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View Full Version : my new target, or spotted ORA captive bred mandarin is here!!!!!!



mikel
08-19-2010, 01:57 PM
I am so excited. I love discus, but I also have a small 20 gal long salt water tank. It's got plenty of corals, gree carpet and a duncan coral that has since grown 3 new heads. I have three little maroon clowns, and this morning, I drove all the way to Taunton and picked up my green spotted mandarin fish.

Mandarin fish are amazingly beautiful, but the wild caught ones usually starve to death because they only know how to eat live copepods in a reef tank. So once the cope population is decimated by the mandarin, the fish will starve to death. This is the reason why I have been holding off buying one for my nano-tank.

But ORA has since figured out how to captive breed and raise these little guys on pellet and frozen foods....so they are now being released to the public in limited numbers. The store I went to in taunton is the only one getting them here around Boston so far as I know, and he only has TWO (the allotment is 2 fish per store per month, apparently). So I have my finger crossed that this little guy will eat blood worms, ON mini pellets, and I hope to gradually train it to eat my BH-seafood mix!!!! My clowns already love my BH-seafood mix that I make myself for the discus.

I think I will use a small snapps bottle, and put the thawed BW in there, and the fish should swim inside to eat. The opening is too small for the clowns, but big enough for him. Then, I can just take the bottle, and any uneated food in it, out of the tank and preserve water quality...mike:)

Discus-n00b
08-19-2010, 04:06 PM
Sounds good! I love Mandarins, never kept one though when I was in salt. Hope you have a bigger tank for those Maroons soon...lol

scottthomas
08-19-2010, 05:05 PM
I love those fish. Like little hummingbirds flying around the coral.

mikel
08-19-2010, 06:20 PM
ok, update...

I have the fish in my tank now. he seems well adjusted, but I noticed that he also seemed very naive when it comes to other fish...He would just swim right into the midst of the three maroon clowns. Mind you, my female maroon, while still small and young, is a good four or five times bigger than he is (he is tiny!). The two male/asexual maroons are also slightly bigger than he. But he doesnt seem to care. They try using their big fan like tails to shuuu him away, but he keeps swimming back to them. I think they have finally given up and allowed him to nestle in their favorite cave now.

In any case, my feeding attempt using the bottle and blood worms did not work...the fish was just not interested. Will try again tomorrow. If this little guy fail to thrive, at least I have supported the effort of ORA to captive breed these great fish, and in doing so, to take a big step in helping to preserve the wild population. In a lot of ways, the 'difficult' mandarins are only as 'difficult' as the discus used to be...now look what we can do with the big flat fish! :)

ccthao
08-27-2010, 11:53 PM
From what i've heard they are very naive since they have been bred and sheltered from day at ORA. It might be a good idea to only house them with peaceful fish. Maroons can be pretty aggressive sometimes. I've had one attack my hand every time I go near his favorite spot. I personally would setup a dedicated tank for the Mandarin since these guys are one of my favorite saltwater fish. These ORA bred are well sought after fish, your a lucky man to get one. I'm on a waiting list to get one since they sold out so quickly at saltwaterfish.com

mikel
08-28-2010, 06:54 AM
Agree and thank you! I realize this, and I was worried too. I am planning on creating anothet tank for my maroons. By the way, my little spotted mandarin is so smart. He sleeps in the glass jar (his diner where I place his blood worm), and he eats my Spectrum pellets (tiny, fish egg size) like its going out of style. He actually hang out with the maroons in their den often, and they have accepted him and hover over him. They also swim around, with the clowns wiggling mindlessly, and the mandarin hovering around looking for pods. The mandarin definitely has a lot of personality and courage, and I am cautiously optimistic about him eating.

By the way, a place about 1 hour from me (outside Boston) has 2 spotted, one blue mandarin and a pair of blue mandarin (already sold on the first day) still available. Apparently the ORA people are very protective of their mandarin, and they are also very proud of what they have done. Regardless of what happens to my little fish, I am glad I paid $60 to support captive raised mandarins....it's a good thing for the wild pop. Take care. mike

lpiasente
09-11-2010, 10:36 PM
piccies please. I love salt water tanks. That just meybe my next challenge

roclement
09-12-2010, 08:39 AM
Good luck! I heard nothing but horror stories about the ora mandarins, as in not eating and becoming bulied by other fish so agressivly that it died. I am glad to read that yours is eating and doing well in your tank, best of luck!

I have kept a wild mandarin in my reef for over 4 years now, he eats nothing but pods and what he can scrounge around the tannk, they are great fish, I aplaud your effort to get a captive bred fish!

Rodrigo

mikel
09-12-2010, 08:06 PM
Thanks Rodrigo! Glad you are a fellow mandarin lover too! My little ORA spotted mandarin is eating his Nutrimar Ova like its going out of style. But I do agree that the ORA mandarins are definitely smaller, and much more "naive" than their wild cousins. I do sometimes see my smallest maroon clown pushing my mandarin out of the way. If I see any sign that my maroons are bullying my mandarin, I will immediately give the maroons away. I have a maroon pair and a tag-along third asexual juvanile in the same tank....maybe I can trade all three of them for another Ora spotted or blue mandarin when the local LFS get them. mike:)

mikel
09-18-2010, 09:03 AM
I took some pics of my ORA captive bred mandarin this morning. He's getting quite chunky with the Prawn eggs that I feed him. mike

Ryan
09-26-2011, 09:57 PM
I wasn't aware of tank-bred mandarins until visiting an LFS this weekend. Then I came here and found this thread. Any updates on him, Mike?