The best bought mandarin food

[Sparks]

I've had a new mandarin for about a month that eats hikari enhanced brine & the crud that comes from 'pygmy angel forumla' like a champ, and he doesn't seems to be hunting around too much for food(i have 15-20lbs of pretty diverse liverock), hopefully i have i got some pods for him to eat, but I'd like to supplement some better food for him maybe cyclopeeze? zooplankton? suggestions?

 

[NaH2O]

I don't feel that 15-20 pounds of live rock will be enough to sustain a healthy mandarin, which might be why you don't see him hunting. You may want to add some more live rock, order some pods (our sponsor OceanPods sells them), and/or add a refugium (if you don't have one). The good news is, the mandarin is eating other foods, so trying something like cyclopeeze wouldn't be a bad idea. Here are some articles, I hope you find them helpful:

Feeding a Mandarin Part One
Feeding a Mandarin Part Two

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

 

[Nemo415]

I agree with NaH2O , I also have a mandrin that eats brine , mysis and cyclopleze but for a proper diet I think they should have plenty of pods , hunting for food is what comes natural for them . As far as " Ocean Pods " go I have bought them and they are a quality product , go to the local LFS and buy some CURED live rock rubble they sell it cheap because there small broken pieces , stack it up in a pile in the back of the tank then add a bottle of pods . The pods will scatter search out the rubble pile and go into the pile to hide . In there they will breed and multiply and your mandrin will have the best of both worlds along with a happy life . HTH

 

[wrightme43]

And on the other side of that coin. Prepared foods are a higher level of nutrient to the fish, my opinion is that a pod is mainly exoskeleton and water. I had a mandiren with pod piles in a 44 gallon. He also ate new life spectrum pellets. Fat and happy. He jumped to his death, one day. Still fat, but dried like fish leather. If you have a fish that is eating well of prepared food, I would still add the pod piles, but I would not stress over it. If it has good color and bright aware eyes, keep feeding what you are feeding now, and keep adding varity to it. I think foods are getting better all the time and lots of fish that were almost impossible to keep 5 years ago, are now living well in tanks. Mine would chase the new life pellets across the bottom like they were pods and gobble them up. I could watch him at night behind the live rock with my moonlights eating pods, but he loved prepared food as well. I think that may be the answer to long term survival. A mix of natural food and prepared food. Just my thoughts on the matter. Steve

 

[Jiddy]

Well i would like to add my 2cents also, for keepin more pods per space the rubble rock piles are great, but a wise man once told me that shell piles work even better!

-Jidz

PS Those fish are why i got into the hobby!

 

[Trenchsoul]

Well i would like to add my 2cents also, for keepin more pods per space the rubble rock piles are great, but a wise man once told me that shell piles work even better!

-Jidz

PS Those fish are why i got into the hobby!

Shell piles? Interesting...care to elborate?

 

[steve-s]

Small piles of empty snail shells. They work amazing well as a place for pods to multiply, sort of an intank "refugium" area. The pods and such can get down into the inner area's of the shell where most fish can't reach them. I also find small pieces of dead lace coral/rock very beneficial for this purpose.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ladygator]

Substrates for pods

Hello - Just a few words about the pod piles, etc.

Copepods will seek out inner spaces for breeding and growth. Having a lot of surface area that can't be reached by fish will help them find this type of habitat.

Because the copepods are so small, they can utilize any small niche for this purpose. Knobby live rocks, spongy macroalgaes like chaetomorpha, or even sponges (see jeff keith's post on the amphipod bucket), all serve the same purpose - a place for the pods. The early life stages of the copepods, called nauplii (plural --- the singular is nauplius), like to graze on the bacteria on these surfaces. That is why new live rock may not have a lot of pods, they need to develop a biofilm to encourage the copepods to cling and graze.

Old live rock can be rejuvenated by placing it in old tank water, allowing the biofilm to grow, and adding pods. When you transfer the live rock to the tank, the pods will go with it, even though you may not see them all.

