sad ending to my mandrain fish??

[Anonymous]

I usually see mine a few times a week, hovering around looking for food. It was in my tank for like 6 yrs. A few months ago, my wife commented that she did not see it for a while, so I just assume that I was not around when it is out.

About two weeks ago, I saw an unusual thing in the sump. When I get my flash light, I found out that it is the missing mandarin fish. That explain the MIA, but what puzzle me is how it can get to the sump. It would have to jump and land perfectly in my overflow box, etc.

So I get a cup and scoop it out, and noticed that it is very lethargic, and just nothing but skin and bone This poor fellow must be starved really bad in the sump in add this time. I put it back in the main tank, but I has not see it since. I think it is gone, but hope that I am going to be surprised.

 

[Anonymous]

I hope so, too.

 

[Len]

Good luck to your Mandarin!

 

[purplefirefish]

Sorry to hear about your mandarin. Interestingly just this week I had a fish come up missing. It was a chromis. The day before is came up missing it was acting strangely with another chromis on the tank. The small one would not leave the large ones side and they would lock lips for a few seconds. Anyway, the next day the larger one was MIA. After a couple of days my wife says to me "why did you put that fish in the basement?" WHAT!!! There she was in my basement sump. Had to have been a hell of a ride. Its been real fun trying to catch her. My sump is also a refugium with approx 70 lbs. of live rock with mangrove roots intertwined. Might just be her new home.

 

[Anonymous]

sorry!

 

[Anonymous]

That's a real bummer. I hope he pops up six weeks from now, maybe with a limp and an eye patch. 8)



I wonder if putting him alone in a small 20g tank with LR and dumping in many bottles of copepods would have helped. Doubtful. But what are some last resort measures people do with fish so starved they aren't eating? (ignoring any disease or parasite issues.) Are fish ever force fed? I'd like to know.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about your mandarin. Interestingly just this week I had a fish come up missing. It was a chromis. The day before is came up missing it was acting strangely with another chromis on the tank. The small one would not leave the large ones side and they would lock lips for a few seconds. Anyway, the next day the larger one was MIA. After a couple of days my wife says to me "why did you put that fish in the basement?" WHAT!!! There she was in my basement sump. Had to have been a hell of a ride. Its been real fun trying to catch her. My sump is also a refugium with approx 70 lbs. of live rock with mangrove roots intertwined. Might just be her new home.

I think she found her new home. :lol: Surprising, I would have assumed it would have been a firefish to make that leap.

Mr. Pea, the mandarin may be laying low and feeding (hoping!), may not want to come out until it feels stronger. I like Craig's idea of dumping in some extra pods, if nothing else the other inverts will have a little extra to eat.

 

[Anonymous]

I will add more arctic pods than usual then.

This is the second mandrainfish. The first one survived a major move 9 yrs ago, in a tank with 2 inch of water, unheated, for about a week. I was looking all over it for days, not realize where it was. Then as I try to move the live sand over, I found this thing buried in the muddy sand.