How do I know if my Mandarin is healthy or skinny?

[TheNamthor]

I have had him for over a month and he keeps swimming in the water column every night wich is how I got these photos but I am not sure if I'm OCD and he's fat, meaning he looks great or he is Mel nurished and I just don't know what a fatt mandarin looks like.

 

[Kasrift]

Looks a little skinny to me. Mine is very fat and looks pregnant but she's solo mandarin I'm the tank and been there for a year and three months. You might want to supplement with hatching your own baby brine shrimp to fatten the mandarin up some.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

the sunken stomach is visible in the first photo, and that bony line down its side is very also visible in all the pics. The poor thing is dying of hunger.

As well as gasping for air. The water surface is very still, you should point a powerhead at the surface to create some agitation to help with gas exchange and put some oxygen into the water. Very rare to see a mandarin at the water surface like that.

 

[TheNamthor]

I have like 8 other fish in the tank the flow is fine he was just sitting on top of the powerhead lol

 

[TheNamthor]

Looks a little skinny to me. Mine is very fat and looks pregnant but she's solo mandarin I'm the tank and been there for a year and three months. You might want to supplement with hatching your own baby brine shrimp to fatten the mandarin up some.

I've tried the guy won't eat any my leopard wrasse eats it and even when I put it next to the mandarin be doesn't care

 

[Paul B]

He is very malnourished.
Healthy ones look like this

 

[Kasrift]

I have like 8 other fish in the tank the flow is fine he was just sitting on top of the powerhead lol

Was flow off for photos? When you put the baby brine next to the mandarin is the flow off? Is it live hatched baby brine?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Does the tank have an abundance of live micro fauna? Specifically pods? Mandarins are extremely picky eaters and most of the time only search out live food to eat.

I've had my Mandarin for 5 years now and every now and then, I spy him eating settled frozen food from the previous feeding, but the majority of his food he hunts for.

If you don't have pods, most lfs sells them and keeps them in a refrigerator. Go get some bottles (appropriate for your tank size) and load your tank.

 

[TheNamthor]

I do have pods but now I'm nervous it's not enough it already has a loaded bottle of pods and that's on top of the tank being around for 4+ years already but I can get more

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Another option people do to combat dwindling pod population is to hatch baby brine shrimp and put them in a container with a mesh screen (like this one https://www.4daquatics.com/product-page/baby-brine-shrimp-feeder ).

The idea as I understand it is that the bbs (baby brine shrimp) see the light through the mesh and swim towards it getting stuck halfway in the mesh and the mandarin picks them off one at a time.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

It’s easier and cheaper to culture live phyto and daily dose to support a strong pod population…..imo

 

[TheNamthor]

Yeah I already give them live baby brine but phyto is really anoying to culture

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Yeah I already give them live baby brine but phyto is really anoying to culture

An air stone and a light is all you need and once a week you cut it in half add saltwater and one or 2 mL of fertilizer. Not sure what’s complicated about it.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Yeah I already give them live baby brine but phyto is really anoying to culture

I honestly thought brine was more of a pain to deal with due to having to clean so much and everyday or other day collecting the brine.