Can mandarins survive on newly hatched baby brine shrimp?

[Maximus]

I just received a pair of tiny mandarins from Biota and was wondering If they can survive on live baby brine instead of pods? I will also supplement with frozen foods and tdo pellets. Thanks.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Maybe? Although they’ll probably supplement with whatever pods they get off of the rocks and such.

 

[Leo_ian]

They need to be fed at least 5 times a day if that is the case, you will still need a healthy pod-ulation even if you feed them frozen food

 

[lavoisier]

You can increase the nutritional value of newly hatched brine shrimp by adding DHA for 24 hrs or so before feeding.

SELCO

 

[Paul B]

Only if you put the shrimp in a feeder. Or The shrimp will immediately go to the surface and be lost.

 

[Maximus]

Thanks guys. Perhaps a Paul B feeder is what I need.

 

[afboundguy]

Only if you put the shrimp in a feeder. Or The shrimp will immediately go to the surface and be lost.

+1 use something like the @Paul B spot feeder design - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/thanks-paulb-mandarin-feeder.263752/

I also suggest buying one of the brine shrimp circular hatcheries as they are super easy compared to the normal hatchery set up. I can get 6-7 days from one batch (have to add fresh eggs around day 3) before the smell gets bad enough where I have to quickly clean it out.

Here's a link - https://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/hatchery-dish-kit

I feed my tank 1-2 times a day with the fresh BBS along with several other mandarin specific feeding methods to make sure my baby girl is nice and fat and healthy!!!

 

[jrill]

Check the biota site and you'll see a list of prepared and frozen foods their mandarins where raised on. No need for pods.

 

[afboundguy]

Check the biota site and you'll see a list of prepared and frozen foods their mandarins where raised on. No need for pods.

While it helps to have them already eating frozen and prepared foods I don't think long term you can get away with having a fat and healthy mandarin without pods or other microfauna that they can munch on throughout the day. Their digestive tract/stomach is long and thin so physiologically they need to eat constantly to get enough nutrients. They simply do not have a typical stomach where they could gorge on food only 1-2 times a day and it stays in their stomach to be able to digest over a long period of time. To thrive they need to be constantly eating throughout the day so that they can get the proper nutrients due to their physiologically different digestive tract...

 

[Maximus]

Yes, I am using the circular hatchery and like it a lot. Didn't even think about adding new eggs to it after 2-3 days. I usually just clean it out after the third day or so. I agree, they probably do need pods eventually so I am going to place an order for Tisbe pods and will try to culture them. Thanks again guys!

 

[afboundguy]

Yes, I am using the circular hatchery and like it a lot. Didn't even think about adding new eggs to it after 2-3 days. I usually just clean it out after the third day or so. I agree, they probably do need pods eventually so I am going to place an order for Tisbe pods and will try to culture them. Thanks again guys!

I've found that I can add about 1/2 a scoop after day 3'ish and after about 6 days the water starts to smell enough that I clean the whole thing. But it's super easy to clean I'm just that lazy sometimes!!!

 

[jrill]

While it helps to have them already eating frozen and prepared foods I don't think long term you can get away with having a fat and healthy mandarin without pods or other microfauna that they can munch on throughout the day. Their digestive tract/stomach is long and thin so physiologically they need to eat constantly to get enough nutrients. They simply do not have a typical stomach where they could gorge on food only 1-2 times a day and it stays in their stomach to be able to digest over a long period of time. To thrive they need to be constantly eating throughout the day so that they can get the proper nutrients due to their physiologically different digestive tract...

Not saying your wrong but I've read several reports from owners that have kept captive breed for quite awhile on prepared foods and the mandarins are doing just fine.

 

[HockeyRooster]

I have yet to see my captive bred eat frozen or pellets but she is fat. Dosed pods several times over a couple months prior to adding her and then started to add live hatched brine shrimp every few days to supplement. In fact I asked a similar question recently and got very positive replies about feeding brine.

Mandrin and brine shrimp

I added an ORA mandarin a couple of weeks ago to my 2ish year old 90g. I added rotifers and copepods several times I’ve the past 6 months in preparation for the mandarin. I am currently hatching brine shrimp on an almost daily basis and adding them live to the tank. I am also cultivating...

www.reef2reef.com

I just dump them in the tank. I’ve recently started to cultivate pods (which is rather easy since I’m culturing phyto as too)

 

[afboundguy]

Not saying your wrong but I've read several reports from owners that have kept captive breed for quite awhile on prepared foods and the mandarins are doing just fine.

If they're in an established tank they are probably munching on pods all day long. Any tank that has live rock will have pods and other microfauna that they will eat. I'm saying if you kept a mandarin in a tank without live rock and sand similar to a QT tank and just fed it frozen and prepared food unless you do it constantly throughout the day the mandarin won't last long plus the tank water would probably foul up quite quickly from all the necessary multiple feedings lol

 

[Anak’s Reef]

Check the biota site and you'll see a list of prepared and frozen foods their mandarins where raised on. No need for pods.

Not to be mean or sound mean. But that is not true at all. Mandarins specific diet are pods, even if it’s on baby brine or any type of frozen food, they still need pods. Without pods they will certainly die.

 

[92Miata]

They need to be fed at least 5 times a day if that is the case, you will still need a healthy pod-ulation even if you feed them frozen food

Biota's captive bred mandarins are pretty much raised on prepared food. They do fine in low pod tanks.

And no, you don't need to feed them 5 times a day. Taking larger more nutritious food means they don't need to eat all the time.

 

[Anak’s Reef]

Here’s a picture of mine, she eats a ton. She is captive bred but I found her at a petco with a couple friends but only her looked healthy enough. She does not eat frozen although I’ve seen her pecking at small mysis a couple times. Now, she doesn’t touch it anymore, just looks at it and examines it then decides she doesnt want it. Here she is: you can see more of her on my Instagram: anaks_reef!

 

[Anak’s Reef]

Biota's captive bred mandarins are pretty much raised on prepared food. They do fine in low pod tanks.

And no, you don't need to feed them 5 times a day. Taking larger more nutritious food means they don't need to eat all the time.

Correct, but you do need to feed them quite a lot of prepared food. The food goes quickly through their digestive system and I guess that’s why my mandarin always poops twice a day. It’s literally half of herself. The poop I mean, I know, pretty crazy. But anyways, you do need to feed them more often. They eat a ton and since the food goes through faster, they need to keep eating.

 

[92Miata]

Not to be mean or sound mean. But that is not true at all. Mandarins specific diet are pods, even if it’s on baby brine or any type of frozen food, they still need pods. Without pods they will certainly die.

Biota's mandarins are literally raised on prepared food. They are absolutely fine long term on prepared food.


We've had some for a year+. They've tripled in size and are fat. You do not need to worry about your pod population with Biota's mandarins. They readily eat prepared foods - no specialized feeders needed.

 

[William Mumford]

I just received a pair of tiny mandarins from Biota and was wondering If they can survive on live baby brine instead of pods? I will also supplement with frozen foods and tdo pellets. Thanks.

I hatch my brine shrimp in phytoplankton the hatch rate is not great but the benefits of phytoplankton "gut loading" of the brine shrimp is worth it to me.