ORA spotted mandarin goby

[mvm]

Picked up one of the ORA gobies yesterday. :thumbs:
Can't wait to see if I can get it to eat pellets as advertised!

 

[smallblock]

keep us posted for real i cant believe a fish of all these colors are this cheap

 

[smoothie]

Oh sweet. Glad you stepped up to take a chance on these. Ii have always wanted to train some to eat from the "mandarin Diner." Let me know what pellets these guys take to

 

[jef4y]

We picked up a mandarin when we first had our biocube 29. He took to Rods Frozen foods in like 2 days, and now will eat anything. He eats pellets like popcorn, mysis, Rods, and of course pods which we cultivate in our sump and are quite prolific in the tank.

I only comment here because there were a lot of people who swore by Rods for mandarins, and ours took to it almost instantly. Not sure what it is about that blend, but they dig it. Just have to feed them with the pumps off or VERY low since they tend to peck at the substrate and rock instead of actively swimming for it like other fish do.

Here are 2 videos I made of our mandarin eating rods:
<div class="gc_ifarem_title">YouTube- Feeding Mandarin Dragonet Frozen Rod's Foods in Biocube 29</div>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pQe5gDjOCA]
<div class="gc_ifarem_title">YouTube- Feeding Mandarin Dragonet in Biocube BC29</div>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ucc7ZbYbkY]

 

[honeyb627]

Anyone updatse on the ORA Mandarin eating prepared or Frozen foods? I've read nothing but horrible things about getting these ORA mandarin's to eat....

 

[mvm]

Unfortunately, the horrible things were true in my case as well. He did about 3 weeks ago.... Crappy.

 

[honeyb627]

So sorry to hear that, I really had hoped to hear a good story out of these.

So depressing and a disappointment... I want a mandarin badly they are my favorite... back to establishing a pod collection when we set the tanks up at the new house...

 

[brianjfinn]

Also, how often are you feeding and does it seem to be enough? I had a spotted mandarin (not ORA) in my tank and got him eating brine shrimp and cyclopeeze twice a day, but it wasn't quite enough, so I had to give him away.

 

[crewdawg1981]

MvM;552812 wrote: Unfortunately, the horrible things were true in my case as well. He did about 3 weeks ago.... Crappy.

I've yet to hear anyone say a positive thing about these guys. You'd think ORA would stop offering them and do a little better on their research?!

 

[brianjfinn]

Oops, guess I should read the whole thing before asking a question.

Crewdawg1981;552831 wrote: I've yet to hear anyone say a positive thing about these guys. You'd think ORA would stop offering them and do a little better on their research?!

I don't doubt that ORA has them on pellets before they sell them. From what I've heard these guys can get pretty stressed when re-homed. People that have trained them to eat prepared foods have reported problems after moving the fish to another tank.

 

[crewdawg1981]

True, but is that not another issue that should be addressed before shipping them? I mean if they're eating there great, but if you cant ship them anywhere because they get so stressed... is it responsible to be selling them?! (I understand that there are plenty of fish available in the market that are questionable at best to be selling) Isnt that one of the primary goals of ORA... to make the hobby more responsible?

 

[brianjfinn]

Crewdawg1981;552836 wrote: True, but is that not another issue that should be addressed before shipping them? I mean if they're eating there great, but if you cant ship them anywhere because they get so stressed... is it responsible to be selling them?! (I understand that there are plenty of fish available in the market that are questionable at best to be selling) Isnt that one of the primary goals of ORA... to make the hobby more responsible?

Well now you're getting into the argument of whether we should keep anything in our tanks that is difficult. If everyone stayed away from the difficult specimens, there would never be any advances and we wouldn't even have a hobby. I understand wanting to be responsible, but there are people making great advances right now with keeping difficult fish and coral.

 

[crewdawg1981]

I mean... I get the difficult to keep and how that could be expanded to the hobby as a whole. What I'm getting at is that ORA in particular ... I thought their stated goal was to make the hobby more responsible, which is why they breed other species of fish, corals, etc. Heck.. thats why they're trying to do the whole mandarin thing in the first place. IF that is the case... is it not against their goal of being responsible to sell a fish that they advertise as... well basically revolutionizing the mandarin keeping aspect of the hobby?

Eh... we're delving too far into this topic. Basically, dont buy an ORA Mandarin... Yet.

 

[honeyb627]

Affectedhalf;552849 wrote:
http://www.sustainablereefs.com/?q=node/189"></a>

I'm not aware of the probability that the captive bred mandarins will stress out severely to the point of not taking in prepared foods once moved. Is it really that common? [/QUOTE]


Yeah, there are countless threads and accounts on the web saying how stressed out their ORA mandarins were when they got them, all the threads are pretty depressing. I think it's just more depressing because ORA hyped it up so much, and it's just not as easy as it seemed on the surface compared to a wild caught mandarin. With any fish everyone is going to have a different experience... so who knows...

