my silly mandy...

Sk8r · 01/05/2008, 04:12 PM

...little gal, a psychedelic, learned to eat frozen by her passionate attachment to a purple tang---she followed him everywhere, and tried what he tried. Now she eats anything---pellet, mysis, copepods...but cyclopeeze has always eluded her. It's fine, it floats, she evidently couldn't figure it, and just ignored it.

Now she has. I spotted her going about the tank with her little mouth in a wide O, sucking hard, as cyclopeeze floated about. She'd stop to go for a live pod, but back again to the O, even up in midwater where mandys don't go. This is a totally new behavior, just this week--when she learned to eat frozen nearly a year ago.

For such a blindly oblivious singleminded single-species predator, [not the sharpest knife in the drawer], they are certainly capable of solving a problem. There's more brain in that little large-eyed head than you'd think.

snorvich · 01/05/2008, 09:45 PM

I have had mine for a couple of years. Would you believe that at night it watches US? I have another one but it ignores people. This one swims up in the water column and looks out. Eats frozen mysis too but mainly subsists on copepods.

asherah · 01/05/2008, 10:30 PM

What is a mandy ?
asherah

Sk8r · 01/05/2008, 10:34 PM

Ah. A mandarin dragonet, improperly also called a mandarin goby. Shares its small classification with the scooter, improperly id'ed as a blenny, actually a scooter dragonet; and the sea robin, or flying gurnard.

NeveSSL · 01/05/2008, 10:39 PM

Thats awesome! Simple definitely doesn't mean stupid, especially in mother nature.

Brandon

asherah · 01/05/2008, 10:40 PM

ahh ok I know what you are talking about now =)

Sk8r · 01/05/2008, 10:46 PM

They are among my favorite fish. Hard to keep until you get a fuge, but doing very well with one. FYI, I have a 54g tank and a 20g fuge.

m2434 · 01/05/2008, 10:58 PM

Is this in your 50g corner tank? I didn't think you had any tangs??

Great story never the less

Sk8r · 01/05/2008, 11:12 PM

Grin. Yep, tang police, you got me. I was two months from moving. I had caulerpa crowding out my corals---it was pre-refugium. I knew I was going to break the tank down in a month or so, so I bought a purple caulerpa-eating tang with the understanding I could turn him back when I moved. [The same lfs would take my fish and corals for boarding while I moved.]
So I took K, as we called him---poor fellow, he'd been brought up in a small tank, had hlle, which I tried to treat, did get him at least a veggie diet---this guy did improve in my care.
The mandy so loved him. Followed him everywhere. The yellow watchman so hated him, and would not come out of his hole for two months while he was in the tank. He was perfectly well behaved --- all my fish are cigar-shaped, and he couldn't hit one if he tried, but he never did. When the move came, I turned him back to the lfs, and I am happy to report he found a very large tank for his next home, and they treated his food with Zoe and he got over his hlle. My yellow watchman, after boarding, was happy to come out with no tang in sight, my mandy was happy with her brand new 20g refugium full of pods, and my caulerpa [which survived an accidental rock-cooking] was done in by the new refugium.
I can faithfully report that at 3-4" the tang was too large for my 54g tank, had to swim carefully, terrified the YWG, and though never panicked, never fighting, and though I have huge oxygenation in my tank---I did feel I was not giving him what he needed to be healthy. I got fond of Mr. K, but he needed more room, and I was very happy when I heard how things ended up for him---cured, and with ample room to swim a long, long run.

m2434 · 01/05/2008, 11:19 PM

How could you break the mandarin and the purple up? Should have just bought a bigger tank

Sk8r · 01/05/2008, 11:22 PM

LOL---I DID give her a 20g fuge with all the pods just for her.

