How to feed Mandarin Dragonets with frozen food - Training Method
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- Опубликовано: 25 ноя 2020
- How I train my mandarin dragonets to eat frozen food. These days they also sell supplements you can soak the food in for extra nutrients.
HORSES / maxim.eq 
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Mandarins are the sole reason I got into saltwater, I'll be dammed if I dont get one after all the trouble I've gone thru with my tank lol
Id recommend a captive bred mandarin from biota. Much easier to keep and they’re already used to frozen food
get one yet?
Not the sole reason I got into saltwater, but it's one of the driving reasons I upgrade to a 33 gallon + sump. I'm still going to setup a refugium in my sump to breed copepods but it's nice to see that it's not so hard to get them onto frozen. Will probably be getting a BIOTA one anyway, even though they are about 5x the price of LFS.
Update ?
Thank you very much for sharing your experience in keeping dragonets, which are difficult to keep in captivity. I have kept dragonets for over 10 years. This is the first time I saw dragonets eating frozen blood worms. You are one of the most successful dragonets keepers. You just demonstrated that if you have the heart and you love it, no matter how difficult it is, you will overcome and succeed.
Great info. I own an aquarium shop for the past 23 years and I have gotten them on frozen the exact same way. I've had hundreds of customers swear to me that they dont eat frozen and instantly change their tune when I show them eating frozen brine.
This is awesome to hear as i've always been told the same. 2 weeks of training to solve the issue isnt bad at all. Thanks for the Video
Totally agree with you!; I have had success with these inside an EVO 5 and a 13.5. Got them from Biota Farms in under an inch in size and using a shrimp feeder they were taking Cyclopes and Worms the same week. The pods help to keep them busy, but the frozen food is the best way to keep them fully fed. Thank you for this video
Thank you!!! Gosh people are so biased about this!! I've done the same things! They're super smart they will eat other things OF COURSE!!! ..all the threads I've read have been people attacking the thread poster because they have a dragonette in a 20 gallon tank and "OMGG YOUR A HORRIBLE HUMAN ITS GONNA STARVE AND DIE BECAUSE COPEPODS AAHHH" I'm like ha. I have had a FAT happy mandarin for over a year, on guess what?? Frozen food!! From a turkey baster!! Boom! People are so ridiculous I know exactly what your talking about with people saying they have to eat huge amounts of copepods. So ridiculous. It's like saying humans only have to eat paleo because that's how we eat in the wild... uh news flash .. McDonald's 😭😭😂😂
What really amazes me is that people are still arguing this. Back when I tried this method around 2008 I'm fairly certain there was at least two videos about it which gave me the idea/inspiration to try a bunch of stuff. It's the same with the venus flytraps I grow, someone came up with the idea to keep them in terrariums and now the overwhelming majority of people who are new to the hobby keep propagating the rumor. I'm sure I could come up with more examples. I always argued with people but eventually stopped caring as it became exhausting and pointless. I have built a youtube channel and post updates a few times a year about each different thing so people can decide if they want to take my advice or not.
Thanks for this, I'm getting to salt for the first time and the research I've done on these fish from other sources say they need big tanks but I'm starting with a 10 gallon and I think this fish would be perfect. I really appreciate you showing the feeder box method. Great video
Good stuff man! I am a saltwater and marinebio nerd before plants and I’m glad you started making content on this. Agree with your points on this topic. Well done 👍
I don’t really think about it these days since I have such a long collection of plants, but I was setting up aquariums long before I kept any carnivorous plants. Pet snails are still my oldest hobby, going back to 1998 😂
Thank you for clearing things up for me. I think you are right and I am going to go forward
Great video. When I worked in the pet trade years ago I was assistant manager of a large fish store chain in Ottawa Canada. Never had issues getting them to eat frozen. Your technique is very interesting. Thanks for sharing 🙏
Feeding the store was the highlight of my day. Watching/making sure all the fish ate was super important to me. Many many times I told people to hold off on the purchase u tip I knew they would be ok. Moorish idols and copperband butterflies were the only ones I was iffy on. Gorgeous fish but long term always seemed to be a issue. This was also a few decades ago lol 🙈
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Im a new dragonet owner, and have been keeping aquariums for a while now, so this was very helpful advice! I have done a bunch of research and it says to keep them in a 30 gallon tank, but yours look perfectly happy and healthy :)
Thank you!
