men and ladies i need a question answered

M

mickeyw43

i have a mandarian goby that is starving what can i get him to eat,all the fish and corals are fine but he is getting thin.please advise what to get him i would appreciate it.
 
this should fix it up...I know marc would post this but he probably hasn't seen it yet so I'll post it up

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html
 
if thier was an answer to this i knew marc would have it thanks for posting this for marc.i bet marc learned this at the mac17 last year.thanks again i bet this help several people.
 
I just got a mandrin about a month ago...was worried because I tried to get "her" to eat pellets....Formula 2...no go.....then I tried Formula 1(small pellets).....again...no go..

So, off to the LFS I go.....got some live Brine and put them in my tank....alas..she ate! But, only the ones that swam VERY close to her...

I kept worrying about her getting enough to eat...until last time I fed...not being able to go to the LFS right then, I tried Frozen Brine....She ate it!

Now I am trying to find a jar small enough to lay on my sand bed(no occupancy sign hangs on the bottom half of my tank because I have SO much LR) for a Mandrin Diner...hoping I can get her to eat pellets also.

But, at least I know she WILL eat.
 
so far the only thing thats went in the diner is a blue damsel.one small snail,and two red hermit crabs,my goby isnt smart i guess.
 
Did you try Live Brine? Mine went right after them when I put them in my tank...

How long has your tank been up? Is it a new setup?
 
Here's another article: http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html

Don't give up on the Diner. Put a little food in each day, and put it in the relative area where the mandarin tends to travel the most. Be sure the opening is close to the substrate so your fish can glide in easily without having to 'leap' into the jar.

I hope you are able to keep her happy.
 
While you are trying to get your mandarin to eat pellets, you may want to go out to aquaculturestore.com and order some copepods. This is what they eat naturally. My mandarin got VERY thin and his life was saved when I ordered 2 liters of copepods from aquaculturestore.com. It is now fat and happy!
 
Yep I just got some copepods a few days ago. They were invisible in the bottle but now they are running all over the glass. I can see my mandarin picking at the rocks so I know he's eating and happy.

Plus he's fat. That's a good sign too.
 
Can you tell me a little more about the copods? I was just checking out that site and was wondering about them.Do you just get the jar of pods and dump them into the tank?
 
http://seapods.com/


I think Dallas North Aquarium is the only place in town that stocks the seapods.
 
I got a little bottle of "Seapods" (seapods.com) from a place in Austin. I checked their site and it says there are about 1,000 critters per bottle. I turned off the pumps and fuge for 30 minutes while I put 3/4 the bottle right in to the fuge on top of the plants and the remaining 1/4 in to the main tank.

After the 30 minutes were up I fired everything back up. 4 days later (this morning) I spotted pods scurrying around my glass. And I think I have some amphipods too...

BTW The seapods website suggests turning off the fuge for 10 minutes - I did 30 to be safe since mine has a strong flow.

The site also tells you stores nearby to pick some up.

From what I've read about Mandarins, live brine shrimp alone doesn't have enough nutrients to sustain one and they can die of malnutrition in 6 months. They need copepods too (I've read mysis is good). Lots of Mandarins are finicky eaters and will refuse anything but live food (lucky for Marc, he got his to eat at a little diner!).
 
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