Pellet food for Mandarin Dragonet - that sinks (2025)

I'd like to have a Mandarin Dragonet someday. Due to work, I'm not able to give it well spaced out 3 feeds/day everyday. So I'd like to use an auto feeder and timing it with turning off my main pump and turning up my in-tank pump to help sink the pellet food. Looking to see what pellet foods people have had success getting their Mandarins to eat?

I have TDO extra small pellets that I currently feed to two clowns. But TDO tends to float, so I'm looking for pellets that sink easier maybe.

Cheese Griller said:

It is incredibly hit or miss on whether or not your mandarin will eventually take pellets, or any prepared food for that matter. Wait until your tank has the proper pod population to support one, then you don’t have to worry as much about supplemental feedings.

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This is excellent advice. While my girl readily eats the stated,I had been seeding my tank since the cycle ended with pods. And I regularly add them to make sure there's no gaps in her diet.

saltyfish24 said:

I'd like to have a Mandarin Dragonet someday. Due to work, I'm not able to give it well spaced out 3 feeds/day everyday. So I'd like to use an auto feeder and timing it with turning off my main pump and turning up my in-tank pump to help sink the pellet food. Looking to see what pellet foods people have had success getting their Mandarins to eat?

I have TDO extra small pellets that I currently feed to two clowns. But TDO tends to float, so I'm looking for pellets that sink easier maybe.

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If you have larger than 50g tank with tons of rock that’s say, at least 8 months old, get a wild caught Mandarin and you’ll never have to feed him.

Uncle99 said:

If you have larger than 50g tank with tons of rock that’s say, at least 8 months old, get a wild caught Mandarin and you’ll never have to feed him.

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I was skeptical that even a large tank would have a carrying capacity of copepods large enough to keep a Mandarin fed. I assumed people who are keeping Mandarins well have Mandarins that are eating at least half of their diet on whatever fish food is being fed, not just pods.

saltyfish24 said:

I was skeptical that even a large tank would have a carrying capacity of copepods large enough to keep a Mandarin fed. I assumed people who are keeping Mandarins well have Mandarins that are eating at least half of their diet on whatever fish food is being fed, not just pods.

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I would estimate that less than 1/3 of people keeping mandarins long-term actually have them eating. Many report that they infrequently see the mandarin because they spend all day in your rockwork hunting pods.

Cheese Griller said:

I would estimate that less than 1/3 of people keeping mandarins long-term actually have them eating. Many report that they infrequently see the mandarin because they spend all day in your rockwork hunting pods.

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Do you mean that most people successful with Mandarins also have a viable on-going pod population for them to live only on pods?

I have a 30 gallon AIO with the back middle chamber setup as refugium with chaeto, as well as in-tank floating chaeto acclimation box. So I'm doing as much as I can to create habitat and increase the carrying capacity for pods. Although I see plenty of pods on the glass, I don't think it's enough to sustain a Mandarin once it starts eating them. Considering how small pods are, I think Mandarins can eat a thousand a day, and I just don't see my 30 gallon being able to sustain that.

When I QT the Mandarin, if I'm unable to verify its willing to eat pellet food, I plan to give it back to the store. Hate the idea of starving a fish.

dwest said:

My biota mandarin started on pellets in a 10 gallon grow out tank for a few months. He’s been in my 180 gallon reef for about 18 months now and I don’t think he's eating anything but pods.

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Curious what you have in your 180 gallon and how you feed the other fish? That's a pretty big tank.

saltyfish24 said:

Do you mean that most people successful with Mandarins also have a viable on-going pod population for them to live only on pods?

I have a 30 gallon AIO with the back middle chamber setup as refugium with chaeto, as well as in-tank floating chaeto acclimation box. So I'm doing as much as I can to create habitat and increase the carrying capacity for pods. Although I see plenty of pods on the glass, I don't think it's enough to sustain a Mandarin once it starts eating them. Considering how small pods are, I think Mandarins can eat a thousand a day, and I just don't see my 30 gallon being able to sustain that.

When I QT the Mandarin, if I'm unable to verify its willing to eat pellet food, I plan to give it back to the store. Hate the idea of starving a fish.

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Yes. A mandarin in anything less than 50 gallons usually doesn’t turn out well, even if you get it eating pellets. They have evolved for millennia to have a metabolism that is constantly supplied with pods. A 30 gallon AIO just won’t cut it, even if the fish is taking prepared foods.

QTing mandarins is also not advised, since sterile QT tanks lack the pods they need. They are already quite disease-resistant so they usually don’t need QT anyways.

I've got a spotted mandy in a 25 gallon that lives purely off what he can forage in the tank, phat little sausage.

I have lots of rock though and a corner behind the rockwork filled with dragon's breath macro, that's essentially a pod pile and absolutely zero filtration. Tank's also filled with a healthy breeding population of colonista snails, the juveniles of which Mandarins can and will eat.

saltyfish24 said:

Curious what you have in your 180 gallon and how you feed the other fish? That's a pretty big tank.

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I have a standard mixed reef tank with lots of live rock. Most of the rock I’ve had for about 30 years and there’s lots of pods and mysid shrimp. I feed the fish frozen food, flake, and pellets.