Uh Oh.....

[Samhain]

Mandarins were actually the fish that got me into the hobby in the first place! They are so stunning to me. However, after finding out what a pain they can be to get adjusted to tank life, I've taken a pass on actually putting one in my tank for a few years. Good luck with getting your girl to eat!

As an aside, I would advise skipping the seahorses for now too. I know you've already ordered them, but see if you can cancel the order. Wait a while and see if you can keep a mixed reef, then get the ponies. SW tanks can be really volatile in the first year or two, and seahorses simply can't tolerate that sort of an environment. Not bashing, just trying to help you enjoy your tanks without killing anything!

 

[cvcdrk]

I have a Scooter. They're in the Mandarin family but don't have nearly the reputation that Mandarins do for being picky.

Mine eats fairly large pieces of mysis in one bite often. usually there aren't many large pieces because to defrost it I add it to a small cup and add tank water, mix it around with my feeder and then squirt it in there.

He also likes nutrmar OVA, which is fantastic imo. The tiny particle size makes it a chore for them to eat it, but when it blows around after I turn the pumps back on it gets stuck in the rocks. This allows for something for the scooter to pick off the rocks, it also fuels the corals in the tank and any of the little critters living inside the rock.

My scooter LOVES bloodworms. I have read that they are bad for saltwater fish if you feed them too often, though. It's been awhile so I may feed mine some this afternoon.

Garlic also helps. I don't know if that has been mentioned, but you can add a couple drops of garlic juice or that garlic extract ($$$) from the LFS and it is a natural fish appetite stimulant.

It is a good sign that your fish perks up when food is introduced to the tank. Now you have to convince her to eat it. As mentioned, I would not add any live food to the tank, you will only confuse her. As an ORA mandarin, she's likely never even see live food before. She is used to eating prepared foods, so to introduce live foods and have her try that could be extremely detrimental to her learning to eat from you.
The last thing I wanted to mention was the tank situation. I don't know if this has been covered yet but I would NOT add her to the 65g tank, regardless of whether it's cycled or not, until she is eating the prepared food voraciously. It's much easier in a small tank to teach them things.

Good luck.

 

[baeya]

Thank you Cvcdrk. Lots of great information. I've never used the garlic juice but, I've heard it mentioned on the Angelfish forum a lot. Didn't realize it would apply to saltwater fish as well.
The mandarin is still poking around and getting used to her surroundings. She will stay in the small tank for quite awhile. I did move everything to a 10 gallon as the Evolve2 just couldn't handle the bio with me trying to target feed. Now I have enough room to lay a cup on its side and put the food in there as I didn't have room in the tiny tank.
I know this is a very newbe question and I will probably catch hell for it but, with the 10 gallon tank, can I switch out a certain amount of water with aged water everyday to prevent it from cycling? We do that with freshwater, just wondering if it can be done with saltwater. Again, please don't rip me apart, I think this is a valid question...

 

[TBrewerton]

Hi Baeya,

Im not 100% sure on it preventing a cycle but it will deffinatly help in keeping your parameters down which you will need to do - I think it would just slow the cycle down rather than preventing it - hopefully someone else can chime in and confirm that for you though :-)

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum, its always great to see new faces and I look forward to seeing your tanks progress - you should start a tank build thread and post pics for us to admire :D

Again welcome, and all the best with your new cutey

 

[baeya]

Hi Baeya,

Im not 100% sure on it preventing a cycle but it will deffinatly help in keeping your parameters down which you will need to do - I think it would just slow the cycle down rather than preventing it - hopefully someone else can chime in and confirm that for you though :-)

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum, its always great to see new faces and I look forward to seeing your tanks progress - you should start a tank build thread and post pics for us to admire :D

Again welcome, and all the best with your new cutey

Thank you so much! I will definately start a new thread when I get more comfortable with this forum and hopefully make a couple friends. :bounce:

I have diatoms in my 65g now and a little bit of what looks like flouresent (sp) yellowish green. Ammonia is going down, nitrite is going up. I thought I was showing some nitrates but, the darn colors are so close.....I think it's more of a "I wanna see it" type of thing.....

 

[daugherty]

here ya go. glad i found it again. this should be a sticky.

Reefkeeping 101 - Bogus Information - by Tom Murphy (aka WaterKeeper) - Reefkeeping.com

 

[TBrewerton]

haha totally know what ya mean, well nitrites are showing so thats great :-D at least you know somethings going on in there.

My tank is only about 3-4 months old and I am still struggling with diatoms as well as hair algae - its just a fact of life with new tanks sadly :( Also I need to stop over feeding haha...

