Who has a Mandrin Dragonette that eats with the other fish?

[KWB]

I was just wondering who has a dragonette that eats any type of food other than pods found in the live rock. If you do, Did it happen by accident/conditioning? How did they start eating other stuff? I recently purchased one and would feel better if I could see it eating something with the other fish. it is constantly foraging the live rock and aquarium picking at stuff . but I just can't tell if it is picking or actually getting something to eat. My aquarium is 1.5 yrs old and well established and stable with lots of live rock stacked to to where there is lots of cracks,crevices, nooks and crannies. I do see the larger pods swimming around and thier "shed exoskeleton" floating in the currrent alot. I just don't want to lose the mandarin to starvation and probably worrying too much.

[Squiers007]

How long has it been in your tank? Sometimes they will take several days to get comfortable and start eating again. I have heard of people acclimating them to frozen foods, but I cant remember exactly how they did it. My friends just started eating frozen out of the blue one day! Kinda strange but it can happen.

[justahobby]

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

[ballardjr2000]

I heard of doing number one basically making a "safe" spot for them to take there time and eat. read about it as well. i say give that shot. ^^^

[wesheltonj]

I have one and s/he eats everything I put in the tank. S/he preferance is Blood Worms, will eat this over Mysis, brine, or pods

[justahobby]

I have one and s/he eats everything .......

Little FYI if you are wanting to know their sex, the dorsal fin has a longer spike in front. If the spike is shorter and doesn't stick out very far, you have a female. If the spike is long, flowing, and travels their back, well then you got yourself a male.

[Kristy]

We have a mandarin in each tank (a target mandarin in the small tank and a green psychadelic mandarin in our big tank) and they both eat the frozen foods we feed our other fish, in addition to the pods they pick off our rocks all day long. One was just a matter of luck that she started taking the frozen, the other we bought from someone at MAAST who let us know she was eating already.

I would NOT say that you're just worrying too much, as the mandarins can deplete your pod population in a matter of weeks to months and then slowly starve to death, so there are lots of measures you can take to assure the continued good health of your fish. We add bottled pods periodically in addition to circulating some macro from our fuge on a regular basis, and creating rubble piles in the corners to encourage pod growth.

Check out this link from melev's reef for some great tips on this subject:
http://melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

And here is another link from melev with good info about mandarin care:
http://melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html

[puretexn]

I feed the mandarin by placing a tube that is placed into the mouth of a cave and sticks out the top of the tank. I then drop a frozen block of daphnia in the tube. It melts slowly and creeps down the tube. The mandarin will find it as it makes its rounds. I fed my scooter this way, and he would swim up the tube before the scrimps would float down.

[corkyGramma]

puretexen, thats a great technique.

I don't have one because I get to the lfs when the order gets there and you never know if they will "condition" to dead frozen food. Some shop attendents claim that their mandrin is eating frozen, but they seriously don't take the time to watch them eat. I almost bought one and I asked the worker to feed him in front of me-long story short, I walked out of their without a fish. I felt really sorry for that little guy and the countless mandrins that die in shops from starvation.

[Gilbertg78228]

i have a Male thats eats frozen and a female i got later on that eats frozen as well. at the fish store they said he only eats live food. i have had my tank going almost 2 years now and i have come to find out anything can happen. my two mandarins both eat the brime. sometimes i even think they are trying to mate! blows me away watching them. i even have a scooter in there that eats frozen food. i have lots of water movement. 125g with a 55 g fuge.