I was so tempted---but after buying a house I was so broke----

m2434 · 01/05/2008, 11:36 PM

Well, you can't call yourself a reefer until you've taken out a second mortgage for a tank

01/05/2008, 04:12 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	my silly mandy... ...little gal, a psychedelic, learned to eat frozen by her passionate attachment to a purple tang---she followed him everywhere, and tried what he tried. Now she eats anything---pellet, mysis, copepods...but cyclopeeze has always eluded her. It's fine, it floats, she evidently couldn't figure it, and just ignored it. Now she has. I spotted her going about the tank with her little mouth in a wide O, sucking hard, as cyclopeeze floated about. She'd stop to go for a live pod, but back again to the O, even up in midwater where mandys don't go. This is a totally new behavior, just this week--when she learned to eat frozen nearly a year ago. For such a blindly oblivious singleminded single-species predator, [not the sharpest knife in the drawer], they are certainly capable of solving a problem. There's more brain in that little large-eyed head than you'd think. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/05/2008, 09:45 PM	#2
snorvich Team RC member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Outlander Posts: 40,953 Blog Entries: 46	I have had mine for a couple of years. Would you believe that at night it watches US? I have another one but it ignores people. This one swims up in the water column and looks out. Eats frozen mysis too but mainly subsists on copepods. __________________ Warmest regards, ~Steve~

01/05/2008, 10:34 PM	#4
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Ah. A mandarin dragonet, improperly also called a mandarin goby. Shares its small classification with the scooter, improperly id'ed as a blenny, actually a scooter dragonet; and the sea robin, or flying gurnard. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/05/2008, 10:39 PM	#5
NeveSSL Got tubes? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 6,759	Thats awesome! Simple definitely doesn't mean stupid, especially in mother nature. Brandon __________________ I am proof that post count is not directly proportional to "reef IQ". Zip Ties = Reef Duck Tape Geek it till it MHz!!! Current Tank Info: 180g Build in Process

01/05/2008, 10:46 PM	#7
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	They are among my favorite fish. Hard to keep until you get a fuge, but doing very well with one. FYI, I have a 54g tank and a 20g fuge. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/05/2008, 10:30 PM	#3
asherah Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: california Posts: 236	What is a mandy ? asherah

01/05/2008, 10:40 PM	#6
asherah Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: california Posts: 236	ahh ok I know what you are talking about now =)

01/05/2008, 10:58 PM	#8
m2434 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,171	Is this in your 50g corner tank? I didn't think you had any tangs?? Great story never the less __________________ Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there. ~Richard Feynman

01/05/2008, 11:12 PM	#9
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Grin. Yep, tang police, you got me. I was two months from moving. I had caulerpa crowding out my corals---it was pre-refugium. I knew I was going to break the tank down in a month or so, so I bought a purple caulerpa-eating tang with the understanding I could turn him back when I moved. [The same lfs would take my fish and corals for boarding while I moved.] So I took K, as we called him---poor fellow, he'd been brought up in a small tank, had hlle, which I tried to treat, did get him at least a veggie diet---this guy did improve in my care. The mandy so loved him. Followed him everywhere. The yellow watchman so hated him, and would not come out of his hole for two months while he was in the tank. He was perfectly well behaved --- all my fish are cigar-shaped, and he couldn't hit one if he tried, but he never did. When the move came, I turned him back to the lfs, and I am happy to report he found a very large tank for his next home, and they treated his food with Zoe and he got over his hlle. My yellow watchman, after boarding, was happy to come out with no tang in sight, my mandy was happy with her brand new 20g refugium full of pods, and my caulerpa [which survived an accidental rock-cooking] was done in by the new refugium. I can faithfully report that at 3-4" the tang was too large for my 54g tank, had to swim carefully, terrified the YWG, and though never panicked, never fighting, and though I have huge oxygenation in my tank---I did feel I was not giving him what he needed to be healthy. I got fond of Mr. K, but he needed more room, and I was very happy when I heard how things ended up for him---cured, and with ample room to swim a long, long run. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/05/2008, 11:19 PM	#10
m2434 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,171	How could you break the mandarin and the purple up? Should have just bought a bigger tank __________________ Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there. ~Richard Feynman

01/05/2008, 11:22 PM	#11
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	LOL---I DID give her a 20g fuge with all the pods just for her. I was so tempted---but after buying a house I was so broke---- __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/05/2008, 11:36 PM	#12
m2434 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,171	Well, you can't call yourself a reefer until you've taken out a second mortgage for a tank __________________ Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there. ~Richard Feynman