Green Mandarin food

Hi, what all can I feed my Green mandarin? Any suggestions?
Thanks
kyle

 

You don't really feed them. They eat copods in your sand and rocks. That's why they are "expert."

 

Kyle many times you can get them too eat frozen food but you got to make sure the food is getting to them. otherwise the will mostly browse your rocks and eat pods all day long.

 

i have a refugium on my 29 gal. with copods. he loves them. the other day when i was feeding frozen brine shrimp i seen him eating some too. woo hoo. they can be hard to keep because they can be picky eaters

 

They are a carnivore. They love Copepods and feed off the live rock where the pods live. Min will eat the DIY food the club makes. They will eat enriched brine...'things smal enoughl for their mouth.

 

Expert!!! It says difficult on LiveAquaria.com. Well I am no expert and these things are sold left and right. My son wanted one so how could I say no. I have heard they will eat Msysi shrimp cut up any chance of that? I have copods in my rock, but what happens when they get them eating up too fast? I guess i will have to try brine shrimp maybe or Black worms..I just don't what him to starve if he eats all the pods in my tank..

 

they like Rods fish eggs allso or at least mine do

 

u can buy copods at acc

 

Wish I was closer, looks like I may buy some when I am up there next time..

 

Mandarins are sold left and right and they die left and right unfortunately. Many people have had luck getting them to eat blood worms. I kept one for 2 1/2 years in a 75 with a large fuge/sump and it would eat blood worms and mysis.

 

Did you buy it from Live Aquaria? Here is a quote from there page.
Looking for the best food to feed your Dragonettes? We recommend AlgaGen Tisbe biminiensis.

 

What size is your tank?  I think I read, as a rule of thumb, 75 gallons per mandrin.  This is to maintain a stable pod population.  A fuge will obviously lower the required display tank size.  Someone correct me if im wrong.

 

I have had my Mandarin for about 2 years now. He is in a 28gal Nano-Cube with a lot of live rock. My Mandarin eats only live pods. I believe you will need to have a lot of live rock in your aquarium for ample space for the pods to live. It will also depend on what other fish you have in your tank and what their eating habits are. Provide a place for the pods to multiply, a refugium, even a good pile of rock rubble where fish can not get to the pods. If no one close to you sells pods check on line for places that have live pods, it never hurts to restock. It takes time to to train some Mandarins to eat. Some never do learn to eat other foods. Mine shows no interest in anything but hunting live pods. As long as you can keep a good pod population they are a very nice easy peaceful fish to keep.

 

I've had a female for 3 years, she eats mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, and blood worms. She is also in a 92 gallon tank with a lot of live rock and has to compete with a neon dottyback and a wrasse for the pods. It might help if you get a clear jar or bottle that is only large enough for your mandarin to enter and put the shrimp or worms in that, set it on the bottom of the tank where your mandarin can see it. You need to keep a little motion going with the food to to get it's attention and they think it is alive. Be careful not to startle the fish or they tend to bash themselves on the glass trying to get out. Good luck.

 

I have had my mandarin for 3 years.   Took him about 6 months but eats blood worms and mysis shrimp now.  He only got intersted in frozen food once he ate most the pods in the tank.  Mandarins are very slow so I make sure to "spot" feed him every other day to keep him fat /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif   I use a syringe to feed him and partial submerge the food in the sand or I also have a million little brittle stars that can hold the food in place long enough for him to see it, inspect it for a few seconds, then eat it.