 

[brianjfinn]

Affectedhalf;552849 wrote:

I'm not aware of the probability that the captive bred mandarins will stress out severely to the point of not taking in prepared foods once moved. Is it really that common? I know it's a risk for many fish weaned onto it.

Sorry, I was referring to wild caught.

 

[brianjfinn]

Affectedhalf;552849 wrote: By making advancements in captive breeding it is already on the journey to being more responsible. The loss of captive bred specimens, though not positive imho, is better than the loss of wild caught. Perhaps ORA, in the meantime, still needs to market them as difficult for the time being. Though ORA does warn that they do require multiple feedings per day.

"Caring for ORA Mandarins isn't as simple as throwing a cube of frozen food and pinch of pellets in the aquarium a couple of times a week. At approximately 1.25"-1.5" in length, ORA's Spotted Mandarins are still growing and have voracious appetites. We recommend frequent feedings – at least twice daily. Some of the frozen foods that they readily accept include: finely chopped Hikari Blood Worms, Nutramar Ova (prawn eggs), fish roe, and baby brine shrimp. They are also accustomed to eating New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets."

http://www.sustainablereefs.com/?q=node/189">http://www.sustainablereefs.com/?q=node/189</a>

I'm not aware of the probability that the captive bred mandarins will stress out severely to the point of not taking in prepared foods once moved. Is it really that common? I know it's a risk for many fish weaned onto it. An example is the ORA fang blenny. I had one that [I]refused</em> to eat anything even though it was supposed to be weaned on prepared foods. At the same time, my roommate ended up with one that was a PIG. Ate ALL prepared foods. This was from the exact same shipment and at the exact same time, acclimation, and similar environments...feeding schedules ect....

Maybe an individual basis...[/QUOTE]

Very well said, by the way.

 

[crewdawg1981]

Affectedhalf;552859 wrote: I see what you mean:

here quoted via ORA:

"Even though they are some of the most attractive and popular aquarium fish in the industry, many wild-caught mandarins are difficult to feed and despite best efforts, most of them fail to thrive in aquariums. ORA has eliminated this heart-breaking problem by training our captive-bred mandarins to eat a variety of commercially available frozen foods and pellets. Now the average aquarist</em> can enjoy the convenience of finding readily available (and affordable) food sources for their exquisite ORA dragonettes."

If what you are saying is the case, then they should not be marketed towards the average aquarist. It's sad when retailers market fish to be easier than what they are. A classic example: the Rainfordi/Hector Goby. They are often marketed as EASY (liveaquaria ect...). They are not easy to keep fed and happy long term. Often starving in most reef tanks.

Again assuming this is not an individual by individual basis but rather as a species as a whole.

THIS is what I was getting at. Its almost to the point (at least after reading so many threads about experiences with the ORA mandarins), that you might as well try your luck with a wild caught one... could be easier. The new ones definitely arent going to help an "average aquarist" any.

 

[kayakatl]

IMO, ORA or not, no one should have one of these if their pod population is insufficient to sustain a wild caught mandarin. Its just kinda cruel I think. It would be like forcing me to be a vegetarian, sure i could survive but with out my steak and other meat I would not be so happy. This fish is prone to getting stressed too. Stress affects fish appetite just as it does human appetite.

I agree, "average aquarist" is a bit of a stretch. We take for granted we are in ARC and gain TONS of knowledge and exchange tons here. I am not sure most of us fall in this group "average". I have a feeling average is about where I was at 12 yrs old with gold fish. Ignorant as can be or obtaining knowledge from very limited sources (i.e. one LFS).

 

[crewdawg1981]

Affectedhalf;552870 wrote: I agree. :up: Although the whole point as advertised by ORA was to be able to feed them without</em> having a completely sufficient pod population.

In the meantime, I think it best to err on the side of caution and have a large pod population in place before getting one already weaned onto prepared foods. Which, for most, and even myself at the time being, would not</em> be the average aquarist.

Wait... what about me?! I've had my tank established for two months, its cycled and I have a lot of live rock in my 46 gallon?! (totally kidding BTW). :doh:

Just seems like the New To The Hobby forum on RC constantly has someone asking about this.

 

[jerrit03]

I have had my mandarin for 2 years and 2 tanks, he eats anything close enough and we love him. When I first bought him I ordered some pods from eBay that came in a sponge material, just to be sure he had enough food, not sure if that helped.