Psycho Manderin??

[Playdope]

Did I get a psycho manderin or what?? He flutters up and down the glass so often. I added it 2-2.5 weeks ago, and it seems to have fattened up since I got it. But I thought these guys spent most of their time surfacing the rock and substrate? Is this wall behavior everyday normal?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

they can be quick buggers too huh?

normal behavior.

 

[Playdope]

Any tips on feeding them?

Any healthier foods then brine that they tend to like? Another guy said his was eating formula one pellets, but.. the problem with pellets is that I can never tell if its eating them, because they're so small, and its hard to keep a watch on each little pellet to see if it vanishes.. plus.. who knows if its him eating it, or if its just current sweeping them under the rock, etc..

 

[Anonymous]

if it has fattened up since you have bought it i would say it is getting enough to eat.. or that it is a female and carrying eggs which i believe mine did that i had years ago. it looked like it was gonna pop sometimes.

my best advice for you is to refrain from adding any more diet competing fish until the tank has become mature. this is where your mandarin gets fed.

 

[Mihai]

Did I get a psycho manderin or what?? He flutters up and down the glass so often. I added it 2-2.5 weeks ago, and it seems to have fattened up since I got it. But I thought these guys spent most of their time surfacing the rock and substrate? Is this wall behavior everyday normal?

Playdope, I had the same problem with my mandarin: he looked like he was pacing up and down on a side of the tank - he looked really unhappy (despite fattening up). All this changed after I introduced a mate - a pretty lady: he's now having an active sex life almost every night - no more pacing.

So.... my recommendation is to try to get a mate. I might get flamed for this: I'm not sure if your system can support two mandarins: I have a large (20 gal) refugium supplying pods to the main tank, and mine are fat and happy. However, I'd say that it's worth a try - otherwise you'll end up with a sad mandarin (it made me feel so bad seeing him like that).

Make sure to make it as good for your mandarins as possible:
- large fuge (ideally feed it)
- no competition (no scooters, no wrasses, no to many gobbies, etc.)
- do pod piles (or any other things that can offer pod protection in the main tank, e.g., zoanthids).

My 2c.
Mihai

 

[HisKid]

I love my mandarin. It is such a sweet fish - and easy to care for too. I have 125lbs of live rock and it just feeds on the live rock day and night... I feed all my fish a healthy mixture of foods. It may eat tid bits that are overlooked by the other fish, I am not sure, I never see it munch on anything but my live rock.

Anyway to answer your question, I would say that it is very normal. Mine becomes alarmed sometimes; it stands its dorsal fin straight up and stares at the glass, swimming up and down the glass (like some sort of BETA). I see it doing this every now and again, usually after performing husbandry.

As long as you see it eating on the macro-life on your live rock, I wouldn't worry too much. I have had my mandarin for about 6 months now. It is a lot of fun to watch.

Enjoy!

HisKid

 

[Playdope]

I see the manderin peck at the live rock pretty frequently.. but I never see the food its going for. Are the pods they eat that small? I have larger amphipods that I still see roaming the tank, and some others.. but was thinking that I might see the actual bugs get eaten by the fish.

As for adding another fish.. when would you say that is appropriate? I just want to be able to feel more comfortable feeding, and not having things I put in sit there to decay... because sometimes its tough to suck out everything that hasn't been claimed.

 

[Anonymous]

He's fluttering up and down against the glass because he sees another mandarin! What you are witnessing is nothing more than a territorial response. It usually happens more at night when the internal reflection is more pronounced.


Jim

 

[EmilyB]

Get some Piscine Energetics mysis, my mandarins thrive on it.

http://www.mysis.com/

You might want to track down the smaller size mysis if your mandarin is very small.

 

[Playdope]

Anyone have experience with

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/products.html


It looks like they have a pretty good selection. Can someone tell me if any of the foods they offer are good for a manderin? Also, if there are multiple micron sizes .. if you could specify which one.. that would be great.

Heres are a few I thought I might try:

-Freeze dried copopods (it just seemed to make sense)
-Golden peals (not sure which, if any would be best)
-Frozen Mysis

Not sure what your feelings are about NatuRose and SELCO, but I'm intrerested in those too.

 

[Anonymous]

No problem - any time.

