Anyone got Mandarin Dragonet?

[fly]

I picked one up over the weekend, soon as I put him (her?) in (after some acclimation of course), seemed to sink straight to the bottom, in the back! Just laid there and I feard the worst... Over Sunday I saw him come out a bit, through the cracks here and there, but definitely not active or in the front at all. When I fed the other fish (damsel and 2 clowns, lawnmower blenny) he's still hiding....

I have got 80g tank with about 150lb of live rock, all about 5 weeks old. I'm thinking maybe the tank isn't mature enough to support enough pods for him.

Anyone have same problems, and how do you feed him or where to buy pods from?

thanks for any advice!

[keithtanbb]

Good luck...i personally found them to be difficult to keep. But then I dont have a good refugium as yet.Am in the process of connecting my spare 3 feet tank,as a refugium to be able to feed this guys properly.They seem very picky with food

[cityofangels]

Mandarin fishes are not easy fishes to keep and they need a mature tank to survive.

They are also not highly active fishes and prefer to hide among the crevices in the rocks.

I highly suggest you read up on the care of fishes before you buy them.

[fly]

I had seen different reports on the web, some said they have trained theirs to eat other-than-just-pod diet. I am still hoping he may come out with the other fishes to eat, or there is enough pod life in my tank to keep him alive....

I have a sump, but no refugium, I would like to set that up in weeks ahead.

In the meantime, is it possible to buy pods in the store? frozen or live?

[Dazza]

gd luck with your mandarin... Personally hv been unsuccessful.... only managed to keep one for abt 1 mth n then gonzo de to not enough food... n my tank is a very very matured one.... just depending on the copepod n stuff in the tank is not enough... hv to wean it to accept our types of food... very difficult... gd luck n wish you success

[patrick123]

They are difficult if you have fast moving fish that steal away the food. Hopefully they get enough food at the bottom of a matured tank with DSB, otherwise, target feeding is necessary.

[angelfish]

yaloh, they can be trained(but not me). i bought a pair of them from SL about 2 yrs ago, and they love pallet food

[FuEl]

The presence of other fish will determine the success at which you can wean your mandarins. I had a mandarin that loved mysis so much it ate itself to death.