saving my mandarin

[blennyluv]

Hi
just to let everyone know that i think i have found the solution to saving our mandarin "tatoo". i was informed about a place called essential live feeds and i bought a bottle of these little pods that he needs to eat. i will poor half the bottle into my tank and the other half will go into my quarentine tank to live and hopefully reproduce there. i am so relieved and i cannot remember who gave me the sight, i am thinking it was Nikki. if you are out there i cannot thank you enough. what do you feed the pods?? really small flake? i suppose the instructions will be on the bottle.

will a male and female mandarin get along in a 55 gallon tank? just curious. and i have to move my damsels into the main tank so the pods don't get eaten, i have a very small 3 spot damsel and a blue velvet damsel in there, will they get along ok with the existing fish? (small yellow clown goby, clown fish, lawnmower blenny, bicolor blenny, blue tang, royal gramma, and of course, the mandarin) or should i consider giving them away or taking the to the pet shop to be resold =( (i get attached to my fish). thanks for your help everyone!

 

[DonW]

Cool!!, should work out. I'd just put the pods in the main tank. Just dont get any more pod eaters. One Mandarine is all a 55 can handle. As far as damsels go some are great and other are a PITA. Just depends on the fish not species. I would get rid of them just due to my evil damsel experiences.

Don

 

[GinaSofia]

If I were you, I'd get rid of the damsels(they tend to be mean) and the clown(it will compete for the pods)
Feed the pods in the quarantine tank crushed up flake food.I'm doing the same thing and I just switch out a rock out of the quarantine every few weeks and place in into the display and end up with a pod explosion for my mandarin.My mandarin has been in my 20 for 7 months now and is quite fat.Good luck.

 

[NaH2O]

Hi blennyluv - it was me that pointed you to Essential Live Feeds. I was quite excited to see them as a sponsor, because in a situation like yours, it will be beneficial. I don't think adding another mandarin would be wise. I'm pretty sure I posted these links to you before, but for reference on this thread....here they are again:

The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part One
The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part Two
The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part Three
The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part Four

Feeding a Mandarin Part One
Feeding a Mandarin Part Two

 

[Terry B]

I see that Nikki already has things under control with some links to articles. I agree that a 55 is too small for two mandarins. Typically, they exhaust all of the natural food supply in anything other than a large well aged reef tank in a few months. You will find information on how to get them to eat other foods in those articles, but these foods are only supplements. They need a constant supply of copepods and other foods that grow in a mature reef tank to survive for long.

Cheers,
Terry Bartelme

 

[blennyluv]

i cannot get rid of my clown, he is just too loved in our home, i suppose he will compete for the pods, but that is why i will just have to grow them in my 5 gallon. i know damsels can be mean, but mine are quite small, and my other fish (with the exception of the yellow goby) can take care of themselves quite well, my gramma is a real butthead most of the time, my clown stays with his rubber anemone, my bicolor competes with the gramma, the lawnmower is huge and minds his own business and the tang is kind of a brat too, guess i could try, but i would hate to try to catch them once they were in the main tank. i am so happy that tatoo will have this chance, okay, will leave the female mandarin to die at the lfs

 

[blennyluv]

mandarin is doing great

hi everyone, again thank you nikki for pointing me in the right direction!! tatoo is doing fine and my 5 gallon tank is FULL of pods, i have been harvesting the little buggers several times a day and adding them to the main tank, ( i was really tempted to put the mandarin in the 5 gallon tank to fatten him up, but he seems to really love looking for his food ) he is still thin but i think between the pods and the brine he will do great. i did add the damsels to the main tank in which they only seem to charge at each other now and then, dory (blue tang of course) nemo, the bicolor blenny seem to keep them in order. all fish seem happy, even tho i know there are more in there then should be, they all seem fine. nitrates are still holdin a little high, have cut feeding down..........alot. so we will see. thanks for such a great sight and such awesome info!!