat me to it as I was writing this post.

 

Well, i thought it would be good to rescue it since they have it in a way smaller tank than i have it, I will ask them to feed it. If he doesnt eat the food they give him ill just pass it up. I have bought most of my fish from this particular petco location and they are as healthy as they can be. I have to save money somehow, since if i go to the local lfs they charge almost double for the same healthy fish.

 

+1 i never get my livestock from "chain stores". Sometimes i like to go there and see what the employees really know about the hobby, the end result is allways the same...:-/

 

I agree with Mission, I bought one for my 24 gallon nano and was constantly having to buy live pods and the other fish were eating them before the mandarin could get to them he ended up still starving to death

 

I've only seen one person keep one alive in a tank less that 55g, and his 29g has more rock than water and he's the only fish in there and the tank was a coral only tank for 5 years.
BTW he's fat as He!!

 

cubicus

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Cubicus Boxfish


how about this guy? would he eat my cleaner shrimp? anyone have one?

they just got one of these also, of course it will outgrow the tank eventually.