The Puffer Forum

This just makes me more eager to go marine. These are one of my wives fav fish.

Lol just to clarify I only have one wife lmao

LOL!! Well you do live in England and not Malaysia To bad eh?

bertie 83 wrote:Lol just to clarify I only have one wife lmao

lol was about to ask when i saw your next post =P

Yea posted it. Then thought that don't look right, been giggling since. Lol

bertie 83 wrote:Lol just to clarify I only have one wife lmao

what is the forum/where did you get your mandarins?

I got them in two different LFSs, one in Oslo and one in Moss (they are 45-60 minutes driving away from here). There were two or three males left in the shop in Moss, but I guess that would be quite a long trip for you to buy them. The Norwegian reef forum tipped me off on one of the LFSs. It's actually more difficult to get tank bred mandarins than WC ones, at least around here. I've been very lucky to get the two I have. They were very tiny when I bought them, but they've grown very fast. They are still small though, and have probably just matured. They have matured surpisingly early. My mandarins are 7-8 months old, and that is very early to mature. They mature this early only if they are tank bred and well fed. It's more usual for them to wait until they are about a year old.

PP, I envy you diving and seeing mandarins in the wild! They are very beautiful fishes, and I love their personality.

Troender wrote:There were two or three males left in the shop in Moss, but I guess that would be quite a long trip for you to buy them. The Norwegian reef forum tipped me off on one of the LFSs. It's actually more difficult to get tank bred mandarins than WC ones, at least around here.

Aha, yeah, a little bit out of the way. Next time I'm hanging out in Norway, though, I'll have to look around
I went to my LFS this afternoon and asked them about their mandarins. They had three very tiny ones, two about 3/4" and one about 1", the smaller were spotted mandarins and the larger I think was a red, it was sulky and hiding so I couldn't get a good look on it. He said that the ones they had currently were WC, but sometimes they'll get tank bred ones. Still haven't decided on what I want to get when I set up my marine, but I'm definitely keeping that in mind, maybe I'll have them call me when they get some tank bred ones in. Yours are just so lovely! Waaant, heheh.

That's neat that they're tank-bred. I didn't know it had been done. Then again, I last looked into it several years ago.

LilGreenPuffer wrote:That's neat that they're tank-bred. I didn't know it had been done. Then again, I last looked into it several years ago.

Here's some (or quite a lot) reading about it. I haven't come far in reading it myself, but I've seen some amazing pics. I was recommended to read it.

Aaaand, they are off again! And this time I am pretty sure there will be a spawning. The female's belly has grown very much these two days, and she is very, very full of eggs! I think this is going to be a long night for me. I won't go to bed until they've spawned. I really want to get the eggs. Unfortunately I cleaned up the overflow intake today (which was very poor planning), so it's taking in water faster than it did. And the mandarins are doing this pretty close to the overflow too. I have to be quick, I think, when the eggs come. I hope I can catch them in time. I don't think I've ever been so excited about a spawning before.

Ive actually thought about putting mine in my quarantine , but he seems to be bulking back up with the brine ive been feeding him.

I missed the magic moment today. They finished quicker than I had expected, so I wasn't in front of the tank when it happened. I think the eggs ended as clownfish food. At least I saw my clowns chasing something I couldn't see around in the tank. Well, for every time I don't succeed, I learn new things that can help me succeed next time. I hope my mandarins will continue spawning until I am successful in catching the eggs. The good news is that there definitely was a spawning today. The female's belly has shrunk. I am so proud of my mandarins. They are only 7-8 months old, and they are already spawning!

Thats soo cool !

The female (her name is Klementine, BTW) has fattened up again during the day, so I think there will be action again tonight. But when reading up on breeding these fish, I understand that I have to be a lot more prepared than I am. I need to be breeding food for them before there are eggs, and I still don't know how to do it. The mandarin larvae are so very, very tiny, so they need even tinier food.

Good luck!!!