what kind of fish is this?

[ChrisfromBrick]

Most likely a neglected tank still grows pods, since the increase in pest algae and things we consider undesirable become great breeding places for pods. This makes it simple automatic feeding for something like a mandarin.

For the OP, as long as you bought a whole tank setup it probably has the pods. Mandarins get a stigma (maybe rightly so) of being hard, but they have some good advantages of being able to eat the natural fauna of the tank and they can be more resistant to disease due to their slime coat which reduces chances of things like ich.

If you are worried about feeding, buy a brine shrimp hatching setup and feed daily to make sure the mandarin is fattened up.

Great feedback, thank you!

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Thank you so much!

You are are quite welcome. One tip for adding them to your tank, Do it once the lights are out for the night, and pour in thru a piece of PVC, that way you can direct them to the bottom and into the rocks where they stand a chance.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

You can order copepods from Algae Barn .com that is where I get mine. That looks like a female. Great little fish, but you will definitely need to keep pods up in the tank. I order monthly

Just bought 2 jars of Poseidon's feast. The tank is 69 gallons with a 10 gallon sump. Do you just add the pods to the display or is there a way of doing it correctly?

Again, thanks so much.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

You are are quite welcome. One tip for adding them to your tank, Do it once the lights are out for the night, and pour in thru a piece of PVC, that way you can direct them to the bottom and into the rocks where they stand a chance.

got it, thanks

 

[Sophie"s mom]

got it, thanks

What other fish do you have in the tank? I ask because I have 3 different fish that eat them in a 90 gallon tank, therefore I set up autoship for 4 jars a month. As well, you should get some phytoplankton because that is what copepods eat. This will help keep your population going.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

What other fish do you have in the tank? I ask because I have 3 different fish that eat them in a 90 gallon tank, therefore I set up autoship for 4 jars a month. As well, you should get some phytoplankton because that is what copepods eat. This will help keep your population going.

just a cleanup crew and 2 clownfish in addition to the mandarin. Thanks for the phytoplankton info.

 

[litsoh]

Thank you @littlefoxx for the shout out, sorry don’t know if your a customer as don’t get R2R names off the site lol, but @litsoh has been a repeat customer, hopefully he would agree, we offer a high quality product at very reasonable prices.

Most definitely would agree. Probably one of the better things that I did early on with my tank was seed it with pods since I eventually wanted to have a Mandarin. Now the whole place is practically crawling with them.

I'm actually in the middle of trying to fatten up a captive bred Mandarin that was pretty skinny at my LFS. I would not have even attempted to do so if my tank wasn't ready with a stable pod population. I will probably look into culturing my own phyto soon though just to make sure pod numbers stay pretty high

 

[enlighten]

The green mandarin is probably my favorite fish, ours is named Rainbow Wish by my daughter because of its psychedelic coloration. You should see it hovering over the rock like a humming bird with its fins fluttering.

As for dosing pods weekly, I agree that it isn’t very practical unless you have a very large wallet. What I don’t agree with is that you have to. You can get copepods to colonize in you aquarium even with a mandarin, but you need to get the right ones. Our blended or premium pods are the right species for the mandarin, and our unique Harpa pods are a great supplement.
Apocyclops and Tisbes have the best track record for populating a tank, and they are benthic (crawl on the rocks and sand) Apos have two stages on pelagic (free swimming) and one benthic. The Harpas are very closely related to the Tisbe, only smaller and have shown to establish very well in my tanks. Daily dosing of a quality live phytoplankton will help sustain and increase pod populations and increase their nutritional profile.

Thank you @littlefoxx for the shout out, sorry don’t know if your a customer as don’t get R2R names off the site lol, but @litsoh has been a repeat customer, hopefully he would agree, we offer a high quality product at very reasonable prices.

I don’t usually respond with an (AD) lol, but today is our last day of my birthday celebration sale so if you want to give us a try I want you to get the best deal. If you spend over $56 with us we add a free gift. If you choose to do this, place your order and PM me and I will add the Harpas as your gift (everyone else is being surprised but knowing your needs I want to tailor it to your tank).

www.reefbysteele.com. Shop the combos as they are discounted off of individual pricing, and there is a 15% site wide discount as well through midnight. If purchased early enough, and over $75 I can get it out 2 Day today for Friday arrival. If Under $75 and placed early enough I can ship today if USPS priority or UPS if they shows 2 day standard service.

