Pod Population

[wsboyette]

Now that's what I wanted to know - unless I spend $100+ on a ORA mandarin that eats frozen food, I would have to breed pods en masse outside the aquarium to have enough to sustain the $16 LFS mandarin. That fish would need at least 100 pods/day to do well, if I am not mistaken.

 

[NanaReefer]

Sadly I'm discovering that the ORA's aren't all they're made out to be.
I have an abundant pod population and I've never seen my Target peck at anything. He wont even perch on the sand bed or the live rock. Just flutters around all day or hangs on the back wall. Then as for eating prepared, UGH!! What a trial! I'm having to target feed him 2-3x a day and he will only eat Hikari blood worms. I need not tell you of his condition

 

[Jeramy]

I have heard similar results from the ora mandarins but on the other hand I have also heard good things about keeping mandarins in small tanks with health pod populations. One thing to consider is the other fish in the tank. Make sure that is you want to keep a mandarin that you are not trying to do it with fish that will out compete them for food. A healthy fuge with a heathy base of live rock will be a good start to keeping a mandarine but with all fish that are picky eaters they are not for the novice. You have to be willing to comit to weening them to frozen foods to suplement their diet, and be willing to accept that it may not work out and your fish will starve. That being said it is not as dire as it sounds to raise a fat and healthy mandarin. You just need to be prepaired. =)

 

[wsboyette]

I had suspected that the ORA mandarins would at least be picky, slow eaters. And the exorbitant price along with the high shipping cost far exceeds what I am willing to spend on any fish - that's why I do not have a queen angel or the like in my aquarium; I have never spent more than $40 for any fish in my life, and do not intend to. I am all for the development of aquaculture towards the end of preserving the reefs, but only at a reasonable cost. Please excuse my kicking a "sacred cow", but I find it hard to believe that ORA is charging so much more than the price of a wild-caught mandarin because their cost is that much higher. Other aquacultured fish, such as clowns, cost little more than their wild-collected counterparts, and that is the way I want to see our hobby go. As for trying to keep a mandarin, looks like I'll have to give up that idea or else raise pods in buckets to sustain it. I now wish I had been able to find room to set up the 90g tank I recently sold !

 

[NanaReefer]

Having spoken with ORA at length about the price of their CB Mandarins. They have assured me that they in no way control the price individual sellers charge for their Mandarins. Our LFS has a 110% markup themselves! Triple what they pay for a fish
Having said this, it was the most expensive fish I've ever purchased!
Anyways....watching this lil fish is breaking my heart. I've been at it for 13 weeks now....

 

[NC2WA]

only eat Hikari blood worms.

Keep in mind that blood worms is NOT a marine based food..it is NO where to be found in the ocean, so you are providing little to no nutrition for the fish.

I would suggest reading the following sticky:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/feeding-marine-fish-fish-nutrition-rev-1-a-27014/#post294728

This should you pointed in the correct direction and get this fish back to health.

 

[wsboyette]

Anyways....watching this lil fish is breaking my heart. I've been at it for 13 weeks now....

I once communicated with a guy who had trained his mandarin to eat sushi roe; and he claimed that the fish was doing well on it. Maybe that will work for yours. But thank you for sharing your experience with us; I would hate to pay so much for a fish then lose it. I can't kick that sacred cow ORA hard enough for the trouble you're having; bet neither they nor the LFS warranties those fish.

 

[NanaReefer]

Thank you for the concern.

 

[aaron1987]

Just my 2 cents from personal experience - really any floss will work. People keep them in balls of chaeto and I personally use the blue/white pad as I don't keep chaeto. I started mine with 2000 pods and just replenished them. All of the fish in my tank devour them with gusto. I only have a 25g but despite my highly porous rock, I am not confident that I could support a mandarin with even double the volume given how quickly they get picked off. That said, I just got a mandarin and another 2k pods, dumped the lot in my sump, and will be attempting to ween him over to prepared foods.

 

[ReefGeeker]

I've had mine for 1 year in a 28g nanocube and have trained it to accept bloodworms and vitamin enriched plankton, that being said I had the tank breeding pods for two months before I got it and have added pods twice and had the tank almost completly full of LR 60 lbs or so. Now I am cycling my new 90g and I am sure this will be a more healthy envirinment for my mandarin, even though she is nice and fat now.

 

[wsboyette]

Looks like I am at an impasse as far as a mandarin goes; with the aggressive feeding fish & crabs I already have in my relatively small tank it is highly unlikely that a pod population of sufficient size could be maintained. Even breeding the pods in a bucket outside the tank may not work because of those fish I already have.

 

[NanaReefer]

Looks like I am at an impasse as far as a mandarin goes; with the aggressive feeding fish & crabs I already have in my relatively small tank it is highly unlikely that a pod population of sufficient size could be maintained. Even breeding the pods in a bucket outside the tank may not work because of those fish I already have.

A very wise and responsible choice. A++

 

[ReefGeeker]

I've had mine for 1 year in a 28g nanocube and have trained it to accept bloodworms and vitamin enriched plankton, that being said I had the tank breeding pods for two months before I got it and have added pods twice and had the tank almost completly full of LR 60 lbs or so. Now I am cycling my new 90g and I am sure this will be a more healthy environment for my mandarin, even though she is nice and fat now.

I forgot to mention the only other fish in the tank is a very passive pajama cardinalfish.

 

[josh88]

You could a aqua clear filter on the side for a refugium. No protein skimmer in those. Flow can be slowed to allow them to breed, and filter naturally into the tank. No getting sucked up into your return, no hassel with dumping the sponge in your display. And they would still get nutrients for food

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[NanaReefer]

Looks like I am at an impasse as far as a mandarin goes; with the aggressive feeding fish & crabs I already have in my relatively small tank it is highly unlikely that a pod population of sufficient size could be maintained. Even breeding the pods in a bucket outside the tank may not work because of those fish I already have.

don't look at it as an impass...but this to shall pass

 

[NanaReefer]

I forgot to mention the only other fish in the tank is a very passive pajama cardinalfish.

Got a picture of your fat an happy Mandarin? That's been living in your 28g for a year on blood worms which have NO nutritional value at all for marine fish. Amazing!
How did you manage to get 60lbs of rock in your tank?

 

[blk822822]

Go to ORA's site and see if there captive bread mandarins eat frozen....? Some mandarins will eat other foods than live pods. If you see one at a LFS ask them if it eats and have them feed it and see if it does and what.

 

[NanaReefer]

Sorry I totally disagree with purchasing an ORA. I personally tried 2. The first passed on the 3rd day and the second lasted 15wks.
Acclimating them to a tank with corals, rock and sand bottom was heart wrenching. Born and raised in a very sterile environment, free of anything but like fish. Neither knew how to hunt for pods. Unbelievable I know but true, I watched it!
I tired everything to get these fish to eat right. Jar method, target feeding frozen and live. Spent $100 on pods! These fish just didn't act normal. Totally broke my heart and my faith in the ORA Mandarins

 

[aaron1987]

I've also heard mixed success with ORA's mandarins around their alleged guarantee to eat prepared foods. Just as hit and miss as with the wild variety, and you get to pay a premium.

 

[MAC2]

If you grow the pods in some sort of media, can they make there way to the DT from the sump (through circulation pumps) with success, or do you need to shake the media out in the DT to feed the fish?