My tank has been up for almost six months. Only in the last two months have I added pods from Algaebarn. Eventually I'd like to add a sand sifter such as a Green Mandarin. How do I know when it's safe to add? There being enough of a PODs population.
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My tank has been up for almost six months. Only in the last two months have I added pods from Algaebarn. Eventually I'd like to add a sand sifter such as a Green Mandarin. How do I know when it's safe to add? There being enough of a PODs population.
I'm contemplating a bonded pair of Biota Green Mandarins from Algaebarn. They supposedly eat frozen food also.
I disagree with this, they are smart but you shouldn't rely on them eating frozen. Even if they do, they have fast metabolisms so feeding once a day with frozen might not be enough.Whenever you want. Just teach them to eat frozen. Mandarins are intelligent and can easily be taught to eat frozen.
My original pair used to live in a 20 gallon and now share a 55 gallon with 3 leopard wrasses. Not a single pod to be seen in the display, but all live off a healthy mix of bloodworms, blackworms, lobster roe, and lrs.
-Edit-
I added my mandarins after my Fusion 20 had been up for about 2 months. I rehomed them to my Reefer 250 set up with 100% dry rock 4 weeks after set up. It has now been 2 years since I first got them.
I disagree with this, they are smart but you shouldn't rely on them eating frozen. Even if they do, they have fast metabolisms so feeding once a day with frozen might not be enough.
Well I do agree that you should try to get them to eat frozen, it is definitely better in case your pods run out (or you have to qt them) but I don't agree that it's easy to get them to eat frozen. If they are eating frozen, that's great and definitely beneficial, but you shouldn't buy mandarins when you don't have enough pods and expect them to eat frozen. Because sometimes they never will.We'll have to disagree on the aspect of them eating frozen. I think it's far more reliable to train them onto frozen, so you are not dependent on a volatile pod source. For example, I had to QT my fish for ich once, with a fallow period of 76 days. Because they were trained on frozen, and a wide variety at that, I didn't have to go out and dump pods day after day after day. If they did not eat frozen, there was a much higher chance they would have perished in my temporary holding/QT tank.
In addition, I went with the hypo solution. There was no guarantee that pods would have survived in a hypo environment.
I do agree with frequency of feeding. If it makes you feel any better, I feed at a minimum of 3x a day.
Well I do agree that you should try to get them to eat frozen, it is definitely better in case your pods run out (or you have to qt them) but I don't agree that it's easy to get them to eat frozen. If they are eating frozen, that's great and definitely beneficial, but you shouldn't buy mandarins when you don't have enough pods and expect them to eat frozen. Because sometimes they never will.
You shouldn't buy mandarins when you don't have enough pods and expect them to eat frozen. Because sometimes they never will.
Yes, but training them takes time (it can take months or never happen at all) and you have to be prepared with foods on hand and a good pod population already in the tank in case they don't immediately take to the frozen foods. In your original post you make it sound like a piece of cake, as if you could just put them in a tank that's been setup for a month with dry rock and have them eating frozen mysis immediately, and I felt that was misleading.I'm definitely not saying that you should just buy them and simply expect them to eat frozen, hence, the part required to train them.
Granted, I have only ever had 3 mandarins (first male had to be re-homed due to incompatibility with female), but I have had success training all 3 of them onto frozen. I didn't simply throw them into the tank with frozen lol. I trained the female with live brine, to dead brine. From dead brine, it was an easy transition to bloodworms. Larry's took a while longer. Then I found lobster roe, which ended up being my go to weapon of choice for training onto frozen, for any picky fish (it was what I used to train both males and to get all my leopard wrasse and anthias to start eating).
-Edit-
I will say, I've yet to successfully train any mandarin onto pellets.
Yes, but training them takes time (it can take months or never happen at all) and you have to be prepared with foods on hand and a good pod population already in the tank in case they don't immediately take to the frozen foods. In your original post you make it sound like a piece of cake, as if you could just put them in a tank that's been setup for a month with dry rock and have them eating frozen mysis immediately, and I felt that was misleading.