This tank is like a isolation chamber
Always wanted to add one of these, but was concerned about their eating habits. Gonna do it now. Thanks Bro.
I did the same about 10 years ago. I kept the same mandarin for over 7 years in a 60 litre tank. I used some air hose on a syringe to suck up the frozen food and put it in front of its nose till it started eating them.
It was fine but I remember occasionally I had to ‘Re train’ it when it looked a little thin sometimes.
Thank you for sharing this information . I’m looking forward to get a pair of them now 😊
I've always had success using NLS Thera A small fish pellets. Just make sure you get a larger mandarin from the start. Haven't tried with the real small fish but might work. I had two alive and thriving in a 65g
I got my Mandarin to feed on frozen food with your method. Thank you so much!
The only thing that doesn't really work is feeding bloodworms. They seem to pass right through her. I think it's because of their chitin layer which is to strong for her gut. Im switching to Mysis and brine, even though they are lighter and fly through the whole tank.
Thank you for this information.
Great Vid! Ok with you they will eat even pellets with time. The problem is generally that people throw them in a mixed reef tank with too many feeder competitor (summary all the other fish^^)
You done a awesome job well done
Thanks for such an educational video!! I stumbled upon a scooter blenny who looked suspiciously similar to my dream fish. And come to find out they're related!!! So this is ultimately my goal, to have a tank of these guys. The copepod / refugium was what veered me away from that idea. You've given me hope!
That's really cool
I followed your method and it worked great! He was wild caught so it was very exciting to see him take to the frozen food. I’d like to add another fish or two to my 13.5 gallon tank but am not sure what I should go with yet. Do you have any recommendations? Do you think a black ocellaris would be okay? Also, what would you recommend for cleaners? Snails and/or crabs? I really appreciate this video. It was the best one I’ve watched on mandarin goby care and I’ve seen a lot! Thanks for being real!!
Great video I have a 10g I’m about to cycle and fill with copepods and 1 mandarin
Love ur video...i do love to have one mandarin dragonet ...would love to try ur method...tq so much...cheers
Great video. Setting up an 8 gallon nano tank. With rock in the tank would be hard to catch them to put them in feeder because they hide. Would it be better to set tank up with a small amount of rock first to train them and then add more rock?
Thsnl you for sharing your knowledge🎉❤
WOW.. respect for u bro
Excellent
I had one starve to death. Bought another one. And ill be damned if i ever let it happen again.
any updates?
Dead
Thanks for the info this is one of my fav fish and I’m determined to have him so question is there any fighting with the 2 in the tank I ask because I want a pair
Great video and awesome job training these fish. I am thinking of getting one. Could you please give an estimate of how much money in food per Mandarin you spend per month? Thanks
Beautiful fish
Great video just subscribed 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
They are definitely eating pods too. If you’re tank was 3 years old and established. There was definitely pods in there. So they we’re eating both.
Seth Sundeen the old tank was not established for three years and had mandarins added. the tank ran for 1 month since set up, then had the mandarins added. I did the same here if you look at my channel the fluval Flex was not set up much earlier than when this video was made.
I didn’t think it was reasonable to assume that after 3 years of mandarins being in a 10 gallon that there would be any pods
My male spotted mandarin accepted frozen mysis and brine straight from the turkey baster.
But the issue is that these guys aren't the best swimmers nor chase food. I needed something that'll stay at the bottom and not getting blown away by the current.
