Reef Discussion

Felicity goodall · Feb 21, 2015

I have always worried about getting mandarins as i knew they can be picky eaters and quite often die.
I got a male mandarin some months from a guy that said he at frozen food which it did and is now super fat and happy. I don't have to target feed him at all in my system so I wanted to get a gf for him.

The same guy said he picked up a female and would train it for me like the other. He led me on for a long time (before Christmas!) and after a lot of being messed around I went and get her two days ago!
He said she ate lobster eggs but was thin because three days earlier he put a make in with her and they apparently were fine and then he picked on her.

Got her home and nearly cried. She is so thin and every fin has damage. I am pretty sure she has not eaten in a long time.

My mission is to fatten her up and add her to the display. She is currently dining in the all you can eat buffet of my sump.
The pics don't show how bad she is and there is also a pic of my fat boy Stan the man.

I hope to have good news. Has anyone gotten a fish back to full health after being so thin?
Thanks for reading

Lesley · Feb 21, 2015

It can be done. Both our Mandy's like yours were completely wasted away when we got them. And you've seen them. Fat. & happy like stan. Well done you can do it !

RobbieMVFC · Feb 21, 2015

Good luck , I am far from an expert on these guys but I would throw in live brine every two days .
@Lesley , You are the expert and bringing these guys back to good health any other tips?

Felicity goodall · Feb 21, 2015

I h

RobbieMVFC said:
Good luck , I am far from an expert on these guys but I would throw in live brine every two days .
@Lesley , You are the expert and bringing these guys back to good health any other tips?

i have some brine shrimp in another tank growing as well. Just a little small right now

Lesley · Feb 21, 2015

RobbieMVFC said:
Good luck , I am far from an expert on these guys but I would throw in live brine every two days .
@Lesley , You are the expert and bringing these guys back to good health any other tips?

I don't/can't tell you any thing else to do that your not already doing Felicity. Your going well. Keep it up.

Felicity goodall · Feb 21, 2015

So guys. The female has been in my sump since 10am and now it looks like she has food in her belly. Of course it will take weeks for her fins to heal and for her to get some sort of body mass about her but here is hoping.

Ian3145 · Feb 22, 2015

Hey Felicity, brine shrimp are never too small, in fact within 48 hrs of hatching they have almost no nutrient value to fish at all. Newly hatched baby brine shrimp on the other hand, are highly nutritious because they still have their egg sac intact. That's what the newly hatched feeds on for the first 24 hours so go ahead and dump them straight in.

If your fish is not attracted by newly hatched, there are methods for gut loading adults.

Good luck with your new fish.

CXheers

Darren S · Feb 22, 2015

Keep going @Felicity goodall, my spotted mandarin would eat nothing when I put in there to start with, but the tank was established so there was plenty for it to pick at. Over time it took frozen and now eats flake food. I now don't have to worry when feeding at all.

Felicity goodall · Feb 22, 2015

He

Darren S said:
Keep going @Felicity goodall, my spotted mandarin would eat nothing when I put in there to start with, but the tank was established so there was plenty for it to pick at. Over time it took frozen and now eats flake food. I now don't have to worry when feeding at all.

hey guys. Thanks for the comments. I will strain the brine shrimp and chuck them in the sump for her and hatch some more so they are fresh. @Ian3145

And looking at my male in the dt he is massive and eats everything. If I can just get her to a normal healthy body weight she can go there too. I'm gathering a few weeks.
Then I will be asking the best way to introduce the beauty and the beast.

Thanks

Ian3145 · Feb 22, 2015

You could try mood music and underwater speakers :)

Felicity goodall · Feb 22, 2015

Ian3145 said:
You could try mood music and underwater speakers :)

Already have them ready to go. Got Italian opera ready. Haha

ReeferRob · Feb 23, 2015

Can you get hold of any green water or algae cultures there? I load my brine shrimp before I feed them to my tanks. You can also soak them in Selcon as well, I'm going to try a little Reef Plus on a batch.

holly · Feb 23, 2015

Felicity goodall said:
He

hey guys. Thanks for the comments. I will strain the brine shrimp and chuck them in the sump for her and hatch some more so they are fresh. @Ian3145

And looking at my male in the dt he is massive and eats everything. If I can just get her to a normal healthy body weight she can go there too. I'm gathering a few weeks.
Then I will be asking the best way to introduce the beauty and the beast.