I hope this help clarifies the question of the purpose of pod piles.

About the nutritional content of the copepods - they are very healthy in lipids. After you drain the waterweight (which is about 80% of the animal), they are very nutritious for the fish. They contain about 30% lipids, and about 60% protein. A very small portion (5 to 10%) is inedible. Also, the water in the copepods body is actually packed full of Free Amino Acids (FAA),l the building blocks of the nutritious proteins. Free amino acids are easily digested by young and delicate fish, and are responsible for the development of healthy cells and membranes.

Adelaide

 

[Jiddy]

With a new tank, when can i add a bottle of ocean-pods?

 

[Elmo18]

After your tank has finished cycling.

- Elmo

 

[Nemo415]

Agreed it's not like it has to be a mature tnak for pods to survive Jiddy .

 

[Beeba]

I've had my mandarin for over a year and I've never had to worry about feeding it anything other than what my tank already has. I guess I got lucky because I didn't research enough before buying the mandarin.

 

[bmtpfgh]

Thanks for the nutritional value,Adelaid.
Empty snails shells,especially Mexican turbo shells are the best for pod breeding.

 

[Beeba]

My mandarin has been in my tank for about 13-14 months and I haven't thought twice about its eating enough food. It has always seemed healthy. It doens't seem interested when I feed the rest of the fish so I assume he gets what he needs from other sources. I have about 110-120 lbs. of live rock in a 72 gallon aquarium. He is the only pod eater I have so maybe that is why he is healthy. Should I add pods or will they probably reproduce enough to satisfy my single mandarin?

 

[Jiddy]

What about those big old seaShells, they look like conch shells, but they are softball size, would one of those be a good hangout for pods?

 

[Flatlander]

When I purchased mine about 3 yrs. ago, I watched it for awile in the lfs, to see if it ate frozen foods. Mine eats darn near anything in the tank, loves most frozen foods, but its favorite seems to be frozen blood worms. Loves to slurp them up from the bottom.

 

[Jiddy]

This of subject a bit, but at my LFS some of the mandarians they sell are super skinny, its really sad and makes me want to do a rescue misssion *if my tank was established* my question is, would they make it at that point, or are they to far gone? (i wouldnt do it yet, but just in general)

 

[Flatlander]

This of subject a bit, but at my LFS some of the mandarians they sell are super skinny, its really sad and makes me want to do a rescue misssion *if my tank was established* my question is, would they make it at that point, or are they to far gone? (i wouldnt do it yet, but just in general)

Hard to say. If they would eat some commercial food they may be ok or certainly would have a chance in a tank with lots of natural foods.

Mandarins, despite eating well, can perish. Sort of like Moorish Idols and some other fish. Its been said that a parisite may be the cause.

One of the best articles I ever read on keeping mandarins was in one of Julian Sprungs Fama articles, years ago. The type of tank would be a good sandbed, lots of live rock, slower flow, lots of calerpa,s or seagrass type tanks. In other words, a large refugium.

Mine is now in my 90g, high flow, barebottom sps tank. I dont think its the best set-up for him, but after 3yrs. its hard to part with him. I still have lots of rock, so there is some live foods, plus the fact that he east anything put into the tank, should keep him healthy. However, I would not hesitate to pull the tank apart to remove him, if he started looking like he was not getting enough to eat.

 

[Electrokate]

DO NOT RESCUE A SUPER SKINNY FISH!!!

I tried this repeatedly as did others while working at the LFS, they all died and possibly released disease/parasites. Just did that, I bought a skinny mandarin wednesday, it lasted til friday. Waste of 20 bucks. If it's free maybe but then if it dies in back of a rock can it foul your tank? Mine did...

Kate

 

[Jiddy]

Ok, NO RESCUE MISSIONS FOR JIDDY.

I have 100lbs of cured rock in with my base rock, and i dont see any little bugs, like at my LFS, i have BB (right now) i was wonderin if i have pods, just not enough to see?