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Author Topic: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!  (Read 3858 times)

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Offline NeveSSL

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Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« on: February 08, 2019, 19:46:10 »
Sustainable Aquatics is now breeding mandarins and training them to eat pellet food.  I was able to snag one of the last ones of their current batch and it should be here Tuesday!  I can't wait.  I had a pair of mandarins back in the day, but it's been a while (that was around 2009).  The only downside to these is that they're tiny... only about 1".  But that's fine... I'm planning on target feeding.

Brandon

Offline dbjonesjr

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2019, 20:16:57 »
Do let us know how this turns out for you!

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2019, 20:36:12 »
Will do!

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Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2019, 22:56:44 »
I have always loved mandarins.  I have had two over the years only to watch them wither away and die.  Would love to have another that would actually thrive in a reef tank.  Keep us posted.
Jeff

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2019, 23:13:52 »
That is great news. Thank you for sharing.

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2019, 23:16:55 »
I didnt see any on their web site, guess they have sold out of them already.
Jeff

Offline merlin3

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2019, 07:47:14 »
This is great news. Ive always had pretty good luck with mandarins but itll be great if we dont have to get them out of the ocean anymore

Offline erky

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2019, 08:51:30 »
ive never had a mandarin, never wanted something that has a high mortality rate like those fish do, but im really interested in one as of late.

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2019, 12:12:35 »
She came in today!  Very happy and active.  They also gave me a bottle of Tigger pods, which I thought was a great touch.  I'm concerned she may get attacked by my emerald crab while she sleeps, but hopefully not.  I've had to dial my MP10 way back so she's not blown around everywhere.  I only have zoa's right now, so that's not a huge deal.

Brandon

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Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2019, 13:32:15 »
That’s one cute little girl you have there!
Jeff

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2019, 15:08:08 »
Thanks, Jeff!  I'm excited to have her.  Now to get her to grow some...   ^-^

Brandon

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2019, 01:53:27 »
Very cool!

Offline LBGReef

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2019, 10:27:39 »
Beautiful fish! Hope she's doing well :)

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Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2019, 10:35:30 »
Thanks!  She is!  I added a lot of pods (and will continue to do so from time to time) and she is also eating pellet food.  They are really slow growers, so she hasn't grown any that I can actually tell, though. 

Brandon

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Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2019, 13:52:27 »
She has grown quite a bit and is doing well! 

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Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2019, 18:31:53 »
How is the color on her compared to wild caught?  Glad she is doing well. What all types of food is she eating?
Jeff

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2019, 18:34:42 »
She grew up eating Sustainable Aquatics Hatchery Diet, and that's what I've fed my fish for a long time anyway.  Plus LRS every week or two.  She eats those pellets and I also put a lot of pods in.  She will still eat those, too.  Her colors look exactly the same as wild caught as far as I can tell.

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Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #17 on: May 07, 2019, 10:20:23 »
Finally got a good picture of her yesterday.  She doesn't like me and runs when I approach the tank.  I don't blame her.  Haha!

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Offline Joe_Fish

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #18 on: August 05, 2019, 02:49:04 »
Any updates on these little guys,   always wanted a mandarin but the idea of buying 45 bucks in copepods every so often to feed the little buggers seemed much.  Not to mention I don't even know how many copepods they eat a day or anything guess I could probably do that research.   But no less tank raised on pellets would make them far more feasible in an aquarium.

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #19 on: August 05, 2019, 09:57:44 »
Unfortunately I lost her recently while my tank has gone through a crash of some sort.  :(  She was doing really well and had grown a lot.  I will purchase another one from Sustainable.  She was very plump and I had pods on the glass still.  I was very, very bummed to realize she was missing. 

Brandon

Offline Joe_Fish

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #20 on: August 05, 2019, 11:08:46 »
Ah sorry to hear,  was a cute lil thing.    Hopefully the next round goes better but least ya know it wasn't a feeding issue and ya didn't starve her.

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #21 on: August 05, 2019, 11:14:34 »
Definitely.  I was watching her closely for that.  She grew a lot in June.  It was great to see.  I'll see if I can find the last pic I have of her.  She was probably 5 or 6 times larger than when I first got her. 

Brandon

Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #22 on: August 05, 2019, 11:38:44 »
Not the greatest, but one of the last o took of her.

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Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2019, 15:33:25 »
Funny this came up. I’ve actually done some investigating with my new mandi. I’ve noticed he only hunts in the light. Curls up like a dog in a little cove at night. So, my lights are on for 13 hrs a day. I’ve averaged that he eats approximately 10 pods a minute. That is only if every time he extends his mouth, he’s getting a pod. So you take 13 hours and that makes 780 minutes. That is 7,800 pods a day!!!!


Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2019, 18:08:10 »
Neat!  I've wondered if my mandarin was grabbing a pod each time she pecked at the rocks or glass.  I wonder if anyone knows? 

Also, I believe you have a female there.  :)  Or can I just not see the long spine in this pic?

Brandon

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #25 on: August 05, 2019, 18:43:09 »
He hardly ever puts his fin up unfortunately. It’s magnificent! His tank mates couldn’t care less about him. Which I’m thankful for. He’s also so chill, I named him Chilly lol.

They are such adapted hunters, I would say they rarely “miss” or peck at something that isn’t food.

I have an extremely large population of Tisbe & Apocyclops pods. I have a home made breeder for them in my sump and most importantly, I have no other pod hunters in the tank. My melanuras is so big I don’t even think he sees them anymore. I inspect the rocks with a flashlight in the mornings just to make sure he still has plenty of food and I’m seeing appx 5-10 pods per square inch. So I’m sure he’ll be nice a fat soon.

Neat!  I've wondered if my mandarin was grabbing a pod each time she pecked at the rocks or glass.  I wonder if anyone knows? 

Also, I believe you have a female there.  :)  Or can I just not see the long spine in this pic?

Brandon



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Offline NeveSSL

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Re: Captive bred green mandarins from Sustainable Aquatics!
« Reply #26 on: August 06, 2019, 09:19:24 »
Nice!  That makes sense with them being highly adapted.  I took a wrasse off of my fish list after I got her to keep as many pods for her as possible.  Now, though, it may be back on the list... just not sure which one.  Probably a fairy wrasse of some sort.

Brandon

 

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