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gutfeeling 
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 Topic: My mandarin dragonet is starving...
Posted: January 10 2011 at 3:27pm |
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My husband and I have a Mandarin Dragonet. She use to be supper fat but since the LFS ran out of a certain kind of rodifers (sp) she has been getting thinner and thinner. She isn't eating. We have tried two other kinds of cocopods, but they don't seem to be what she wants even though the LFS clerk said that she would eat them. I am really worried about her. Does anyone know where I can get some (little green wattery looking stuff) rodifers for her by the end of the week? Or some other kind of food (that isn't $20 for ten little swimmy things) that she would eat? Thanks for the help everyone.
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ptronsp
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 3:43pm |
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You could go to Brine shrimp direct in Odgen and they can hook you up with what you need to grow your own rotifers. I have had to grow rotifers for my baby clowns. It's super easy.
There website is brineshrimpdirect.com
Pam
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Nick801
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 3:45pm |
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Rotifers are super super tiny .... I'm curious if thats really what your looking for?
if so I can hook you up with some for free, but I'm still thinking copepods and amphipods
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ptronsp
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 4:05pm |
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I have heard Copepods are like a snack to Mandarins so I am thinking amphipods is what she would need.
Pam
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arthuriv
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 5:01pm |
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Have you tried live brine shrimp?
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 5:04pm |
I hope there isn't a Wrasse or other bug eater in this tank too.  For the long term health of the Mandarin I move it temporarily to another tank or a Refugium that has lot's of bugs. This will allow bugs to repopulate in the current tank for when you move it back.
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Crazy Tarzan
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 5:09pm |
You need to get it to start eating frozen. It might take some live brine shrimp to train it though. Put live food in a pipet/syringe and get it near the mandarin. Once they see it let a little food out, then watch to see if it eats.
It will eventually learn that the pipet has food and will eat from it readily. As it starts to eat the live offerings you can then start to slowly mix in some frozen and it will transition over. You can even train them to eat at a specific spot if you'd like.
Is it a striped or spotted mandarin? The spotted tend to transition easier IME than the striped.
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Was that in there yesterday? Casper--WY windier than ?
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gutfeeling
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Posted: January 10 2011 at 10:22pm |
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well, the LFS said they were rodifers, but I am willing to try anything. We do put live brine shrimp in the tank but I don't think she is eating them. I will try to train her to eat frozen, we have tuns of that. She is a striped mandarin. The things we fed her look like just a green liquid. You can't see anything moving, just green water. So I am not sure what they were. We bought some bigger bugs they were the size of a pin head but she didn't care much for them. We have a fire gobie, blue damsel, lawnmower blenny, and the Mandarin in a 12 gallon. We don't have any other tanks set up. So I can't change her to a different tank. I hope I can fatten her up again. She was rather plump once. Oh dear. Thanks.
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bfessler
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Posted: January 11 2011 at 8:51am |
That's quite a few fish in a tank that small. How long has it been set up and has it always been stocked that heavily?
There is not much chance that a tank that size will support a Mandarin with enough pods so you will need to train it to eat frozen ASAP.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 11 2011 at 9:16am |
What I meant was that you should give the Mandarin to someone with a tank that is at least 75 gals which has a good growth of bugs and no competition; no Wrasses, no Psuedochromis, no Royal Gramma, etc.  It's easy. Just post here in a new topic that you need someone to take it and nurse it back to health. Are you in Utah? What city? To be completely frank, you are very very... very lucky that it has lived for you in a tank so extremely small for a Mandarin. We actually don't know how long it has been under your care. My guess is less than 6 months. Am I right?
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Fish-4-U
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Posted: January 11 2011 at 9:17am |
Hey Gutfeeling,
Here is a little trick that must be at least 30 yrs old.
First get a section of Under gravel riser hard tubing 1/2" diameter (ya know that old style U.G. filter tube that the bubbles rise up to create a current)
Then use live "blackworms" to start feeding (they are a Freshwater critter, but will survive for a few minutes in saltwater). They have a negative buoyancy and will sink down the thin tube, and will squiggle (sp?) around and attract your mandarin with any circulation off of course.
The clear hard tubing wont scare him like a big arm's shadow, keep it a couple of inches above his head and add the food above the water line and let it slide on down. As you progress you can move to frozen bloodworms then mysis.
If you need any of this equipment we have it available all the time.
Tried and True!!
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 11 2011 at 10:03am |
 Fish-4-U Coincidentally, I was going to be visiting your store today to buy some clear tubing for another use. I also need some algae paste, if you have it.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: January 11 2011 at 7:50pm |
 Fish-4-U wrote:
Hey Gutfeeling,
Here is a little trick that must be at least 30 yrs old.
First get a section of Under gravel riser hard tubing 1/2" diameter (ya know that old style U.G. filter tube that the bubbles rise up to create a current)
Then use live "blackworms" to start feeding (they are a Freshwater critter, but will survive for a few minutes in saltwater). They have a negative buoyancy and will sink down the thin tube, and will squiggle (sp?) around and attract your mandarin with any circulation off of course.
The clear hard tubing wont scare him like a big arm's shadow, keep it a couple of inches above his head and add the food above the water line and let it slide on down. As you progress you can move to frozen bloodworms then mysis.
If you need any of this equipment we have it available all the time.
Tried and True!!
Good Luck |
This is exactly what I love to see from our LFS! Great post guys!
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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gutfeeling
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Posted: January 14 2011 at 2:09pm |
Thanks everyone. We have given her some live brine shrimp, she still doesn't seem to be eating them. I will see if my husband is interested in finding a new home for her, or if he wants to try to get her eating frozen. We have had her for about a year now. She started out in the 12 tank, then we moved her to a 45, but she wasn't dooing well, so we put her back in the 12. Now we don't have the bigger tanks, so all we have is the 12.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 15 2011 at 9:53am |
Did you try the live Blackworms as Kris, the owner of Fish-4-U, suggested? He knows what he's talking about. I bought one of those tubes for another purpose but I have enough leftover. I will give you the other piece. I live closest to his store so I could even pick up some of the worms for you. I'm really sorry, but Mandarins should go into a tank where there are plenty of live bugs and enough room to allow the bug population to spawn and keep providing for these fish. One focus of the WMAS(Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society) is the promotion of responsible reef aquarium husbandry.
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base762
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Posted: February 01 2011 at 9:36pm |
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i had the same problem..... started target feeding black worms...as i do not run a fug's....and he was eating them well ..... then be-leave it or not he started eating THERA+ A pellets no lie....
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: February 07 2011 at 8:31pm |
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How is it doing?
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base762
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Posted: February 08 2011 at 10:02pm |
he's a pig for the spectrum +A pellets .. but buy the time they get past all the other pig's ..lol...i have to put in more then i prefer .... so as amazing that it is that i have a pellet eating mandarin and i'm not running a fug's and able to keep many bug's he's up for trade or sale 
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: February 09 2011 at 11:04am |
I need a Mandarin.
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base762
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Posted: February 09 2011 at 9:09pm |
he's yours just trying to catch him 
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