Another option is to culture your own pods. We first started for our little guy. We can help you with that as well. And we guarantee your satisfaction.

Could I also take advantage of this offer?

 

[tgray9937]

I feed freshly hatched baby brine shrimp to my manderin pair. They are really easy to hatch. I hatch every 36 hours. Bbs are nutritious 24 hours after they hatch. I also have pods in my tank. I found this incredible article about manderins that really helped me ,
https://reefbuilders.com/2017/01/25/paul-bs-unique-perspective-on-keeping-mandarins/ .

 

[AstroMelly]

Just watch the fish - is he pecking at the sand/rocks a few times a minute? If so he is finding his natural food (pods), if not you will need to dose them. Sounds like you are on the right track now anyway. Good luck!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Could I also take advantage of this offer?

Absolutely. Sorry for the late response. Our sale ended at Midnight but PM me as you reached out before midnight and I will take care of you.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Just watch the fish - is he pecking at the sand/rocks a few times a minute? If so he is finding his natural food (pods), if not you will need to dose them. Sounds like you are on the right track now anyway. Good luck!

thanks, no he isn’t. I have pods and phytoplankton on the way by saturday. hope he can hold out because it doesn’t look like he has been eating much.

I will probably try to hatch brijw shrimp too to save some money

 

[Reef By Steele]

I also saw this video of a Mandarin Dragonet
I think there are many varieties of them. Greens are my fave.

The green is my favorite too. @Ocean_Queenie loves our Rainbow Wish as well, but named our target mandarin Paisley as some of his targets were shaped similarly.

 

[sevenx7]

Just to echo, I also reached out to @Reef By Steele and actually went the cultured route. I have a 5 gallon tank I'm keeping my teeny tiny Mandarin in and I'm using his Cultivating kit to make the photo and the pods to keep this lil guy fat and growing before he goes in the new 40L!

Not too much to worry about and he'll walk you through it all!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Just to echo, I also reached out to @Reef By Steele and actually went the cultured route. I have a 5 gallon tank I'm keeping my teeny tiny Mandarin in and I'm using his Cultivating kit to make the photo and the pods to keep this lil guy fat and growing before he goes in the new 40L!

Not too much to worry about and he'll walk you through it all!

Thanks for the shout out. Sherry and I love it when we hear happy things from our customers. That is our real goal.

 

[carol3]

Clownfish are piggy eaters, that could make it hard to get the mysis to your mandarin. 'Mandarin Diner explained' is a video on melevsreef youtube channel, he was using a small bottle with an opening only big enough for the mandarin, he trained his mandarins to go in there to eat each time he put the bottle on the substrate. It's a really good video and could save you from having to overfeed your whole tank to get food to your mandarin. Since your fish will eat mysis shrimp there is a chance it's one of the captive bred mandarins from Biota, that would be fortunate indeed as theirs are easy to feed and very hardy. Good luck with your fish

 

[jvbear]

i’ve been feeding the tank frozen mysis which the guy who gave to me said was good for it.

Where do i get copepods? Are they frozen?

Dinkins Aquatic Gardens for pods they will ship to you. https://dinkinsaquaticgardens.com/

 

[AstroMelly]

thanks, no he isn’t. I have pods and phytoplankton on the way by saturday. hope he can hold out because it doesn’t look like he has been eating much.

I will probably try to hatch brijw shrimp too to save some money

Any update?

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Any update?

yes! I’ve gotten him multiple jars of pods and his belly is very fat. He appears to be pecking but i never know how many pods are actually there. I also feed the pods photo a few days a week. My nitrate is high but that isn’t bothering fish at least.

 

[AstroMelly]

Oh wow that’s excellent news! Well done bringing him around. I wish you and your fish the very best. As long as he is pecking he is finding his food. Don’t worry if you cannot see the pods.