Mandarin Goby

[sen5241b]

Who's had success with a Mandarin Goby? I've had one a few days and I've seen him eating pods. Got a Biocube 29 with good pod piles and many pods --I have to scrape them off the glass. I also plan on NOT getting any other fish that will compete for pods. I'm thinking I'll have to supplement with live brine shrimp or orange fish eggs (yes like the kind you get with sushi).

 

Any advice on feeding them is welcome.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Who's had success with a Mandarin Goby? I've had one a few days and I've seen him eating pods. Got a Biocube 29 with good pod piles and many pods --I have to scrape them off the glass. I also plan on NOT getting any other fish that will compete for pods. I'm thinking I'll have to supplement with live brine shrimp or orange fish eggs (yes like the kind you get with sushi).

 

Any advice on feeding them is welcome.

 

 

I had one for years until he was murdered by an RBTA. He was always fat (see pic).

 

The key is getting them to eat prepared foods. Others will disagree, but in my opinion, your pods just aren't going to do the job long term.

 

For me, squirting PE mysis near him for a few days got him interested in it, and after that he would compete for it when I fed my fish. He ate PE mysis every single day after that, and also started going after formula 1 later on.

 

tim

 

[bshriver]

Some use feeding stations with mysis or cyclopeeze in them. You place a small jar with some food it it on the sand bed and hopefully the Mandarin will learn to feed in the mandarin diner. Putting some live brine in the jar couldn't hurt, although they won't stay there long - so that might not work very well.

 

Mine lives off the pods just fine, but it is a 200 gallon system with lots of LR and two fuges. He seems to be growing and is plenty fat. He may also take the prepared foods, but I have never seen him do that. I think you will need to get him on prepared foods in a 29 gallon system, as once he depletes your pod population, he will starve. Fuges help providing a breeding grounds where pods can reproduce without being eaten. The plankton then spill over into the tank when they hatch and feed the mandarin/corals.

[Sharkb8]

I was extremely lucky with mine. I had purchased some prepared pellet food, the smallest, tiniest little round balls I could find. One day while feeding a bunch dropped right around the mandarin and to my amazement, the mandarin popped one in its mouth like a gumball and ate it. That mandarin pretty much ate any sinking round pellet it could fit in its mouth after that. They key is to get the right size that will fit in the mouth and the will sink right within eye shot of the mandarin (like drop them right on its head).

 

My mandarin also taught my scooter blenny to eat this way. It seems to be a learned behavior I guess ...

[Amuze]

Mine starved to death even with a pod population in my tank. He decimated it pretty quickly. They need a tank of at least 180 gallons or more that has been well established to survive unless you are one of the VERY FEW who get theirs to eat anything other than pods. Let's say it does eat live brine shrimp. Are you willing to keep up with that?

 

I would return it to the LFS or give it to someone with a large system that can support such a creature.

 

Every fish in my tank eats pellets and nori (along with anything else I throw in there). Even the cleaner wrasse. The dragonette would not though.

Edited October 21, 2008 by audible

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I've always thought PE mysis was a miracle food. Be sure to try that.

[zygote2k]

I received mine as a rescue fish from a barren tank. I have a large refugium that has tons of planktonic life. He will only eat natural planktonic foods- I've even basted him with phytoplankton and cyclopeeze to no effect. I guess it's hit or miss with these fish.

[treesprite]

I would love to have a mandarin but am always afraid of it starving.

 

Any ideas about keeping one (that turns out not to eat prepared foods) in a well-established 65 with pods living in 3 separate containers - tank, fuge, and sump (has LR rubble in it). I sometimes see them coming out of the returns from both the sump and the fuge, so I know they are steadily cycling around.

[smarsh97]

there are more than a very few who can teach their mandarins to eat prepared foods. On MOFIB almost all the mandarins are eating prepared foods.

 

The way they do it is to put your mandarin in a breeding net and start by offering live brine, then mix in frozen brine, they mix in mysid and then leave out the live brine. Once you get them eating prepared foods good, then release them from the breeders net.

 

I think soon you will see captive bred mandarins all ready eating prepared foods on the market.

 

Sandy

Edited October 21, 2008 by smarsh97

[Sharkb8]

What is MOFIB?

[sen5241b]

there are more than a very few who can teach their mandarins to eat prepared foods. On MOFIB almost all the mandarins are eating prepared foods.