Sounds like things are progressing well though, look forward to more updates over the week :D

 

[baeya]

here ya go. glad i found it again. this should be a sticky.

Reefkeeping 101 - Bogus Information - by Tom Murphy (aka WaterKeeper) - Reefkeeping.com

I just started reading!! GREAT information!! Thank you so much! I'm off to do more water changes! LOL!! :bowdown:

 

[TBrewerton]

Oh nice one daugherty! there ya go I was completely wrong haha :-)

 

[daugherty]

diatoms feed off of silicates so as soon as they use it all up they will go away. as far as i know and have understood. and there may be more to them than that.

 

[baeya]

I skimmed through the article but, will go back and read it later. Thursday is family day at my house and everyone is gathering for dinner. Then my grandchildren are spending the night as their mom has to go out of town for a couple nights and their dad works nights... :)

 

[FishyReef]

My understanding is that the cycle has more to do with giving the nitrifying bacteria time to grow, and watching the parameters go up and down is evidence that the bacteria are doing their job. I don't think changing out the water with old water will change the bacterial levels in the tank since the bacteria live on the rock. But it will help keep ammonia and nitrite levels in check while the tank cycles :) I'd just recommend really keeping an eye on things giving how often you are feeding to get your mandarin eating. You might want to see if your LFS carries the SeaChem Ammonia Alert Badge - Its a thing you hang on your glass and it will turn color depending on the level of ammonia in your system. I picked one up awhile back for a quarantine tank and have kept it in my 10g so that I can really quickly know if there is an ammonia spike. The reviews I've read suggested it's a pretty accurate and good product. I just wanted to throw that out there in case it helps!

 

[baeya]

My understanding is that the cycle has more to do with giving the nitrifying bacteria time to grow, and watching the parameters go up and down is evidence that the bacteria are doing their job. I don't think changing out the water with old water will change the bacterial levels in the tank since the bacteria live on the rock. But it will help keep ammonia and nitrite levels in check while the tank cycles :) I'd just recommend really keeping an eye on things giving how often you are feeding to get your mandarin eating. You might want to see if your LFS carries the SeaChem Ammonia Alert Badge - Its a thing you hang on your glass and it will turn color depending on the level of ammonia in your system. I picked one up awhile back for a quarantine tank and have kept it in my 10g so that I can really quickly know if there is an ammonia spike. The reviews I've read suggested it's a pretty accurate and good product. I just wanted to throw that out there in case it helps!

Yes, I'm testing quite frequently. I will try to find one of those Ammonia Alert Badges, sounds like it would make life easier for me! Thank you for telling me about it! Kids are asleep......yay!!

 

[ErinCahir]

Yes, I'm testing quite frequently. I will try to find one of those Ammonia Alert Badges, sounds like it would make life easier for me! Thank you for telling me about it! Kids are asleep......yay!!

Those badges aren't terribly accurate... they're okay for freshwater tanks, but for salt you're going to want something a bit more accurate. Test with the drip kit (and not the strips). :)

 

[baeya]

Those badges aren't terribly accurate... they're okay for freshwater tanks, but for salt you're going to want something a bit more accurate. Test with the drip kit (and not the strips). :)

Thanks for the heads up. I currently do use the drip tests. I may try those badges just to see how accurate they are, if I can find them locally.

 

[baeya]

Just wanted to stop by and update on my seahorses.
Guess What!! They are alive and happy!! I sure took a beating on this forum. If anyone else is thinking about seahorses, do yourself a favor and go to seahorse.org and join their forum. Very kind and helpful people there that don't judge you.

 

[TBrewerton]

Looking great Sharon! Good stuff!

 

[Civicdemon]

Wow that is so cool i wanted to do sea horses but i have way to much flow in my tank.

 

[noy]

wow, that is a beautiful setup!

I've been toying with the idea of starting a seahorses tank.
Can i ask - are those decorations you have (the red and yellow ones or some crazy coral i have to go out and get)?

Also what temperature do you keep your water at? What are your water parameters?

My experience with the badges is that they are not too bad for accuracy - they are what they are - an alert system. The thing is that they are a bit slow to show changes and they can be affected by water conditioners (prime etc..)

hopeffully the harsh comments don't keep you from posting - we would love to see more updates of the seahorse tank!

 

[baeya]

Thanks for the kind comments! I truly love this tank. The 4 ponies all have different personalities and are a joy to interact with.
I do a 40% weekly water change. Temperature is kept at 72. I may need to invest in a chiller as it gets closer to Summer.

The red and yellow ornaments are from Ocean Aquaria
They seem to have decent prices for a quality product.