Thanks

I recently got a female off a member and popped her into the tank just before lights out. She hid in a cave for the night with the male doing his fin dance just outside. They follow each other around the tank now. I don't think they've had any issues getting along. Both are of similar size and tubby-ness.

Felicity goodall · Feb 23, 2015

holly said:
I recently got a female off a member and popped her into the tank just before lights out. She hid in a cave for the night with the male doing his fin dance just outside. They follow each other around the tank now. I don't think they've had any issues getting along. Both are of similar size and tubby-ness.

Cool! I will add her at night then. It will still be awhile away as I want her fins to heal and gain body weight but I really think she is going to make it.
Looking better each day

holly · Feb 23, 2015

Crappy iPad photo but they have some love going on!

Felicity goodall · Feb 23, 2015

holly said:
View attachment 47670 Crappy iPad photo but they have some love going on!

So great to see. Thanks for the photo they are so cute.

I have posted some pics now of the little lady. She is named shambles ( named by my partner) She has filled out a little. You can see the tail but it is still torn. The fish was not fattened in a day.

holly · Feb 23, 2015

Felicity goodall said:
So great to see. Thanks for the photo they are so cute.

I have posted some pics now of the little lady. She is named shambles ( named by my partner) She has filled out a little. You can see the tail but it is still torn. The fish was not fattened in a day.

That is heartbreaking to see how skinny she is I'm sure she has her best chance with you!

Felicity goodall · Feb 23, 2015

holly said:
That is heartbreaking to see how skinny she is I'm sure she has her best chance with you!

I know and she has actually put on weight!! Let me know what you think. Check out the original pics compared to the recent

Agent M · Feb 25, 2015

Her eyes are very sunken - I understand why you felt so heart broken at the sight of her, and yes I think she may have put on weight looking at those pics!

With introducing them, your scenario is ideal as you already have an established male and the female is the new one. Females are usually the ones that will give the male a hard time if there is going to be any aggression. In the wild the females tend to pick the bigger males to mate with - the males aggregate together at dusk and the females come along and go shopping (awesome ;)). They are not too difficult to introduce to any size male in an aquarium environment though.

You guys are a really bad influence! I now have two emaciated juvenile Red Scooter Blennies. They were sucking on the gravel to survive in the shop and seeing these threads has just encouraged me to break my own rules lately :rolleyes I shouldn't have bought them as they will only be replaced by more, but I have the odd weak moment.

Felicity goodall · Feb 25, 2015

Agent M said:
Her eyes are very sunken - I understand why you felt so heart broken at the sight of her, and yes I think she may have put on weight looking at those pics!

With introducing them, your scenario is ideal as you already have an established male and the female is the new one. Females are usually the ones that will give the male a hard time if there is going to be any aggression. In the wild the females tend to pick the bigger males to mate with - the males aggregate together at dusk and the females come along and go shopping (awesome ;)). They are not too difficult to introduce to any size male in an aquarium environment though.

You guys are a really bad influence! I now have two emaciated juvenile Red Scooter Blennies. They were sucking on the gravel to survive in the shop and seeing these threads has just encouraged me to break my own rules lately :rolleyes I shouldn't have bought them as they will only be replaced by more, but I have the odd weak moment.

Well I hope you can save them too.

I watch her so much. When I put in the brine shrimp now she chases them and gets so excited. She is a bit shit at catching the ones that float but as soon as they hit the glass it bottom she is all over it.

She now has a flat belly not concave like it was and weirdly seems to be filling out on the top part near the dorsal fin.

Dorsal fin is nearly healed and her tail is getting there. Still a massive rip but looking better.

I am friends with the guy that gave her to me on face book and I just want to delete him beciSe he should have hander her over before Christmas and not let her suffer!

Any other tips to fatten her up will be taken on board. I know if doesn't happen over night but nutrition is also important. Is live brine shrimp enough?

Thanks guys

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