NEW FRIENDS!

[ivet]

Hey everyone, today I ventured out to aquatic tech in ohio and got myself some new buddies!

I picked up a flame angel because they are so hardy and beautiful. I also picked up 2 scooter blennies. Those guys are a trip. I think I'll name them richard and gene.

I made 1 mistake. Everywhere I go I see mandarans. I thought they were hardy, bottom feeders, easy to take care of, etc etc....I read on and found that they are finicky eaters, almost only accepting live foods. It is now my responsibility to take care of this guy, so now I must set up the 10g in the garage and breed some brine shrimp or amphipods which im gonna search the board for info in a minute. My tank is completely infested with amphipods which is good, so he may be ok. My tank is also full to the brim w/ established LR, so I think he'll be ok.

If any of you have flame angels or Mandarins, I would like to know which diet you've had the most success with.

Thanks!!!!!

[ 07-30-2001: Message edited by: ivet ]

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hi ivet!! Mandarins are such beautiful fish and you really need a large tank(75 gallon being the smallest IMO). You need a well established tank with lots of bugs for them to survive.
I call them the "hummingbirds" of the reef because of their energy and what is needed to keep them alive. If you can supply their needs then I say go for it. Have fun! Johnny

[ivet]

update!

my amphipod breeding cycle is a very strange thing. I start out with 1,000 or so crawling around, then zero. Then 1 trillion adults, back to about 10, then back to 1,000 and not far behind, 1 trillion. I go with no amphipods for about 3 weeks until the new ones hatch. Kinda cool, but weird!

I've got a bunch now which should be good for my new mandarin, but he's acting very scared right now. He's been in there for about 3 hours, and he's been hiding ever since. Hopefully he'll loosen up by tomorrow. If I see him eating the pods i'll be very happy. Everyone else is having a blast in the tank flame angel is nipping on fresh algae, and the scooters are sifting sand and bein cool. I think the flame and the mandarin are friends...they seem to hang out together.

[Alice]

Johnny;

ivet's got a good sized tank; can't remember what size off the top of my head. Put up a pic ivet; it's gorgeous!

Keep those 'pods coming! Scooters have about the same diet as Mandarins.

~Alice

[ivet]

cool I just took a new one today! Here's my new rescape with 1/3 of the rocks still in the refugium (the little ones need glued together). Geez I work so hard keeping this tank clean and it looks so dirty right now! Sorry about the 2 shadows, ballast #3 needs a new trannie!

[Brooke]

Hey there!
You know indo-pacific sea farms sells an amphipod breeding kit. This might help keep those guys alive! Are you already breeding them outside the tank or were you just describing their "bloom" in the tank??

Brooke

[ivet]

im not breeding outside the tank...i can in my refugium though!

Today he's eating off the rocks so I'm happy. Now the new problem is that the flame angel is being shy and is not eating. Hopefully he'll start picking at the calupera I put in. I threw in some frozen bloodworms and brine today, but no luck.

semi-LFS were feeding him live brine. It's not available in my area! It is, but the tank the people are keeping them in a tank w/ black water and it stinks. I may have to order them and raise them myself. geez.

[Spanky]

ivet, you're tank is absolutely beautiful. Great job.

Keep an eye on the angel, quitting eating can be a sign of parasites or something else wrong.

HTH
Jerel

[FishDaddy]

Gorgeous tank, Ivet!
Nothing to add to what's been said but hope your new friends eat well.
Dick

[Brooke]

ivet-
Some of those angels can be picky.Try spirulina flakes or a good all-purpose marine flake, frozen spirulina cubes, etc. Soak it all in selcon. We were able to get our bicolor angel to eat dried seaweeds and nori from a lettuce clip after a little training. This would be a much better diet than brine shrimp for the flame!!

Brooke

[ivet]

hey everyone, thanks so much The work is definitely worth it

Yesterday the angel was so excited and all around, but today he's so shy and has been in the same spot all day Brooke, thanks for the diet info, thats definitely something I will try tomorrow!