mandarins ?

[tankedchemist]

does yours turn pale and sleep on the bottom of the tank at nigh?

 

[project5k]

no, stais colored, but does go dead still, i found him in a crevace, turned all sideways a couple weeks ago while "looking for pods" with a flashlight, i thought he was dead, but then the next morning, he was up and around again, so i dont know, hes a freaky little critter...

 

[lilyicu]

Those of you that are growing your own "pods" what are you feeding them?

I have a large amount of pods in my fuge but I don't know if I should be feeding them or not.

 

[project5k]

man, thats gonna take some tiny silverware!

do you have to do the "AIRPLANE" to get them to eat?

"alright, here comes the airplane, you better open the hanger...."

Thats a good copapod, eat all your strained green beans...

 

[lilyicu]

Hehehe - you still didn't answer my question :)

 

[yote]

does yours turn pale and sleep on the bottom of the tank at nigh?

Mandrines secrete a mucus that covers their scent when they sleep.Weather or not mine does that,I have no idea.I only get to see mine for 2 seconds a day,if that.

Those of you that are growing your own "pods" what are you feeding them?

I have a large amount of pods in my fuge but I don't know if I should be feeding them or not.

Most feed on detritus and algae.Some feed on phytoplankton,and some are even blood suckers.:D I wouldnt worry about feeding em.

 

[lilyicu]

Thanks yote!

 

[swninja]

yeah, i just dumped a bottle in my fuge, haven't fed them a thing, and they're everywhere now ( 4 weeks later)

 

[tankedchemist]

Mandrines secrete a mucus that covers their scent when they sleep.Weather or not mine does that,I have no idea.I only get to see mine for 2 seconds a day,if that.

mucus... duh. That's one key word I didn't think to use in my frantic search of the internet earlier... :) Thanks yote, I bet that's exactly what it is. how weird and awesome at the same time!

 

[Sharkie]

my mandarin "Scooter" (lol yea he got named scooter, altho he is a dragonet), gets very pale at night and scoots in between the heater and the glass and looks dead, every morning hes back to his normal scootish self :) My other mandarin Marley was much much bigger (scooter is about 1 inch, Marley was 4) didn't lose his color but he slept on the bottom of the tank on top of the sand... i think its all mandarin preferance! lol

 

[dcantucson]

I had a couple of them and they would sleep on the sand bed or up on the rock. I would look at them with a flashlight at night and I thought the same thing. Panic, OMG it's dead. But then I would see it breathing. They look really weird at night.

 

[Bifferwine]

Lots of wrasses will also wrap themselves in a mucus cocoon at night.

 

[sen5241b]

Wrasses and Damsels fish will decimate your pod population in a smaller tank.
My MD turns pale and sleeps on the sand at night. I also thought he was dead.
I've had 2 MDs so far and they both readily ate Ocean Nutrition Formula One Pellets Small. I also fed them orange, fresh flying fish roe I get from an Asian market. Rarely have my MDs eaten frozen food. I have seen my MDs eat bristleworms.

 

[parrotchute]

You should be good, but mak sure you buy a fat mandarin, one that doesn't look malnourished.

They eat a LOT of pods, but if you have a strong population it should be fine.

Mine does pretty well and my tank isn't exploding with pods. (probably because of him)