Green Mandarin Question

[rdnelson]

Interesting. Anyone else have a mandarin eaten by an anemone? Wondering if it was more the exception than the rule.

 

[ripped tide]

Probably just my luck, but I've heard of others that had it happen to them as well.

 

[picoreefguy]

just throwing in my two cents here i have a mandarin in my 20 long its fat and happy and eats nothing but pods never goes near any of the food i put in so i think you would be ok with it in your tank being that its so large but i would watch the wrasse they tend to decimate pod populations and ive never kept nems and mandarins together but im with dylan id be cautious

 

[shanepike]

I found Melev's post very interesting:

 

[rdnelson]

Very interesting Shane. Thanks.

 

[kwajtrader]

What about the ORA Mandarins? I thought they were tank raised to take pellets and frozen foods. Does anyone know if any LFSs have them in stock? I've got a 70G corner tank with little space underneath or behind for a fuge and would like to have one but would want to know it would eat something other than pods.

 

[jef4y]

If you do any searching on the ORA mandarins, most people are disappointed because the don't necessarily eat frozen foods.

From my research and experience, when a mandarin is WELL FED, they will eat anything. If they are malnourished, they tend to eat only pods. So if you start a tank with a healthy pod population, you can ween them easier than if you start hoping they will take a prepared food.

 

[rdnelson]

This is all great info guys. Keep throwing stuff out there.

 

[bulkrate]

The other issue is that the ORA mandarin may well be readily eating prepared/frozen foods at the hatchery facility... then are shipped to various LFS where they're popped into prop tanks packed with pods to keep them healthy until sale. No store wants an expensive fish wasting away, and everyone knows that mandarins eat pods, and that they don't have to spot feed each one if they do this. Thus untraining said mandarin.

You buy it, pay the premium for an ORA specimen only to find that it no longer seeks non-live foods. Now, if you special order the fish specifically when ready to put in your tank, and it doesn't chill for several weeks in the LFS' tanks unlearning what aquarium food looks like I bet the success rate would probably be much higher.

This is what I'm planning on doing.

 

[rdnelson]

Got a link to where you would buy from BulkRate?

 

[mr_diggler]

I randomly feed my fish Arcti Pods(sp), the mandarin loves them.