 

[Playdope]

No problem - any time.

Thanks for the response Jim.[/quote]

 

[Anonymous]

:lol:
Just messing with you - but glad to be of help.

 

[Mihai]

He's fluttering up and down against the glass because he sees another mandarin! What you are witnessing is nothing more than a territorial response. It usually happens more at night when the internal reflection is more pronounced.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree: mine was fluttering on an opaque side glass (I can't see through it, so I let the corraline algae grow on it). He hardly ever flutters on the front glass (that is clean)...

M.

 

[Playdope]

Yeh, who knows??? Its so strange. It really seems pointless.

So how many of you have your manderin eating something other than pods? If so, what, and how often do you feed it?

I'm contemplating just regularly buying pods online and introducing them to the tank, but I'm not sure how often they should be introduced, and how many to put in at a time.

Has anyone built little rubble mounds for pods to congregate in? I'm thinking about giving that a try.... anything to share?

 

[Anonymous]

He's fluttering up and down against the glass because he sees another mandarin! What you are witnessing is nothing more than a territorial response. It usually happens more at night when the internal reflection is more pronounced.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree: mine was fluttering on an opaque side glass (I can't see through it, so I let the corraline algae grow on it). He hardly ever flutters on the front glass (that is clean)...

M.

Hmmm...Well I HAVE seen both mandarins and scooter dragonets display and fight with themselves against their reflection in the glass many times over the years - it's quite common. I've seen it in other species as well. Perhaps yours is/was not Mihai, that doesnt mean his isn't. :wink:
Maybe yours is just stupid.

Paydope, yes I crushed old pieces of live rock and made piles both in the display along the back as well as in the sump. Works very well.


Jim

 

[Mihai]

Maybe yours is just stupid.

Actually I think that it was depressed - he missed a good f**k. Now he gets it every other night or so, and feels much better .

And yes, I have pod piles (2) in my display, one bunch of chaeto and one large purple algae that hosts lots of pods. Also a 20 gal upstream fuge.

M.

 

[Playdope]

Haha.
Mine is still spending a ton of time going up and down that wall. What suprises me is that it goes to the opposite end of the tank everynight to the same spot to burry itself and sleep! Weird. I dont understand it =)
It also seems to regularly go to the same spot when I feed to look for food.
I'm trying to work with Marc Levinsons idea of the manderin diner. It seems like a good idea.. if I can just get mine to go in! When I spoke with marc, he mentioned that it may be more apt to goin into the bottle after algae grows on it.

I'm about to order some copopods to add to the tank, and I'm not sure whether to get just one or 2 bottles of the pods @ $25 a pop. I was thinking about culturing my own - getting 2 bottles.. dumping half of one over the chaeto in the sump and the other half in the display... and then somehow trying to culture the other bottle. Anyone have info on this?

So far I read that culturing them is done by - putting them in a tupperware and sealing it. Then when they start increasing in number... open the tupperware. Feed them with a small bit of flake food very seldomly. So far (as you can tell), I probably need more info on the process. Does anyone have experience with doing it themselves. It would seem like a hassle maintaining the salinity of such a small container. I'm also wondering what size container they should eventually be moved to. I still have yet to be able to find copopods in my own tank. I think I'm just not looking correctly! I read - "use a flashlight, and look in dark areas (ie. overhands, corners down by the sandbed, etc..).. but I still have no success. ;/

 

[Anonymous]

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/ago ... 9183.16819

http://inlandaquatics.com/

http://www.livebrineshrimp.com/

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/

I've bought from all of these, some higher priced than others. One sells live mysis shrimp, got some of those too.

I've added directly to the tank and into the fuge. Now, I have a 10g set up as a pod culture/growing tank. It's going slow because I only seeded it with what ever was on the rock I placed in the tank and I seem to forget to feed it regularly.

 

[Playdope]

I guess I'll hold off on the culturing for now, and just add a bottle to the diaplay + chaeto in the sump ever so often. I just want to make sure I add often enough to keep up with the demand of the manderin. I do feed it frozen brine now and then, but I still want to keep the pod population up for him. How often would you recommend adding a bottle of the pods to the tank (there will be no other pod pigs, like sixlines)?