Hi, I hope you have success in conditioning him. They were the first fish I decided to own and the last fish I bought because of their ability to shy away from anything except the live food. I have 58 gallon with 30 gal sump. Entire system is about 2.5 yrs old. I use rubble piles, switch out chaeto in my display and fuge, and arrange my rock to have lots of small caves.
I bought a target mandarin after reading several testimonials claiming they accept frozen food more readily. After waiting and shopping I found a small one. Not tiny but fairly small. Smaller fish = smaller belly. I've had her for roughly 3 months. After reading your post I dropped some mysis and plankton (cyclops). This was the first time he ate and then ate again without spitting it out. He had tried various foods in the past including the above mentioned and immediately spitting the food out like a kid forced to eat spinach.
Things I have tried:
1. Cutting a small tubberware container. One hole for a long tube and a second hole to act as an entrance. I set the container at the bottom and allowed time for the fish to accept this new furniture. Then waited...............for a very long time for the mandarin to swim by. When he did I enticed him in by shooting plankton through the tube and into his "trough." He checked it out but wasn't interested. This method is worth a shot in my opinon.
2. Turned off powerheads. I used a small plastic pipette with the tip cut off to allow for bigger shrimp. I used the typical freshwater mysis and a smaller saltwater variety (don't rem. the brands). When he swam close to the top I gently shot 2-3 shrimp in his direction. It takes a few tries since the greedy fish will rush over. That's why I like method #1. This is the method that worked for me, but I am confident it was simply timing and not the method.
3. Using only a tube I would chase him around shooting food everywhere he swam. Not very effective
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