Mandarin Diner:
Place to Feed Dragonets
Described in this article, and more (here), Mandarin Diner is a transparent container, holding food for mandarin in the tank, protecting it from being displaced by the flow and the big fish.
My mandarins refused to enter the narrow olive jar, had to use wide open small glass.
The food, placed there: defrozen mysis shrimp (different brands: San Fransisco Bay, Hikari, Big Al's, Kordon), a little brine shrimp, Marine Cuisine, and the dry food: Hikari S marine pellets, Tetra marine pellets, Nutrafin marine pellets, Tetra MicroCrabs (Cyclop Eeze`granules). Mostly frozen food, only scooter ate pellets.
There could be a problem with finding place for a jar or glass, where the flow will not wash away the food, placed there. In place, visited my mandarin and wide open for mandarin to find and enter the glass.
Placing glass in the tank and removing in in the evening could be done by long plastic tongs, like Tom Aquatic Gardener or Eheim's. If the jar has a neck, a thick thread, tied around the neck, can be used to lower and lift the jar. Be careful not to break the tank wall. /p>
Frozen food should be thawed in a strainer, liquid discarded, then additional wash with new salt water can be done. The food then may be soaked in Selcon or Reef Plus, whatever mandarin agrees with (scooter usually has no problem). Then all is placed in the glass, filled by tank water, allow a minute for food to settle down, slowly lower jar in the water, with flow turned off for some time.
Better to do that before feeding other fish: mandarin knows the time of feeding, comes to check the food, and if it is absent - goes away. Better to have the jar there already.
Side effects:
1. In the tank with the flow above low, it may be difficult to find the right spot, where food will not be flushed out and still be findable my mandarin.
2. Hermit crabs (medium size: zebra, maroon) stopped cleaning the tank and spend most of the time dining. Thus limiting space inside for a dragonets.
3. Food frequently floats all around the tank, if disturbed by fins. Mandarin is concentrated on food, when eating, and becomes startled, when notices the puffer coming from behind and waiting for own turn to eat.
Or big fish finds the way to get the tasty food: the clever tassle filefish uses the side fins to create flow, drawing the food out:
4. Bioload on the tank increases, cleaning from behind and under the rock or crevices is problematic, cleanup crew is attending Diner, instead of picking here and there. The tank should be able to handle this bioload somehow.
I used the battery operated gravel cleaner, micron sock in the sump and oversized skimmer. The choice of a gravel cleaner: any of $30 kinds last longer, except Eheim sludge extractor, which is not much suitable for a task.
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