I tried TDO pellets but he's not accepting. I tried bloodworms today and he goes crazy over it haha I swims up to the turkey baster whenever it's feeding time and will eat a surprisingly large amounts of it considering how small he is
Thanks for this info. Now I can get a mandarin. New subs here.
I would love to see you get them to eat pellets... I know that some do... I think your method should work for pellets as well allthough it is probably way harder...
Thanks
Try mysis shrimp too. Works a treat.
Thanks, I love the colors on these fish but have always been discouraged by the cocopods becouse I have a small tank! Hopefully this works for me aswell!
Can't you get a couple big jars and breed them?
This is exactly how i feed my mandarins and it works perfectly
Can you mix different species of Mandarin gobeys
Love your videos, I just finished putting my VFTs to sleep for the winter, always a rather depressing thing but knowing that come springtime they will return makes the winter bearable. I have been contemplating getting a small saltwater aquarium again. I had a nano many years ago but moved and gave it to my neighbors rather than break it all down and hope everything survived the trip. I've not seen these mandarin dragonets before, are they expensive, and do they get along with the other critters I might have in the take with them?
They are very docile, and only around $20-35 depending on what the store decides. The only issue is that any other fish in the aquarium will quickly eat food thrown in while the mandarins take their sweet a$$ time grazing. I have to feed my clownfish pellets and make sure he is full before I throw in the bloodworms and frozen copepods. Like you can see in the video he was no longer very interested in the bloodworms. The clownfish doesn't seem to bother them too much and hangs out in his own area. I"m sure there are other peaceful fish the mandarins can cohabitate with like bangaii cardinals and gobies perhaps. Mandarins are fine with the standard invertebrate crew of hermit crabs, snails, and shrimp.
With this video. I just became a subscriber. Perfect video. I’m just starting up a 15 gallon. I’m now going to get some mandarins.
Question: Can you pair up different types of mandarins?
Yes the different species of Dragonets are fine together
Just got one. The lfs confirmed they’ve been feeding it brine shrimp. I’ll start this test to see if it works before I put in my dt
A year later on your video! IM GETTING ONE!
I agree with you on this type of feeding. They don't really need copepds. I purchased a spotted mandarin dragon since I have flatworms in my aquarium and my LFS advised a mandarin. Needless to say the flatworms are still there but mandi as I call her, has been 7 months in my 29 gallon reef aquarium and she looks great. I started her on live brine then switched her to frozen. I target feed the brine 2x a day. I do try and put some live copepods in once in a great while as a treat... the little bottles are quite expensive.😏 But yes people will tell you it's not possible.
How expensive? I bought my bottle at Hobby Lobby for a few bucks.
@@TheBonsaiJungle Your hobby lobby sells copepods?!?!
@@TheBonsaiJungle
I
Hĺl
Just got a dragonet to go with my two clowns and watchmen goby and first try I put frozen brine in today and he ate it I was ecstatic!
Just curious if netting them and putting them in the feeder box every day stress them out excessively? I take it not given you said you had no problems and it’s just for two weeks but I feel like that would?
If it was stressing them out then i would expect it to be impossible for the mandarins to start eating the food items...so at most its very minimal.
You're a life saver! I lost one before this but I was determined to try again. Got a new one and he's still in the breeding box like the one in this video. He took to the frozen bloodworms after a couple of days better than the frozen copepods I offered him during the first 4 days I got him. But may I ask, how frequent should I feed it? 2-3 time per day in small amounts? I don't know if he's content with the amount I give him because he won't finish the food within 3-5 minutes but after everything is clear in the box (usually takes around half an hour more or less), he'd still be looking around. Do they eat nonstop like goldfish or they can stop when they are full?
I do not fed them nonstop, only once or twice a day if you have time.
I have a bigger tank so will it be hard to catch the fish every time to get them into the box? Do you find any problem with nutrients in your tank since there is a lot of leftover food floating around? I have always wanted one or the scooters but did not want to starve them if I couldn't feed them.
