Mandarin Goby

[Arcade_Guy]

Ok, so we bought a mandarin goby (my significant other just HAD to have it).

Jake i know you said that my tank may be too young to support him... I do feed my tank quite a bit, but even so I may not have enough pods to support his diet.

Has anyone "trained" them (as they've called it on other sites) to take brine or frozen foods? I've read a lot of different places that this is possible, but i was wondering if any of you have any "inside" tips you can give me to help make sure he gets enough to eat!

Yeah i know, it's a no-no to buy on impulse.. not the first time lol we've been lucky with impulses so far.

Just don't want to see him starve of course. Hints or tips would be great.

Also, i would be willing to buy macro algae or whatever that has some pods chillin out in it, i'd assume that would help at least some what to get the pod population up to where he could eat.

[lazylivin]

It is hard not to want one they are beautiful fish and very reasonably priced.

Sometimes people get lucky and get one that eats frozen mysis and brine right away while others wont eat at all or until they get close to starvation.

Here is a picture of mine I had for about a year back in 2005 until it learned a life lesson. 

[Arcade_Guy]

very nice, what kind of anemone is that?

i just spent the last ~1/2 hour reading an article about a guy that kept them in a 10g nano... he would pile some live rock up in a corner, so that fish couldn't get in and get the pods, and inject it with mysis/brine... i guess it gives the pods a safe haven to congregate and get busy. maybe some marvin gaye would help the situation?

i've seen them covering the glass, seemed like they were over running the tank, but jake has me semi-freaked out about it lol

in the morning i'm going to see if he will eat some cyclopeeze, the LFS said to feed him that or mysis, i'm hoping he will accept one or the other!

[lazylivin]

very nice, what kind of anemone is that?

It is a full one! Actually not sure, maybe a Long Tentacle or Seabe, this was some time back and I gave it away shortly after this incident.

[Arcade_Guy]

looks really cool. i'd eventually like to have an anemone, but i'm going to wait. if/when i get clowns i'd like to get them to host in frogspawn instead, but it all depends i guess.

I have to really try to limit myself so I don't overstock my tank. It's been like 3 months and I already want a bigger tank 

[Revaltion131]

Nano-Reef.com is a really good site to go to in order to learn about training them onto prepared foods.  Here's a good thread that came up a month or so ago:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=169270&hl=mandarin

If you have anymore questions, SeeDemTails is the person to talk to.

[jake]

ya man I only know cause I had tried to keep on and I know what a heavily pod laden tank is and you cant really get that IMO in 3 months. I could never get mine to eat anything. Besides that it might not be a matter of if he wants to after a bit as much as the other fish wont let him get to it. They are like sea horses very slow movers and eats.

So say he is staving to death and now he decides to maybe eat that meat. By then he is even slow from being weak you feed he looks to see where it is ,but all the other fish that can swim halfway fast are gobbling it all up and they scare him from eating in the process.

[Arcade_Guy]

thanks for the link revelation..

lots of good info, i'm gonna work on him today, see if i cant get him to eat either mysis or cyclopeeze.

thanks everyone

edit: we put just a little mysis in and he got a little excited. seems he knows what it is, but as expected he isnt exactly quick enough to get it. going to do the syringe and tube thing to make sure he gets his share.

i've been watching him for a while and he is eating, but i want to make sure he is nice and fat.

[Revaltion131]

I don't know if it was mentioned in that thread or not, but you can train them to eat in a certain part of the aquarium, such as on top of a powerhead, where the other fish can't get to, or you do it in a different spot right after you feed the main group of fish in the tank, that way it doesn't have to compete.

[Arcade_Guy]

after some close observation yesterday, he is snacking pretty heavily, and he ate some cyclopeeze too! he didnt get much, but im going to work on training him like you mentioned revalation. thanks again!

[xXTheWendigoXx]

Here is a picture of mine I had for about a year back in 2005 until it learned a life lesson.

Lesson being "I am not a Clownfish."?

That sucks, one of my friends up north lost his favorite Dusky Jawfish that way. I hear Mandarins and Jawfish in particular are a bad bet with anemones in the tank.

[joelbegt]

I've heard of people buying copperbanded butterflys and keeping them quarintine alone and enticing them to eat frozen food.  They try to do this before they are introduced to the aquarium.  May be worth a shot if he doesn't seem to eat enough.

[lazylivin]

Check this out.