Mandarin Spawn and Hatch,

[lr85ninety]

im impressed keep us upto date please!

[Dragonets Den]

The pair are spawning every 4 days, so batch 8 was spawned last night, batch 7 is still going well and appear to be feeding. The next couple of days will be the telling part...

[Dragonets Den]

B7 - I picked this little dude off the floor, so he was not a well chap, but wanted to see if there was anything in his gut. Managed to get a pic of him opening his jaw, and then one with a rotifer by him. Its not looking good, guts are empty and mouth is to small for the rotifer. The only thing I am hoping for is he is smaller then his mates in the bowl, so hopefully they are eatting something. Time will tell!

[Dragonets Den]

Devestated, my female mandarin died. She decided to swim up a 15mm pipe. Back to the drawing board with these guys. Thank god for the Den. I will have to retrain the new female, fatten her up, and introduce her to the male. I am wondering if I should get two females.

[ShyTalk]

Aw that is a bummer, really sorry to hear that Alex, at least it was nothing you could've avoided, just down to bad luck and a suicidal streak in your manderin from the sound of things.

How goes it with the hatchlings? Any success?

[Dragonets Den]

Nope, food wasnt small enough. I had a plan though and I was due a spawn tonight. Really really sucks!

[ShyTalk]

Really roti's too big?
You're going to need a steady hand and a sharp blade to cut them up smaller eh?
I wonder what they little 'uns eat in the wild? I wonder if some of that really fine coral food would be small enough or phyto?

I hope you have some luck with this next spawning, it might help a little after just losing your female, who knows..2012 might be a great mandarin breeding year!

All the best and keep your chin up i know its lousy to lose a fish though, folk can't understand how you can get so attached to a fish sometimes.

[Dragonets Den]

The babies eat things like A. Tonsa and Parvo (really small copepods). This is why fish like angelfish and tangs and the like are yet to be produced in captivity, we simply do not have the food small enough.

[al.]

reading this thread is like watching a really exciting film with a heartbreaking twist. have mandarins been captive reared in this country yet?