The Mandrin Diaries

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Hi MASA

so few weeks ago i aquired a Mandrin (Red Mandrin i believe), i purchased the fish under the petext it was eating frozen foods, however i was wrong, im not going into this in this thread it was a non sponsor but i purchased the fish without conclusive proof its not the fishes fault and it is my duty as the owner to provide the fish with the best care possible.

so anyway the fish started to starve (wasnt in the best condition to start with) so i started a thread a week or so ago about Brine shrimp etc i then managed with the help of another reefer to aquire live Mysis shrimp this really help in saving the fish in the begining while i started a brine shrimp culture, i now have a pretty stable culture going and am contiuously hacthing and growing Brine shrimp for her but i feel this is not the end solution and i have made it my mission to get her onto prepared foods, all my other fish eat flake pellet and frozen i make sure they get a balanced diet and if anyone looks at my other fish their colors are super bright and they are all fat and healthy.

back to the Mandrin, usually i name my pets all my fish have names exp her the reason is i didnt think she was going to make it, thankfully she is still with us and responding to the live feed shes getting, still very skinny but i can see her filling out each day. i started researching various ways in which to training mandrins onto prepared food this in this thread i will log my methods, foods used and my Mandrins progress i am also hoping for some name suggestions for her. i am still very much a noob in this game but i can tell i have been doing an insane amount of research on ways tp get her onto prepared foods.

From my research and advice from reefers on this forum, using a "Training box" is be far the most successfull methods in getting Mandrins(all dragonets) A) Fatter B) training them onto prepared foods, as we all should know Dragonets are slow feeders and being in the box give sthem time to feed properly and without other tank mates stealing thier food below are some pictures of our progress
 
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this is the training box, it simply a freshwater fish breeding box made of plastic that i have removed the egg catching part and drill some more holes in

IMG_0439_zps2a5ba7ff.jpg



I added a PVC tibe so theres somewere to Hide
IMG_0446_zps761a99d5.jpg



Mini grow out bucket (Green) and Hacthery for the Brine i made
IMG_0441_zps82591371.jpg
 
I make sure theres always live BBS from her to pick on, in the video you can see her eating, its early in the morning and the light just went on



Anyway thats it for now i will update as we go along, stage one is to get her body condition better
 
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Mandarins are such pretty fish.

Had one in previous tank, but could never get her to eat properly, unfortunately she didn't make it :(

Best of luck with her, I hope she makes it.

Do you have lots of pods in your tank?
 
Mandarins are such pretty fish.

Had one in previous tank, but could never get her to eat properly, unfortunately she didn't make it :(

Best of luck with her, I hope she makes it.

Do you have lots of pods in your tank?

i do have pods, but i have a nano and when i bought her i was under the impression she was eating frozen theres no way the pod popolation was going to sustain her so had to act, i refuse to let her starve i get extremely attached to my animals i will do all i can to make sure shes fit and healthy soon
 
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well done @Dane G. keep up the good work.


Thanks for the support guys much appreciated.

I just fed her this morning and noticed a way for her to get some extra foods in, before I fed the artemia I put some crushed pellets on the bottom of the training box then I load up the artemia, while she sucks up the artemia she also eats the crushed pellets FTW!!!
 
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Confirmed she a Red Mandrin btw

The support is awesome thanks guys, the main thing about this thread is so others who might have the same problem don't give up on their Mandrin/dragonet and with effort save their fish, observe your LS closely and its your duty as the owner to provide the best care possible
 
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great thread, admitting mistakes is hard and even better when you have a solution.
keep us posted on him
 
Victory!!

OK so i popped out to get RO water at Perkies and while i was there i picked up some frozen super brine and Ocean Nutrition Artemia, during the evenings feeding time (When all the fish get feed before lights out) i tried my pellet trick but with the super brine and she ate a few frozen super brine! Stoked out of my bracket! :thumbup: she wasnt readily eating the Super Brine it seemed as she sucked them up with the Live Artemia but im chalking this up as a small win! not out of the woods yet but im certain another week or so and she will be completely on frozen. she continues to pick up wieght and is filling out and my fiance says my stubborness finally became useful :thumbup::tt2:
 
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