Garry Cole yes. A shitload of extra nutrients. I am trying to isolate the food in glass bottles now and growing lots of macro algae all over the aquarium. Of course frequent water changes as well. Downside of having a tank this small.
Where can I get that mesh piece?
Thanks so much for this video
How many times yours feeding them in a week
Many thanks admire your outta box thinking
I feed them every day
Omg thank you SO much for this. You've now given me the confidence to try and keep maybe 2 of these guys in a 10 gallon when I get my apartment. I wanted one so terribly when I saw them in my local shop, but did some much needed research and got quite discouraged. Now I'm pretty confident I can handle these fellas! I wanted to ask, is it possible to ever keep their ruby red counterparts in the same aquarium? I've heard these guys can be somewhat territorial, but not anywhere near impossible to deal with
Also, as a frequently travelling college student, do you have any advice for when I go on weekend trips or things of the sort? Will these fish ever take any kind of vacation feeder, or would you just recommend an automatic feeder?
@@kaileyallen4365 there isn’t a way to feed frozen food with an auto feeder that I’m aware of. You could get them used to frozen blood worms and then try to see if they will eat dried blood worms and put them inside of a avast marine plank auto feeder. These auto feeders are really good at dispersing fine powder and dried foods equally without getting all damp and clogged before they even dispense the food like most auto feeders I’ve used…(I have spent nearly $300 trying different auto feeders before just shelling out the money for the plank). The plank also has a feature that soaks the food and stirs it in the water which would help pre soak the dried bloodworms in your case….
@@kaileyallen4365 I don’t have these fish so take my advice with a grain of salt but depending on how long you are gone you could order pods online and dose the tank before you go. I’m not sure how long the pods would feed them for.
Hi thx for the video great info. Im on day 3 and still no luck :-( is it better to keept the lights on or off when I try to feed? I have been placing him in a net hatchery while doing this and he gets a bit fussy:-( thx
Definitely better to keep the lights off IMO as it will reduce stress. It is a challenge sometimes, since different mandarins can be a different stages of healthy after being shipped from the wild to the petstore and this method doesn't guarantee perfect results 100% of the time. The best you can do is just keep trying or worst case turn off the filters and pumps then throw some food into the aquarium (if there are no other fish or large inverts) for it to sit on the sand for a few hours and they may feel more comfortable trying it.
Are they still doing well on blood worms?
So do you catch them and release them everyday and are they willing to eat after being caught
Yes it was daily catch and release until the point where they started to recognize the items as food. They were in there for an hour or two each time to calm down after being caught to explore and sample the particles.
I just defrost brine/mysis and they eat it,I also ad pods,mine even peck at algae wafers
Mine are very small,2 months and they're going well
Thank you for the video. I got one for my 15 gal and tried the blood worms this week, first try and success! He loves this stuff. Do I need to feed other frozen too? I also have brine shrimp, but haven’t tried yet. Thanks!
I have started giving them chopped up mysis shrimp as well
Im a bit confused, do you leave them in the basket for 2 weeks straight? Or for two weeks every other day you have to take them out the tank and put them back in the basket and feed them?
Two weeks refers to how long I had to do the training in the basket. They were only in the basket for 1-2 hours each time I tried feeding them.
How often do you syphon out the tank or how do you keep it clean?
Fishinwall once per week
Are you catching and releasing the madarins every other day? Or just keeping them in the box?
I catch to feed them and then release after the truce been in the box while the food for an hour or two. Eventually you don’t need the box, just until they try eating the food themselves
sweet
3:39 i felt so bad for that hermit crab
Where do I get a basket like that? Thanks!
I found mine at the store, but just google “fish breeding net/box” and they should show up.
Thank you my man. I just got a 10 gallon and the only fish I want is a mandarin. I was racking my brain how to breed pods to feed them. So have you ever been able to breed them?
