Mandarin Fish

[ytpmzy]

Hello

I have always wanted to have a mandarin fish but is worried about nutrition for the fish.

How much pods must I have before I can purchase a mandarin fish?

Will I have to constantly buy pods to replenish food for the fish?

Will a hob refugium be enough? if yes where to get one?

Thanks in advance >

P.s I have a 20 gallon ios tank. About 50cm by 30 of display tank , 10 by 30 of internal sump.

[Whiskie]

If you have a pod "factory" will be nice. Constant abundance of pods

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kelvin Ang]

Come find me I will bring you go buy the hob setup . I'm current using for my 2feet tank also .

[ytpmzy]

Come find me I will bring you go buy the hob setup . I'm current using for my 2feet tank also .

Is it good enough to sustain pods for the mandarin ? haha i saw your setup

[SubzeroLT]

Aside from pods, mandarins are ok with live brine shrimps. Mine naturally ate frozen mysis shrimp & Dr Eco food after a week in the tank.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sanjaypills55]

Aside from pods, mandarins are ok with live brine shrimps. Mine naturally ate frozen mysis shrimp & Dr Eco food after a week in the tank.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Bro you are lucky, mine only eats live brine shrimps.

I have to buy live brine shrimp, every 2-3 days..

My tank has pods but since its a 2 ft cube, i think not enough to sustain a mandarin on just pods

[SubzeroLT]

Yeah. Going to LFS just to buy brine shrimps is quite troublesome indeed.

Just to share, i reduce my trips to LFS by :

1) Buying more bags each time (eg 2 bags)

2) Put them into 2 containers (smaller population per container. I use Chinese new year pineapple tart plastic bottle

4) Tilt the container such that one of the edges is at the lowest point - no stagnant point when air is bubbled at the lowest point

3) Feed with Phytoplakton. Can feed with Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast. (something i learned from reefer PCW recently...thanks).

4) Rinse them & change water every 3 days

[ytpmzy]

This is starting to sound like a luck game again haha

[Lee Khim Ann]

add some live pods and give them around 1month for them to reproduce and multiply in numbers until u can see the many pods at all corners of ur tank. with such a big population, ur mandarin can take care of itself and u don't even need to feed it anything. my mandarin takes care of itself and doesn't eat any of the food i feed my other fish

[sanjaypills55]

Yeah. Going to LFS just to buy brine shrimps is quite troublesome indeed.

Just to share, i reduce my trips to LFS by :

1) Buying more bags each time (eg 2 bags)

2) Put them into 2 containers (smaller population per container. I use Chinese new year pineapple tart plastic bottle

4) Tilt the container such that one of the edges is at the lowest point - no stagnant point when air is bubbled at the lowest point

3) Feed with Phytoplakton. Can feed with Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast. (something i learned from reefer PCW recently...thanks).

4) Rinse them & change water every 3 days

How long does the brine shrimp live following this process..

When you change water do you use salt & how much salt ?

Mine only survive for 2 days if i am lucky to get a fresh batch for LFS

[nuj244]

20 gallon - no way

[ytpmzy]

20 gallon - no way

So best hope I get one that accepts brine shrimp haha ...

[SubzeroLT]

So far I've kept them alive for 2 weeks. For the water, I just use extra water mixed for my regular water change. Probably around 1.025 salinity.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nuj244]

Dont waste time if you dont hv matured tanks and lots of live rock and probably separate refugium. It needs to feed frequently so frozen brine or mysis wont sustain it. I hv one with for more than a year but i hv a lot of live rocks for the pods supply.

[lazer]

Mine is feeding on pallets..its much easier..

[Mr.E]

Mine is feeding on pallets..its much easier..

Same here. But she is abit slow tho. The rest of the fishes will eat like there is no tomorrow.

[Edmund Koh]

I started with a refuge which ran for 2 months. After I decomm my refuge, my mandarin somehow still manages to feed though I do not see any pods on my glass. My guess is that pods have found their way into my rocks and have formed a colony there.