getting a mandarin to eat

[Myka]

I think you are smart to be quarantining your Mandarin and training it onto frozen food. In my experience, almost all Mandarins can be trained onto frozen food, but few will reliably take pellets or flake.

I've trained many onto my homemade frozen mash. I always start with frozen plain brine shrimp, then wean to gut loaded brine, then mysis, then homemade mash. For some reason, males seem to be easier to train and Target Mandarins are definitely easier too.

I use a little square jar (that won't roll) on its side in a low flow area away from rocks. I put a couple brine shrimp in there in the morning and then siphon them out in the evening. This goes on for usually 1-2 weeks and the shrimp will start to disappear. Then I feed more shrimp in the morning - they will eat 10 brine shrimp happily. Eventually the Mandarin will start to hang out in the jar at feeding time and will eat like a pig right after I feed him. That's when I know he's weaned well.

Originally Posted by magikof7

I understand the need for QT BUT Mandarins have a very thick slime coat and are very resistant to disease.

Mandarins can still be vectors.


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