Sascha D. Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I stumbled across a listing for captive-bread Blue Mandarin Dragonets on Liveaquaria. I'm not sure how long they have been offering them, but it's something that I thought a lot of people may be interested in. I've never heard of Blue Mandarins, but they appear to be the same or similar enough to Green Mandarins and Red Mandarins. The listing says that these fish have been fed prepared foods, but they also cost 3x more than wild caught specimens. The Biota Captive-Bred Blue Mandarins are spawned and reared at Biota Marine Life Nursery in Palau. Blue Mandarin are also known as the Mandarin Dragonette or Mandarin Goby is a mazelike combination of blue, orange, and green. Males may be distinguished from females by their more-elongated first dorsal spine. It is extremely popular with aquarists because of its unusual beauty. It should be kept in a well-established 30 gallon or larger aquarium with live rock, live sand, and plenty of hiding places. It is moderately hardy in reef aquariums if given exceptional care. It is not overly aggressive towards other fish, except for conspecifics. The Captive-Bred Blue Mandarin has a unique advantage over wild-harvested species. They are hardier and more accustomed to conditions found in home aquariums. Therefore, it makes a great choice for novices and seasoned aquarists alike. Biota has raised these Blue Mandarins on Frozen Cyclops, along with a 360-520 micron dry food mix and supplementing with live foods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I first saw ORA captive bred mandarins about 5 years ago, I think Aquadome carried them for a while. Industry-wide they struggled because buyers couldn't understand paying 3-4x the price of wild caught. Anyone who has attempted to train wild caught mandarins to not be picky eaters realizes that even at a 4x multiplier the captive bred fish are a steal. Thanks for sharing, this is great news! And if you're in the market for a mandarin then definitely go for the captive bred ones over the wild caught! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 The ORA website currently has them all marked unavailable and I was unable to find any listed for sale on the various critter websites. I remember there were some local Central Texas guys selling Target Mandarins for a while, but I haven't seen them active recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 I’ve been looking for ORA captive bred mandarins for a while. Maybe I’ll take a look at the LiveAquaria version nowSent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Yeah, sorry, I wasn't clear. I heard that ORA basically stopped them because there was apparently no market, people keep buying the cheaper wild caught ones and taking their chances. Seems a shame. I'm glad that LiveAquaria is selling them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 That's pretty cool! If we were not planning on a vacation I would go for it. Totally going to check them out when we get back if available still. I have heard with other mandarins even if trained to eat frozen food you still have to keep up your pod population. Wonder of that is still the case here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 14 hours ago, ckyuv said: That's pretty cool! If we were not planning on a vacation I would go for it. Totally going to check them out when we get back if available still. I have heard with other mandarins even if trained to eat frozen food you still have to keep up your pod population. Wonder of that is still the case here Like many wrasses, Mandarin Dragonets have a natural instinct to forage. Their brain doesn't know they're getting more nutrition than they would otherwise get on a natural diet and they'll keep hunting even when full. Hopefully you wouldn't have to buy pods because the fish is getting most of it's nutrition from the prepared foods, but I wouldn't expect any pods to be spared either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dogfish Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 After reading tons on all the forums about mandarins , jawfish and pipefish, they will eat a lot of prepared non live foods. The biggest issue people have is the fish are shy and the other fish eat the food before they get their turn. I have seem a few feeders people have constructed that allows for only smaller fish to enter and eat. I will try one of these captive bred ones down the road if my tank will work for them. My $.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 I've had my female mandarin going on about 3 years. She was wild caught but I was lucky enough to have her start eating mysis. She still is constantly on the hunt for pods, I never see her sit still. I'm running a well-established 230g, but between her and my leopard wrasse the pod population has been unable to sustain either of the two wild-caught males that I've tried to add in the past few years. Unless/until I can find a male that will eat non-live food, it isn't worth watching them starve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 One technique that seems to be successful is feeding the fish lobster eggs or Rod's Eggs in a jar. It looks like a Planter's Peanuts jar to me, but any glass jar heavy enough to stay on the sand should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 Bought my little guy over 6 years ago from somebody shutting-down their tank. No special food/feeding. He just snacks on pods on the liverock and back glass all day long. Quite a chunky little guy too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 These biota manderins are tiny. Like the size of a Tylenol. Just FYI. Hope mine grows fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 It’s finally out and about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 It's soo cute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 Aww! Attractive coloration on that one. Have you seen it eat?Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Great color, cute! But yep, one of the tiniest I've seen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 What does it eat when it is that small? Think it would go for some mini pellets? We were thinking or ordering one after our spring break trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Going to take a little while to figure out. It’s scared of the mini feeding station right now. I can’t imagine dropping one of these in a six foot tank and trying to offer it prepared foods. You’d be lucky to find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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