mandrin goby

ok i have been struggling to keep my mandrin goby fed, i had the tank seeded with some pods and since have added 3 more bottles of pods to the tank after hours and a large bag of BBS, he keeps getting skinnier and my wifes sixline is FAT and healthy, i am going to try to set up something in my sump to help the pods grow but am limited on space , i ordered the 1000pod package from reefs2go and it was BOGO so 2000 pods will be here next wednesday.


so just to recap i have now spent 100$ on pods for a 35$ fish


my sump is 14 gal and has a chamber under the drip tray thats 6 gallons or so. and i have 5" on the outside of the sump to play with depending on which way i slide it.



i know i talked to jermey about some cheato before. but this is where i sit now.



bring on the discussion or ideas

 

Try spectrum pellet food (the one with garlic added). In my 220 I have plenty of pods and live stuff for my Mandarin to eat, but everytime I feed those pellets it comes running to feed on them. Worth a shot!

 

How big of tank? As small as these are they really require a large tank to graze in. 2000 pods will be gone in a week and with a sixline in there thats much faster and agile, your mandarine will be out competed for them.

A constant source of pods is needed unless you can get them to eat prepared foods, then your only problem is making sure the food gets to them first.

 

i have tried target feeding artic pods or mysis to and he runs when the baster hits the water, i have a 75 gal tank with a
3" sixlie
3" mandrin
4" maroon clown
3" domino dam
3" blue devil dam
3"CBS
2" royal garama
3" purple basslet
2" bangi cardinal
4 - pepermint shrimp
8 - emerald crabs 2 are the size of 50 cent peices
3" sailfin alge blenny

the pods i ordered are a mix of copeopods and amphipods

 

amphipods are probably to big for the mandarine, I could be wrong.

 

i thought that 2 but when they reproduce the young should be just the right size.


i will try to get out to pick up some pellets and see if he is interested in those possibly.

 

Never had a mandarin, but I'm pretty sure I've read a couple different places you shouldn't put a 6 line and a mandarin in the same tank because the 6 line will out compete for the food and the mandarin will starve. You might want to do some research on that, and if that's the case, decide which you'd rather have.

 

I've got a 6 line and a mandarin, mine does not eat anything but pods. I don't run a filter sock, or any mechanical filtration so the pods don't get Filtered out. Everybody has been happy for about a year and a half, but the tank does have some particulates floating around. I also run an algae scrubber, which generates an insane amount of pods.

 

It isnt just sixlines, its pretty much all wrasse.

 

I would seriously try getting some of the spectrum food because once it eats that, it should eat anything. Mines not quite as fat as a roll of quarters, but its getting there.

 

My mandrin is skinnier than the first picture in that thread

 

If your mandarin is still hanging in there, try some blood worms.

 

Once you throw in the pods he will fatten up. I have a green spotted mandarin and scooter who both love the pods, supplement every month or two even with good pod growth if they dont take other stuff. I had two of the standard mandarins and they didnt adapt and didnt make it, green spot and blenny both take mysis and brine sometimes (prob when they arent finding many pods) but they masacre pods. Thats where i get mine and there will be a bunch, once ya put em in youll see him on the hunt. I think isopods, the bigger ones you can see which youll get the majority of, are better. the really small copepods i think are just too small. If your adding pods he'll be happy happy happy (but does get expensive!). good luck, they are beautiful fish!

 

damn... just noticed the date on first post thought it was this month/recent, sorry, hows ur mandarin now doin? Fatten up after the pods were added? Pod population growing?

 

i put 2000+ pods in over a 60 day period and it didnt do allot, i found whats left of him yesterday as the crabs and snails were feasting, i moved part of my pod culture to the sump and have the rest for a H.O.T fuge that im bulding for the tank then we will look into another one.

 

that sucks, sorry to hear he didnt make it. They can be hit and miss, petco used to get ones already eating mysis ect, usually cost double tho, not sure if they still can order em tho. The hob fuge will help for sure

 

yes the fuge will help allot, i will wait a while before we get another i would like to have my fuge running 60 days ontop of the pod stiocking i already havedon in the tank and sump.

 

I had the best pod population when I had a few pieces of LR in my fuge and also fed phyto. I would also take a look at your other stock. Sounds like there's a lot of competition for the mandarin.

 

the sixline is the main competition and i should of waited on getting the wrase till there was a decent pod population, which is something i wont overlook again. my fuge is figured just over 9 gal so i have room for some LR and sand and rubble in there and i have the phyto already i am using with my culture