Small tank setup for mandarin goby food

[Ginu]

Originally Posted by Myka

Since the Mandarin is the only fish in the tank you could just train it to eat frozen foods. Put a small dish or plastic lid near the Mandarin's favorite hangout spot. Add 2-3 frozen Brine Shrimp to the dish in the morning, at night siphon them out. Move your powerheads so they don't blow the Brine Shrimp out of the dish if needed. I find using a garlic drop on the food helps too. Keep this up everyday and eventually the Mandarin will taste the food. You know the Mandarin is trained when s/he starts to sit in the dish in the morning waiting for food. They eat a lot once trained, like 10-20 pieces per day!

I have had Mandarins weaned onto frozen food with this method within a week, but have had some take up to 3 weeks. Once the Mandarin is weaned to Brine Shrimp, start introducing it onto Mysis too. Then you can mix it up. Mysis is much more nutritious than Brine Shrimp (which are mostly shell), but Mysis is very fatty so you don't want to feed it exclusively. Brine Shrimp tend to be more enticing for weaning though.

I like this method and I will try it once I feel confident my tank can at least take care of one mandarin, but I gotta ask, what kind of lid did you use to train the fishy?
I did the same with my one African dwarf frog and I keep feeding him in a dish so the other fish don't frequent that very often and the bugger is doing quite well.

[Myka]

I actually use a dish-type thing, not a lid. I've seen other people use lids, but I can't find any that are heavy enough to sink. The dish I use I have no idea what it is for or where I got it, but it is about 2" cube, flat sides, open one side, and glass. I lay it on its side and prop the open end up a bit so the food sinks down to the back of the dish. It works well.