Enkay

I recently (about a month or so ago) saw a documentary on sea horses on Nat geo (I think). They showed some breeding and grow out setups. apparently one of the things they said was that the grow out rate is more successful if you use spherical bowls instead of rectangular tanks. there was something about the flow of water in there which made the difference.

I use a 20 gal X high tank. It has the footprint of a 10 gallon so uses very little floor space. Very effective and fits in a corner.

I used aiptasia X on the big ones and got a few peppermints from blue ribbon koi for my nano. Those guys are awesome. They ate all the little ones in 2 weeks. I am almost aiptasia free now. Going to get a dozen of these little buggers for the 120.

Thank you Scott and OcalaReefGirl. I have read both the books you mentioned cover to cover. I have pretty much digested a lot of reading material as I have done before I have tried to breed any species. Now, I think it is time to get some actual experience as that is the ultimate teacher. As for the tiny larvae, there are species of freshwater fish which also have very tiny offspring. Bubllenesters like gouramis and bettas and scatterers like tetras to name a few. Rainbowfish also have extremely tiny hatchlings which you have to feed either micron sized dry food (bad survival rate) or paramecium. I will have to figure out what the best thing for Mandarin offspings is only by trying different ways to keep them alive. Thanks again!

I keep my blackworms in a "worm keeper" in the fridge. Usually I have to rinse/change water for the first couple days daily. Once that is done, I rinse them maybe once a week or so. A half pound fits very well in on worm keeper and it lasts me for about a month. Usually I sprinkle a bit of flake food (good use for it as I dont feed it to the fish) and they will consume it in a couple days. They look a lot "fatter" when I do that. Just my two cents! Thanks!

Dave, I do realize that rotifers might not work. And pods might be the best way to go. The biggest challenges that people have had which I have read about is getting the larvae to survive the first few days/weeks until they are large enough to eat bbs size food. I am sure I will have to experiment a whole lot and it will take some time to figure out the best conditions and foods to hopefully raise the young. Thanks for all the comments and information you are sharing. It certainly gets me thinking in all the directions in which I might have to go.

In case anyone would like to read. A very nice article on the topic. http://en.microcosmaquariumexplorer.com/wiki/Breeding_the_Green_Mandarin

Dave, thank you for your comments and information. As I stated early on in this thread, this is a project which I am trying without any great expectations. I strongly believe that unless you try, you will never gain knowledge or experience no matter how much you read. First hand experience is always the best. So, its not a huge big deal for me if I dont succeed but it would be really cool if I do. I have cultured green water for daphnia cultures and have probably bred 50 different species of fresh water fish in my lifetime. Also, I dont believe that only two people have successfully raised mandarins. There probably are others, we just dont know about them because they did not publish any information on the internet. So, we will see what happens in the coming days/weeks/months.

I have a 20 gal cycling and will watch the behavior and probably move the pair there so i can get the eggs properly. with the kind of overflows i have, with weirs running across the back of the tank, I don't think there is any possibility for me to collect the eggs unless I catch them in the act of laying them. From what I have read, they tend to spawn at "dusk" which is about 8:30 pm in my tank as the lights dim down. I will have to sit there every night watching for an hour to see if they spawn to collect eggs.

Thank you Paul for the compliment. I don't feed any of my fish pellets. Well, only if I am out of Black worms, daphnia, brine shrimp or baby brine shrimp and of course lots of pods. All my freshwater fish spawn in the community tank as well. I have had rainbows, plecos, cpds and the like spawn in the community planted tank often. I am going to have to wait to get some eggs and raise babies. Late march is when this project will hopefully get going full steam.

Sorry for the blue grainy video. Will try a better one next time. Its exciting when this happens in your DT

No idea. It is a slug with a fingernail like shell on top of it. The mouth and head(?) looks like that of a snail. It has 2 horns like a snail as well. Mostly in the rocks. Eating algae I hope?

When I click on picture 2, it says I don't have permissions to view it. Can you please correct ? I have a frogspawn which was looking somewhat like that a little while ago. I let it be and the bare "skin" went back to normal with the tentacles covering it.

Have seen couple of these in the tank. Harmful? Harmless? Beneficial? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So some general update. Today evening, I caught the pair doing the "mating dance". It is real cool to watch. No idea if they eventually released any eggs but by the looks of it, they are getting in the mood for sure. I did capture a grainy cell phone video. Will post tomorrow as I am too relaxed to get up and get the charger cable from the other room. Unfortunately, I will have to let this time pass as I leave for India next Thursday and will be gone for a couple weeks. Once I get back though, I think I can try and get this project started.

Its pure water you will be running through it. what could go wrong ? :P

I feed my fishies twice daily. Blackworms mostly. BBS. Some greenies for the tang and foxface. Top off is once in 10 days or so, to top off the top off. I dont do WCs all that regularly. Do scrub the glass once a week. I do check daily if the SPS polyps are happy.

Ouch!

Did I miss it? I cant find it on the website.

I like the duct tape idea better. The coverup will be flawless

Thats a good idea. Wife wont be very happy to see one missing though

Paul, et. al., I do have a pair (m/f) of mandarins and the male eats blackworms. I have seen it so I know he eats them. I am trying to create a feeder like paul has done to feeb bbs but I can't find the right mesh. I hope I do soon. I do dump a bunch of bbs in the tank and I do have a lot of pods. The female does not come out to feed on blackworms bt is foraging in the rocks. I am hoping one of these days I will see their mating dance and then one day I might catch them spawning. Thanks for all the input.

Thanks for all the input guys. From everything I have read so far, the fry eat specific rotifers/zooplankton. Trying to find out what type these are. By the looks of it, it is the feeding of the fry that is "difficult" but if you try and take good care, it is possible. I am approaching it as an experiment and a challenge. If I succeed and raise fry, everyone here gets tank raised mandarins for free . So wish me luck . After breeding all kinds of freshwater fish, some easy, some very difficult, I want to try these for sure. Going to try and set up a tank and all in the next month or so, I have a pair in my display tank. They are not showing spawning behavior yet. hopefully they will. Else, might get another pair for breeding purposes. Has anyone done rotifer cultures ? How easy/hard is it to sustain one? Rotifers seem to be the primary food for the fry.

Thank you Scott! Will check it out.

Hmm, well its worth a try. worst case I wont succeed .