Mandarin fish in my 20 Nuvo fusion gallon tank

[Ramiro Casal]

SO today I got a mandarin in my nuvo 20 gallon tank and added some copepods from the trigger pods brand I was just wondering how long will it be till i have to add another batch as I am worried my boy will starve. He is doing fine and he has eaten a couple off the wall already , also if you have any tips on how to train him to eat frozen it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Maritimer]

He's likely to want to eat hundreds of those little pods each day. Watch him glide about the tank - with each pause, he's examining something for edibility; with each "pop!" he's devouring a tiny snack.

Take a look 'round the forums for @PaulB 's brine shrimp feeder, which delivers new-hatched brine shrimp to fish like mandarins.

~Bruce

 

[Claus84]

SO today I got a mandarin in my nuvo 20 gallon tank and added some copepods from the trigger pods brand I was just wondering how long will it be till i have to add another batch as I am worried my boy will starve. He is doing fine and he has eaten a couple off the wall already , also if you have any tips on how to train him to eat frozen it would be greatly appreciated.

+1 on the feeder, only way you will keep it alive and healthy in such a small tank

 

[Ramiro Casal]

He's likely to want to eat hundreds of those little pods each day. Watch him glide about the tank - with each pause, he's examining something for edibility; with each "pop!" he's devouring a tiny snack.

Take a look 'round the forums for @PaulB 's brine shrimp feeder, which delivers new-hatched brine shrimp to fish like mandarins.

~Bruce

I know from doing research that mandarins cant just survive on frozen brine, will I be ok if manage to train him to eat frozen and then add copepods every month or so to meet its dietary needs? And is having the mandarin in a breeder net for a few days to train him a good idea?

 

[Maritimer]

The PaulB feeder is for providing _live_ new-hatched brine, not frozen. Right after hatching, with their yolk-sac still in place, is when brine shrimp are at their most nutritious.

Don't know that keeping him in a breeder net is going to help - it would mean that he gets _nothing_ between frozen offerings. I have seen folks successfully use a bottle on the bottom to make frozen / pellets available to mandarins.

~Bruce

 

[Ramiro Casal]

quick little update, After hours of trying to train the mandarin every day instead of studying for my exams it finally started to eat frozen brine shrimp, I was just wondering if I still need to replenish my pod population every once in a while or is feeding frozen brine enough?

 

[davocean]

Frozen brine has about as much nutritional value for them as popcorn does for us.
Like Maritimer mentioned already, the live brine w/ egg sack has much more nutritional value, mysis would be better than frozen brine, but really, it will require a great many pods, or you will need to take measures to make sure their normal feeding regimen is replicated, and that would be about 1-3 pods per minute all day long.