CHAZE BUTLER no, but I’ve never looked into how to breed them, if there’s anything extra I need to provide.
What advice would you give someone who just bought some manderines? Should you immediately try to get them to eat the frozen food or do you let them in the tank first, like right after acclimation?
If the fish is stressed it won’t eat so let it get used to the aquarium first
@@TheBonsaiJungle gotcha 👍 thank you 😁
My mandarin just started eating mysis. Didn’t even really try to do it. Just fed the tank like normal and she swims up and eats with the rest of the fish
I know ok very late, but could I ask how you got them in the breeder box? Would netting them stress them enough to not eat for a while? And how long would you leave them in the box?
Yeah i would like to know what as well. From my understanding i think he keep them in that basket for 2 weeks and just adding food and i the end he releases them in to the tank .
I just scooped them up with a net. It's not that stressful and they will get used to it and eat after a few minutes.
I never kept them in the basket for more than an hour or two
Thank you! Love the new saltwater series. Do you have any invertebrates in there? Do they coexist peacefully with the dragonets? How hard is it to care for shrimp, crabs, snails, conches, etc.?
Microtubule Man snails and crustaceans are much easier to keep since they tolerate worse water and basically eat garbage. They are basically the easiest saltwater animals you can put in there. I’ve got a cittarium pica snail, tiger conch, peppermint shrimp, porcelain crab, and red leg hermits in this aquarium. My other one also has an emerald crab. You just have to throw in some calcium for them, however it’s not too hard. Back in the day I didn’t even test for it, just followed the dosage schedule on the additive bottle.
these guys are so beautiful!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I want to get one but I have very active eaters 🤦🏻♀️
How long do I keep the mandarin in the basket before letting him back in and trying again in 2 day ?
I did it for 2-3 hours
Are they still alive those are hard to keep. Very nice.
sustaining fish and keeping them happy and healthy are 2 different things js
Hermits crabs cant breathe underwater. Do they have somewhere to get up on land?
There are thousands more species of saltwater hermit crabs than land hermit crabs. The ones I put in this aquarium were saltwater.
How many times per day do you feed if put on frozen? Genuine question my boyfriend and I are starting up our first ever salt water. I already have like 8 freshwater tanks 😂. Any help would be great! I loved the video, my boyfriend really wants this fish and all I've been doing all night was doing research and was kinda scared because of how large of a tank, all the cope pods, not having enough food, BUT NOW IM PUMPED THANK YOU
At least twice a day, better to do it three times.
Great vid, thank you. Do you think that a feeder with lyophilised blood worms, artermias, etc could work? Would not be too hard to go(train) from frozen to that Would it? I am thinking what happens in the case one has to go out of town for a few days and had no one to sit the tank. Also looks like you have a good amount of baby shrimp in your tank do you hatch to supplement the frozen food?
Yes that should work since finely chopped mya is shrimp is also working at this point: I only used the brine shrimp in the beginning to entice them and as a back up if they didn’t eat. I haven’t bought anymore of the brine shrimp after I was done recording this video and essentially done with training
If I train a dragonet to eat the frozen food in a quarantine tank and then transfer them into my main tank (50 gallon) do you think the dragonet will be able to eat after all the other fish in my tank go for the falling food?
It will still know it can eat the frozen food so it really just depends on if you can have enough left over at the bottom which the mandarins can eat for themselves over the course of about how 30 mins to an hour
After watching the video you convinced me to get one... how long do you keep the mandarin in the feeding box before returning him back to his regular tank?
About 2 hours
@@TheBonsaiJungle Thank you! Hopefully this works.
@@TheBonsaiJungle so you catch them each time for feeding? was that difficult?
wicketlfe yes, I catch them each time. Not too difficult since the aquarium is small.
