Mandarín

gaskitbass

New member
Has anyone kept a mandarín successfully long term? I thought I finally had it figured out - refugium stocked with around 120 bucks of algae barn pods but I spoke too soon. He made it about 4 months


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goat585

Administrator
Has anyone kept a mandarín successfully long term? I thought I finally had it figured out - refugium stocked with around 120 bucks of algae barn pods but I spoke too soon. He made it about 4 months


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In my experience they have to be trained to eat prepared foods. A stock refuge will not have enough pods in my experience. High quality foods like Rod's food can be introduced with time and patience. When I had my mandarin it would eat the food but took time to get them to do it.
 

gonebad395

Active member
They average about 500 pods a week so if they aren’t trained to eat frozen it’s just a matter of time until they die. They are always hunting from what I’ve read. I’ve also read that even trained to eat froze food that can shut off one day for no reason at all. The longest I’ve had one is a little over a year. Shame really because the are such a beautiful little fish with such personality.
 

gaskitbass

New member
Has anyone had any different results with the Palau biota ones that are bred with other food ?


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Reefaholic

Premium member
My experience with Mandarins haven’t been positive, even with one that ate frozen foods. You would have to feed multiple times a day to have some success. These fish Hunt Pods All day, I feel like that’s all they do. You would need a large sustainable population of pods in order for them to thrive.
 

trackfast

Princess Trainer
I've had my mandarin a few years now; Feb 2014. The tank is six years old and I probably didn't get it until my tank was at least a year old. I do "dose" new pods occasionally. Typically it would be two containers of pods from AlgaeBarn, local shops, eBay, etc. One would go into my DT and the other would go into my fuge.
 
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