New Mandarin

As I posted in the other Mandarin thread, the little sick green mandarin didn't make it. The LFS was kind enough to let me trade him out for a healthy one.





I do have a concern about him. Every morning so far when I get out of bed and turn the light on, he is laying on the bottom of the tank all slimey lookin and sand all over him. :shock: After about 10 minutes with the lights on he is up movin' around and looks fine. Do mandarins slime up when they are sleeping or is he stressing out during the night for some reason? He acts fine and hunts for pods all day during the day. Any input on this behavior? :question:

they do,they can lose their color and look like there dying too,fish do weird things while sleeping

Mandarins are a scaleless fish that are always covered in a slime coat

Thanks guys. It keeps scaring the shart out of me, then he is fine about 10 minutes later. That puts my mind at ease anyway.

That is normal for a mandarin. Mine turns almost white when he sleeps. Yours looks good!

That shows that its healthy.Its doing what its supposed to when it sleeps.
I think mine sleeps during the day and hunts for pods at night.I never see him until the lights are out for the night.

Glad I found this thread, I had the same question.

awesome looking fish

+1 white and dead looking at night.

After about 3 months he stopped turning white. I'm thinking that was when he didn't feel threatened anymore as he sleeps out in the open now.

Your MD will love sushi roe. I get it at an Asian market. Its all my fishes favorite food. Turn off the flow and drop it right in front of him then turn flow back on after he eats.