 

The way they do it is to put your mandarin in a breeding net and start by offering live brine, then mix in frozen brine, they mix in mysid and then leave out the live brine. Once you get them eating prepared foods good, then release them from the breeders net.

 

I think soon you will see captive bred mandarins all ready eating prepared foods on the market.

 

Sandy

 

Excellent advice. I'll check out MOFIB too. Yes, putting a mandarin in a 29G is risky but I have over 10lbs of LR that is in pod piles and another 22 lbs of larger pieces. After I built the pod piles, the pods went nuts --sometimes I have to scrape them off the glass.

[Sikryd]

My Mandarin and Scooter Goby eat whatever I guess. I have a fuge with pods in it, so I assume they eat those. But I know it isn't enough and with the 2 tank transfer I know that had to eat something else in between, so I think they eat mysis as well. I have seen the mandarin eat it for sure, but haven't really watched the scooter, but I am sure he does too.

I figure most fish will at least TRY to survive and eat other stuff if you make them, or give them a chance by target feeding them.

[smarsh97]

Oh sorry, Marine Ornamental Fish and Invertebrate Breeders.

 

There was a very long thread on another forum of a guy who had a breeding pair of Mandanrins in a 24 gal aquapod. He trained them both onto prepared foods and they spawned on a regular basis.

 

I can't wait until the day that we see no more starving mandarins and scooters in some stores (not all cause I've seen some fat ones recently at a store).

 

Sandy

[MisterTang]

I'm working with one right now. He has picked at the mysis, but not enough to make me confident he's out of the woods yet.

 

There are some good threads on ReefCentral about it, but you have to wade through a lot of opinion. If there's three things in life you don't talk about in polite conversation, they would be sex, politics, and Mandarins in a tank less than two billion gallons.

[Brian Ward]

 

Excellent advice. I'll check out MOFIB too. Yes, putting a mandarin in a 29G is risky but I have over 10lbs of LR that is in pod piles and another 22 lbs of larger pieces. After I built the pod piles, the pods went nuts --sometimes I have to scrape them off the glass.

 

Just keep an eye on him. 29 gal is VERY small for a mandarin because there generally aren't enough pods.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I think a mandarin would be an ideal fish for a nano or pico tank. I know the one I had would of been.

 

Small, slow, very little waste, beautiful, and only needed a couple mysis shrimp a day.

 

tim

[Brian Ward]

 

I think a mandarin would be an ideal fish for a nano or pico tank. I know the one I had would of been.

 

Small, slow, very little waste, beautiful, and only needed a couple mysis shrimp a day.

 

tim

 

 

I agree as long as it's eating prepared/frozen foods. If you can't get it to accept frozen then you could have a problem.

[sen5241b]

He's eating live brine shrimp without a problem.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Be sure you soak/feed the brine shrimp with some Selcon. Brine shrimp have very little nutritional value.

[lhcorals]

I have one in my tank and have no problems.I have plenty of pods and mysis. Mine is even chasing

frozen food when i feed. They say about 50 lbs. of live rock to house a mandarin.

[treesprite]

I would say if you stop seeing pods around and the fish eats nothing else, be prepared to give it up. I'm sure you could sell or trade it here.

[smarsh97]

or you could purchase pods or raise pods yourself. There are lots of places on the web that tell you how to raise your own pods. I have been contemplating this with my baby mandarin.

 

Sandy

[sen5241b]

Mine has just begun to eat frozen brine shrimp. I'm going to try giving him orange fish roe. I've heard they love it. Had mine a couple weeks and I still have tons of pods.

Edited November 3, 2008 by sen5241b

[m3fan8ic]

I just bought one from BRK this past Sat and introduced him to the tank. So far he is all over the places picking up pods and seems to be happy. Other fish didn't even care that they have new mate in the family

I didn't notice him eating mysis yet but keep an eye out if he does.

I really like this fish becuase of his color and uniqueness. The one I got is male just incase you are wondering.

Sid

[sen5241b]

I just bought one from BRK this past Sat and introduced him to the tank. So far he is all over the places picking up pods and seems to be happy. Other fish didn't even care that they have new mate in the family

I didn't notice him eating mysis yet but keep an eye out if he does.

I really like this fish becuase of his color and uniqueness. The one I got is male just incase you are wondering.

Sid

 

You can get live brine shrimp at Superpetz in Annadale. Soak them in selcon and your MD will do well.