My Birthday Present

[Mark_C]

Noooo, not the Precious, nooo nasty little hobbitses try to take it

But, instead, one of these...
Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Blue Mandarin, Captive-Bred, Biota

Wanted one since I stated the hobby but would never subject one to my tanks for fear of starving them. The aqua-cultured, though 3-4x as expensive, are raised on frozen cyclops and 350-500mcrn dry, which I can supplement with black and whiteworms.

Have a hefty pod population atm which I will keep up, but nice to know they'll eat cyclops if required, makes me comfortable finally owning one.

Algae Barn is selling out of these in minutes, but some appeared on LiveAquaria tonight.

 

[erics210]

Picture?

 

[Haus]

That’s awesome Mark. Happy birthday!

My desire to get a mandarin is one reason I’m tempted to ask to see your worm operation and maybe get a culture. I’ll be down in brick for a couple of soccer games this spring so may DM you...

 

[horseplay]

Happy birthday and good luck with the fish. My 10g nano right now is a pod farm meaning everywhere is covered in bugs very tempted to get a mandarin.

 

[diana a]

Happy birthday! Will it eat your worms too? I also have always wanted one. No other fish can compare to it in my eyes.

 

[Mark_C]

No pic yet, paid for Saturday arrival.
Will run a thread on it from unboxing to all details of tank conditions and diet.
Excited to see an aqua-cultured offered.

 

[MadReefer]

Very cool. I always loved the red ones but food is the issue once you run out of pods.

 

[KenM]

My mandarin is one of my fav fish.... heck he's my little avatar pic!

Good luck with em! They are interesting, but honestly they act like there are absolutely NO other fish even in the tank, like they seriously don't care it's kinda funny.