Frozen food or pellet trained Mandarin?

[John-Solo]

Has anyone had positive experience with feeding trained Mandarin? Iv always wanted one but never able to sustain a small refugium in the back of my 29 biocube to farm pods. What are your thoughts and experiences?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lynn.reef.nerd]

I train mine on frozen in a 20 gal where I can easily spot feed.
I found that they do not ship well or I usually prefer to pick them out at an LFS (so the small tank is a good way to also QT). Pick the fattest one.
The tank should have plenty of pods or you are willing to seed it until they start eating frozen/pellets.

I stick with rod's original blend and fish eggs. I found them to eat these very easily.
I currently have 3 pairs (green mandarin, spotted, and scooter).

Edited September 15, 2019 by lynn.reef.nerd

[John-Solo]

How long have you had yours? I have a small place don’t think I’d be able to set up a second tank dedicated to train one. Do you know much about buying them already trained? Any reputable places?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lynn.reef.nerd]

I have the oldest one over a year. 

 

I do not have any experience with ones already trained. @A.ocellaris bought a captive bread one. Maybe he can give you more insight.

[newbie2014]

I believe Algaebarn sells captive bred BIOTA mandarin. They claim their mandarin have been trained  to eat frozen. They’re expensive and sold out very fast. 

 

I got notified a few times, but never followed through with a purchase.  

[Guest]

I'd recommend the Biota CB Mandarins.  While I've not personally had one, I've read several Reef 2 Reef member's blogs that have had great success with them.  I'd also recommend watching one of their YouTube videos on their CB Mandarins (out of Palau), which is just really interesting in general.  The CB fish tend to do better in the home aquaria since that environment is how they've been raised.  They've been reared on prepared foods, and thus it's their primary food source rather than a last resort.  CB fish in general tend to be hardier and easier to keep than wild caught specimens.  Another benefit is that the aquaculture facility has an incentive to maintain a disease-free environment, since their sales dollars are tied to the long-term health of their broodstock, and the animals tend to live in the environments for significantly longer than a wild-caught specimen would at a LFS or online vendor.  Therefore, the disease risks associated with the CB specimen are mitigated as well (not negated, however).  

 

Dr. Mac's, one of the WAMAS sponsors, sells Biota CB fish.  You could probably contact them and see if they have any, or when they anticipate getting any in stock.  

[John-Solo]

That’s great! I’m prone to buy CB rather then wild Live stock to begin with. I’ll definitely look up that YouTube channel. I’m still doing my research to see if one would be the right fit for my tank. I hope so, Iv wanted one sense I got into the hobby.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[newbie2014]

Another thing I've read is that even though BIOTA mandarin can take frozen, it's still best to feed them constantly due to the biology of their digestive system. The availability of pods for them to graze on is highly recommended for good health and longevity. 

 

   

[John-Solo]

Do I NEED a refugium to keep/breed pods? All the info I’ve found just puts the two together but doesn’t really specify if you need one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[A.ocellaris]

Biota is a bit misleading when they say their mandarins com in eating frozen. Mine didn’t and I had to hatch brine shrimp for a while. In a small tank I trained it to eat frozen baby brine shrimp. This fish requires lots of time to train and Id say a refugium is necessary. However, you can set up your own pod cultures like I do:



First day I received my mandarin (a year and a few months ago)


Just today:





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[John-Solo]

WOW it looks great! Maybe you can Tell me how you set up your pod farm?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[A.ocellaris]

WOW it looks great! Maybe you can Tell me how you set up your pod farm?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s the article I followed:
https://www.themandaringarden.com/how-to-culture-copepods.html

You can get your pods from AlgaeBarn or http://www.atlanticbiotechnology.org/. I highly recommend the Tisbe Pods .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

You can also create a bit more of a "safe space" for pods with some spaces where they are safe from predation.  BRS sells this product https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/pod-chest-barr-aquatic-systems.html.  You can hide it in your rock work so that it's not easily visible, but your pods have a place to grow and reproduce without a refugium.  You can also seed your tank months in advance so that it's a big population.  A CB mandarin is honestly one of the last species I'm adding for that reason, so my pods can be really well established beforehand.  

