How to Train a Mandarin to Eat Prepared Foods

[Myka]

Make sure you start off with a big, fat Mandarin that recently arrived at the LFS. The longer they go without food the less likely they are to start feeding, so get them fresh! I've also found that Target Mandarins are easier to train onto frozen foods than Green Mandarins, and males are easier than females. I've had 100% success in training about a dozen Mandarins using the following method over 2-3 weeks.

I would suggest you set up a smaller tank, like a 10 or 20-gallon with some mature live rock, and wait a few weeks until there is a healthy, natural pod and mysis population. When the tank is ready, add a small glass jar or dish for a feeding station and find a fresh, fat Mandarin to add. Do not add any medications to the tank.

Buy some plain frozen Brine Shrimp (not the Omega or the Spirulina ones). Every morning add 2-3 frozen adult Brine Shrimp to the feeding station, and siphon it out at the end of the day. At first, he won't eat the food at all. Keep adding the 2-3 frozen every morning.

After a week, or sometimes almost 3 weeks if you bought a particularly stubborn individual, you will start to notice he Brine Shrimp disappear. You may even notice the Mandarin in the feeding station in the morning just before he darts into the back of the tank when you approach. Awhile after this he will noticeably be hanging around the feeding station in the mornings and even if he darts off he will soon return and start munching. At this point, start adding more Brine Shrimp - they will happily eat 10-15 per feeding 2-3 times per day. They have healthy appetites!

After they are eating brine shrimp well you can start mixing in Spirulina or Omega Brine Shrimp for better nutrition, then try small frozen mysis shrimp. Make sure you get him to eat a variety before you remove him from his training tank.

If you don't want a feeding dish in your display tank, you can train him to hunt for frozen food by removing the dish, and squirt (with turkey baster) food near the bottom where the dish was (you might have to turn flow off for a half hour while he feeds). After a few days of this, start moving the food around to different places so the Mandarin has to hunt.

After several weeks in this tank the Mandarin should once again be nice and fat and eating readily when he will be ready to go into the display tank. He will know to hunt for the food, and you can squirt it in a corner that he likes where the other fish won't bother him much.

Many other fish will compete for food with the Mandarin as well. A Mandarin will do best in a tank with docile fish that won't quickly snap up all the food before the slow eating Mandarin can. A tank of 90+ gallons should have a big enough natural pod population to sustain a Mandarin without him having to catch much frozen food, but if you take the time to train him you can be assured this beautiful fish thrives.

[MarieH]

This sounds doable for me. I want a mandarin but I have no sump an fear he would disappear in my live rock and so training would be hard, also tall 65g tank makes it harder to get to the bottom. I was wondering how to go about it. Thanks.