Mandarin looking a little thin...

[deputydawg88]

My Mandarin is looking a little on the slim side and I am unsure why. He spends the whole day eating and I see him actually eating regularly. Since I noticed he was looking a little thin, I went to my LFS and got three bags of copepods and added those to the tank and I have been feeding cubes of frozen cyclops twice daily, morning and evening.

I have a 33 gallon aqua one with a refugio, which looks quite well populated with pods, as does my DT as I can see them on the glass. Is it a case of my mandarin just needing to put the weight back on, or is it the beginning of the end for him...?

[homer1475]

When I got my mandy it took about a month for it to look right, it was super emaciated when I got it from the LFS. It took about another couple months to actually fatten her up.

if you see it eating, just let it be for a while.

[lagatbezan]

try adding some selcon to the frozen food. That should help him put on some weight.
If it continues to eat well and still not gaining weight you might be dealing with some internal parasites if it wasnt quarantined.

[davocean]

Unless your fuge is pretty big it's pretty hard for a tank that size to hold enough pods for long term.
Once you notice them getting thin it's tough to recover, but there are diners/feeders that may help if you search.

[mikem101]

+1 with davocean
IMHO you would need a tank about twice that size to have enough pods to keep that guy alive. even if your fuge is the same size as your DT it's hard to keep enough pods for them to eat. but I hope you can get him healthy again! good luck!

[Cheapreef]

Unless you can get him to eat pellets that tank is far too small to sustain a Mandarin.

[davocean]

Pellets feedings do little, they need a constant supply, unless you can do that it's tough.

[deputydawg88]

I've had him 6 months now, there has been no issue with pods previously. It's a captive bred mandarin so takes frozen food.

What do you mean by diners/feeders?

[FullBoreReefer]

My opinion these fish are better off out of the hobby. More die than actually survive. To bad their beauty kills them...meaning people gotta have them; then just end up killing them.

I get some people take great care, but majority do not supply the requirements to keep them.

[davocean]

Originally Posted by deputydawg88

I've had him 6 months now, there has been no issue with pods previously. It's a captive bred mandarin so takes frozen food.

What do you mean by diners/feeders?

Search Paul B's diner, or just search mandarin feeder/diner, there are a couple out there.

They are not that difficult to keep, just gotta have enough rock, surface area, fuge, PODS.

The ones they sell that eat frozen have had issues, some make it, some don't, but if you know their metabolism you'd realize eating frozen at feeding time does very little, too little, unless you provide a constant supply that other fish can not get to.

[deputydawg88]

Originally Posted by davocean

Search Paul B's diner, or just search mandarin feeder/diner, there are a couple out there.

They are not that difficult to keep, just gotta have enough rock, surface area, fuge, PODS.

The ones they sell that eat frozen have had issues, some make it, some don't, but if you know their metabolism you'd realize eating frozen at feeding time does very little, too little, unless you provide a constant supply that other fish can not get to.

I see, thank you. I only have a starry blenny and two benggai cardinals as tankmates so there isn't much competition... I just think the pods might have crashed a little.

[davocean]

It could be the only fish in the tank and still it's not going to get enough pods to sustain it long term, 2-3 pods per minute is what they eat, constantly

[djbon]

Mandy fish never stop picking live foods on the rocks. If you have a very minimal aquascape, Mandy is not for you unless you have refugium of at least a sump with safe haven condominium for pods to thrive. If your display rock works is sufficient with a lot of hiding place/holes for pods to thrive and multiply, your Mandy should be fat and happy.

[deputydawg88]

He looks to be fattening up a bit now. He's certainly eating a lot more now and the pod population seems to have bounced back.

[JimON]

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Mandy, too. As such reading up on pods. Several of the articles I have found indicate that the temperature at which they do best goes from pretty darn chilly, (which I don't recall the number, my tank will never get there...) to 82-83 degrees farenheit. This is what worries me, as I don't have or want a chiller, and right now my tank is running between 81-82.

Deputydawg88, what is your tank temp? Is it possible that during the summer you have had a little die off of pods with warmer temps? Just curious if that has possibly led to the slimmer Mandy?

[JimON]

Along the same lines, another question for the group. How well do pods travel from fuge/sump to tank? Are they ground up in the pump, or are they too small? What I am thinking is to grow the pods in the fuge, will I have to net and place in tank, or will they make it to the DT on their own? Thanks!