👍
I just wish there was a dedicated mandarin dragonet training program....because I've kept 3, and they've had the lifespan of 3 months, 6 months, and 8 months respectively. I did at one point, did the live blood worms, and then I did the baby brine shrimp using a DIY feeder. But they all just soured and stopped eating after awhile. How often do you feed them daily, and what do you do when the blood worms turn brown after it not being eaten?
I feed them once or twice a day. The bloodworms don't go bad, I feed an amount that they easily clean up, and any leftovers are handled by the peppermint shrimp. In the training basket I throw out anything that wasn't eaten.
@@TheBonsaiJungle You said you put them in the breeder box for two weeks every other day. Does that mean you were catching them and putting them in the breeder box and after feeding them you let them go back into the tank, or did u leave them in the breeder box for two weeks, and fed them that method every other day?
rixon2000 i caught them and put them in the breeder box every time. About 2-3 hours each feeding attempt.
Can the red mandarin live happily with a green spotted mandarin? Or will they have some aggression?
They are fine together
Very cool. However I see pods all over your glass moving.
CANDY CHEMIST DRAGON I added the Dragonets immediately after the tank was cycled, and was recording these clips right after each step was successful. There were a few pods still around, but as you can imagine with two Dragonets in a 9 gal those pods are completely gone by now.
i feed mine mysis shrimp
Interesting that they don’t need to hunt constantly when being fed prepared foods. How often do you feed your dragonets each day?
3 times, breakfast lunch and dinner. You can of course do it more frequently if you have time, like 5 separate feedings with a smaller amount of food. 2-3 times per day looks like it’s enough to keep them fattened up and healthy though especially if you presoak the food in supplements.
@@TheBonsaiJungle thank you! What supplements are you using?
Did you keep them in the basket for two weeks or just for feedings?
Just for feeding
@@TheBonsaiJungle Thanks! If you did this every other day, what did you feed your mandarins on the off days when they weren't in the breeder, the live brine shrimp?
Do you think itd be smart to try this without the live shrimp or copepods?
@@alexf8979 for what reason?
To get it used to the net so he wont stress out. Also, what do you feed it on the days it isn’t in the net?
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@@TheBonsaiJungle thank you so much HelixPlants,
petco does have cocppods
The world's prettiest fish or Gobi lol 😆
Another reason they think mandarins will die on frozens is that they tend to feed brine shrimp because of the size. Very little nutritional value. I had one that I got eating New Life Spectrum Small Fish pellets. He stayed fat and gorgeous and sassy until a tank crash killed him suddenly about a year later. T_T RIP Spike.
Have others succeeded with this?
Brett Edward Stout no idea, I don’t talk with other saltwater hobbyists
Do I need to keep my mandarin in the breeder box for the whole two weeks?
No, you only put them in there for feeding training.
@@TheBonsaiJungle would it be possible to?
reefing noob I wouldn’t do it, would stress them out too much
@@TheBonsaiJungle so just 30 minutes or so everyday with the bloodworms and mysis shrimp in the breeder and after a while they will naturally take to it?
reefing noob yes exactly
It’s also not impossible to keep a mandarin in a 20g-30g tank
unfortunately I didn't have room even for a 12g model currently though, and I won't have that kind of room for at least a decade or so the way things are going financially combined with the fact that I have all the bonsai and carnivorous plants and terrariums I have to fit into an apartment soon. I will have to lease yard space and live away from the majority of my plant collection.
I just put it in the water and it eats it
Those are the fattest dragonets Ive ever seen hahah, but not in a bad way
No hate but that tank is way too small
What makes you say that?
@@TheBonsaiJungle the clown fish with the plants and shrimp and snails is good but with the two dragonets is way too small
@@TheBonsaiJungle what is every fish and invertebrate in that tank
Masonsellers _7 why is it too small for Dragonets?
@@TheBonsaiJungle the clown fish is ok by its self is ok but you are adding a fish that averages 4 inches in a 5 gallon fish tank with a clownfish that needs 5 gallons alone
no rocket science here lol 😂