 

On 9/15/2019 at 5:34 PM, A.ocellaris said:

Biota is a bit misleading when they say their mandarins com in eating frozen. Mine didn’t and I had to hatch brine shrimp for a while. In a small tank I trained it to eat frozen baby brine shrimp. This fish requires lots of time to train and Id say a refugium is necessary. However, you can set up your own pod cultures like I do:

 

That's really disappointing to hear!  I love the aquaculture work they're doing, so I had such high hopes for their livestock!

[John-Solo]

You can also create a bit more of a "safe space" for pods with some spaces where they are safe from predation.  BRS sells this product https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/pod-chest-barr-aquatic-systems.html.  You can hide it in your rock work so that it's not easily visible, but your pods have a place to grow and reproduce without a refugium.  You can also seed your tank months in advance so that it's a big population.  A CB mandarin is honestly one of the last species I'm adding for that reason, so my pods can be really well established beforehand.  
 
 
That's really disappointing to hear!  I love the aquaculture work they're doing, so I had such high hopes for their livestock!

Very cool! Might be worth the investment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BtmDweller]

It would be worth while talking to Dr Mac. Although a cost associated with it, saves you a headache. They are very small though. However, you should be able verify they are eating frozen or something other than live food.

[rt502]

I've had a tiny biota mandarin in a Spec V growout (lots of rock) for roughly three months. I feed a mix of frozen baby brine, a micro pellet called first bites, and a little bit of LRS (for a trimma goby). He DID NOT eat frozen or prepared food for the first few weeks - I had seeded the tank with a large amount of pods months beforehand and didn't add the mandarin until the pods covered the front glass, and I'll still need to replenish every few months. He has since begun to swim to the top of the water when I walk up to the tank in anticipation of the mix. He has about doubled in size, so the growout is working, but I'd highly recommend against getting a mandarin if you don't have a large pod population to begin with. As with others, mine was shy and refused the prep food until he was comfortable. Because the system is so small and I feed so heavily, I do a 2.5 gallon water change every 10 days or so. I'll move him to the larger tank when he's fully outgrown his current setup. I paid about $90 for him at tropical lagoon.

Edited September 18, 2019 by rt502
didn't complete the post.

[John-Solo]

Here’s the article I followed:
https://www.themandaringarden.com/how-to-culture-copepods.html

You can get your pods from AlgaeBarn or http://www.atlanticbiotechnology.org/. I highly recommend the Tisbe Pods .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s a great article. I think I’ll start setting up the system soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[treesprite]

I'm not getting a Mandarin until I have a guarantee that it will eat regular fish food. I really want one, but won't take the risk. However, ocellated dragonets, other than not being bright colors, are super cute in pairs and are much easier to get eating regular tank food. I'm going to get a trio of them after I've had the 75 running for a few months.

[Guest]

So, Pacific East Aquaculture has a pair in stock (I'm not recommending a pair).  But they can probably watch out for a single one for you that's eating frozen.  

 

https://pacificeastaquaculture.com/collections/saltwater-fish/products/copy-of-aiptasia-eating-filefish-captive-bred-from-biota

[John-Solo]

So, Pacific East Aquaculture has a pair in stock (I'm not recommending a pair).  But they can probably watch out for a single one for you that's eating frozen.  
 
https://pacificeastaquaculture.com/collections/saltwater-fish/products/copy-of-aiptasia-eating-filefish-captive-bred-from-biota

Thanks! I’m definitely going to take some time try to cultivate some pods and make sure I’m ready. Be a crime to rush into this and loose the animal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

I'm right there with you!  I added pods from my LFS to my tank as soon as it finished cycling and the rocks were in the tank.  I plan to add some more from AlgaeBarn for biodiversity here in the next month or so.  It'll probably be six months to a year before I add a mandarin/pair, regardless of whether or not they eat frozen.  

 

When I lived in Miami/Keys, we'd go straining for copepods in the shallows at night, then freeze them in ice cube trays and store them in gallon freezer bags.  They were awesome for feeding animals, and I had so much on reserve.  But of course, back then, I also did my water changes by grabbing water straight from the ocean and used my collector's license to get fish like sergeant majors from tide pools.  I'd never do that now bc of QT lol.