Keeping my Mandarin Alive

[pwest]

I started cooking the rocks from my 150G the weekend before last, and I've become increasingly concerned about my 1 to 2 year old mandarin. When I first got him, he would eat frozen mysis, but since starting my barebottom conversion process, I have not seen him eat anything that I've put in. I do still have several good sized rocks with polyps/zoos/leathers/etc. attached, so he may be finding something to eat on them.


In hopes of being able to provide some live 'pods, I called up the folks at http://www.aquaculturestore.com/products.html. They recommended buying a 2L bottle of pods along with a bag of their "opaque lettuce like" saltwater plant, dumping it all into a bin with some tank water and putting in a few rocks that I can then rotate in and out of the tank to take pods to the mandarin. Any comments on how likely this will be to succeed? (That is, a) will the pods be fruitful and multiply in their bin and b) will this rock rotation provide what my mandarin needs?)

-Phil

[elephen]

I'm sure you don't want to hear this but it may be what you need to hear...

I had a 2.5yr old spotted mandarin that ALWAYS ate frozen brine shrimp. Once I upgraded from my 75g to my 120g BB he still ate the frozen brine (maybe 4 small peices each feeding) but all of a sudden he died, I attribute it to the stress of being moved to a new tank.

I would add pods or just try getting him to eat frozen/prepared foods.

[pwest]

What's the procedure for trying to get him to eat frozen/prepared foods? Right now, he's ignoring them (but he's still fat...).

-Phil

[elephen]

Well I'm not sure of a proper 'procedure.' Mine just started eating frozen brine on his own.

[gman0526]

You could try Marc's approach ???

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

[giants4pc]

Mine loves frozen brine and mysis. However, I have a ton of copepods in my 90