Matt Wittenrich (the guy whoe successfully bred both the spotted and the green mandarins) wrote that spotted mandarins are easier to train to accept frozen food than the greens.
That's why I chose to get the spotted ones.
I used Matt Pederson (Marine Fish and Ornamental Breeders) method of mandarin training and within 2 weeks I had my two spotteds eating frozen food and gaining weight on it.
You never know what is going to happen to your pod population. I think it's always a good idea to train your fish to accept frozen in addition to the natural pod population to ensure continued success/supply.
Most people wouldn't just get a pet cat and plan to let it sustain itself on the mice it finds in the backyard.
Why take the chance with such a beautiful fish?
It would be awful to watch it starve.
I started them in a 10 gallon tank with live mysids, etc. and then weaned them over onto frozen food. Selco enriched small bloodworms are a favorite - definitely worth trying!
I now have one of them in my 130g tank with PJ cardinals and clownfish.
I turn my Rio Seio pumps off (using the feed timer) because the mandarins don't like to catch their food in heavy flow and use a kent sea squirt (had to make the hole a little bigger) to deliver the food.
That works really well. He's eating pods but he's still after the frozen food too.
Unfortunately the person that sold the two of them to me didn't know how to sex them and instead of having a female and a male I now have two males. Obviously the two of them don't get along so one of them is in a breeder basket until I find a new home for it.
If anybody knows of somebody in San Antonio that has a female spotted for sale or trade (even if she doesn't eat frozen) or is looking for a frozen food eating male let me know!