[deputydawg88]

Originally Posted by JimON

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Mandy, too. As such reading up on pods. Several of the articles I have found indicate that the temperature at which they do best goes from pretty darn chilly, (which I don't recall the number, my tank will never get there...) to 82-83 degrees farenheit. This is what worries me, as I don't have or want a chiller, and right now my tank is running between 81-82.

Deputydawg88, what is your tank temp? Is it possible that during the summer you have had a little die off of pods with warmer temps? Just curious if that has possibly led to the slimmer Mandy?

My tank is at around 24C (75.2F), it probably fluctuates above that depending on the room temperature but not below. I'm in the UK so room temperature very rarely climbs above the tank temperature, however.

The pods are too small to be ground up by the pump, they should just make it through into your DT. If you have a lot of chaeto and rubble in your refugium, they should do alright.

With regards to reasons for my mandarin losing weight, I'm not sure. I genuinely think it may just be a case of the pod population crashed temporarily and I didn't notice right away. The last week or so it has been eating well over the 2-3 pods per minute as stated by a poster earlier in the thread.

I personally don't particularly appreciate some of the criticism I've received, as I am someone who has done their research into this fish and wouldn't keep it if I didn't think I had provided the conditions for it to do well. But I accept it comes with the territory as I imagine there are plenty who don't do their research and haven't built their tank in part with this fish in mind, and those who are experienced probably just assume that's the case with all people.

[taby15]

Have you tried masstick . It does the trick for my mandarin and i also supplement frozen ora eggs\pod

[deputydawg88]

Originally Posted by taby15

Have you tried masstick . It does the trick for my mandarin and i also supplement frozen ora eggs\pod

Haven't yet but I'll try, thanks for the tip!

[JimON]

Originally Posted by deputydawg88

My tank is at around 24C (75.2F), it probably fluctuates above that depending on the room temperature but not below. I'm in the UK so room temperature very rarely climbs above the tank temperature, however.

The pods are too small to be ground up by the pump, they should just make it through into your DT. If you have a lot of chaeto and rubble in your refugium, they should do alright.

With regards to reasons for my mandarin losing weight, I'm not sure. I genuinely think it may just be a case of the pod population crashed temporarily and I didn't notice right away. The last week or so it has been eating well over the 2-3 pods per minute as stated by a poster earlier in the thread.

I personally don't particularly appreciate some of the criticism I've received, as I am someone who has done their research into this fish and wouldn't keep it if I didn't think I had provided the conditions for it to do well. But I accept it comes with the territory as I imagine there are plenty who don't do their research and haven't built their tank in part with this fish in mind, and those who are experienced probably just assume that's the case with all people.

Thought I would give it a shot, but I am glad it is doing better!

[avel]

I used to have a 40 gallon tall tank with a lot of rock. After 4 years I bought a mandarin and it got fat! So I think a tank that size can support a mandarin, but you need a lot of rock, and some time to let the copepod population reproduce to a sufficient amount.

[jorgehiram]

I have a Mandarin on a 35 gallons and is doing well but to prevent a crash in my Pods population I am trying to boost my copepod population with Algaebarn 5280 Pods with OceanMagik Live Phytoplankton. They are expensive take a look at their website and also Amazon for detailed information, I think it makes sense but time will tell.



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[BioNub]

I’m having the same issue with my mandarin looking thin, I made a feeder similar to what you see online where my Mandarin will swim inside a bottle full of freshly hatched live BRINE SHRIMP daily, he’ll eat 1 every 2or 3 seconds so in a day I’m guessing he’ll eat hundreds of these, he seems to love it and spends a lot of time in there just picking at them. Sometimes he’ll get more than 1 from a single “pick”.. However, he doesn’t seem to be gaining weight, could it be that Brine shrimp isn’t nutritious enough for what he needs?

[Sk8r]

Brine shrimp aren't enough, nutritionally. Try adding selcon to the shrimp before feeding them to the mandy. What he needs are copepods. You can raise enough of them in a 100 with cheato in sump/fuge IF he has no competition.

[Zalick]

Originally Posted by JimON

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Mandy, too. As such reading up on pods. Several of the articles I have found indicate that the temperature at which they do best goes from pretty darn chilly, (which I don't recall the number, my tank will never get there...) to 82-83 degrees farenheit. This is what worries me, as I don't have or want a chiller, and right now my tank is running between 81-82.

The Mandarin's normal habitat is 82 to 86 degrees year round. Here's a pic I took of one at dusk a few weeks ago in Indonesia. 30' deep and Ocean temp was 86.