Miniature Mandarin Beer Mug Diner

Nine-month-old Green Mandarins bred by the author in their sunken beer-mug feeder.

Last year, as my interest in mandarins was being rejuvenated, I searched the internet for recent happenings in the world of the Genus Synchiropus. Beyond the obvious reports of reproduction and rearing, I was interested to know if things were changing in the way aquarists approached feeding their psychedelic but difficult-to-nourish pets. 

One of the best articles I came across was by Marc Levenson’s on melevsreef.com entitled Melev’s Mandarin Diner. At the time, I thought the article and video were quite amazing, but stored the information in the back of my brain thinking it had little application for what I was trying to do. Marc maintains a large reef aquarium and target feeds his mandarins by lowering a jar filled with pellets to the floor of the aquarium. The mandarins have come to recognize the jar with food and are allowed to feed unchallenged by the larger fish in the reef.

Well, nearly a year later I have found a use for this ingenious contraption.

I now had hundreds of juvenile mandarins eating prepared foods. At first, I simply dumped the food in the growout tank and watched as it swirled and floated with the current. I wondered, “Is it ever going to sink?”. As tiny morsels hit the deck they were quickly scarfed up, but maintaining water quality was becoming a challenge.

If I lowered the water flow, nitrogenous waste build up became obvious, but when I increased the flow to flush uneaten food out of the system, the mandarins weren’t getting enough to eat. Aha! The light bulb lit and I recalled Marc's trick. 

I filled tiny glass beakers with food and lowered them into the tank, making sure to spill a little at the entrance. Before long, the little mandarins began to congregate at the entrance of the beaker. Another few weeks went by and the little guys would pile up inside the beakers waiting for the dinner bell to ring. I soon realized I was going to need a bigger beaker. 

I met Marc at this year's MACNA Conference in Atlanta and expressed my thanks for his article. I swore I would try to get a picture of the little mandarins in their diner and although it has taken some time I finally got one. Last night as I was busily trying to get some work done on the computer I looked over to the mandarin tank and realized I forgot to feed them. Some of them were anxiously waiting inside their beer mug diner. No more mess, no water quality issues and best of all, Beer Mug Target-fed Mandarins.

Thanks Marc!

Melev’s Mandarin Diner: http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

Comments

[Andy]

Matt--We want a new blog entry!!!

[Karin Baker]

Wow. That is absolutely amazing.
I've been wanting a Mandarin for the last 10 years but just now was able to afford a system big enough to support them. Like Dan (previous comment) and probably hundreds of other aquarists I would love to be able to buy one or two tank raised (and beer mug trained!) ones.
If that ever becomes an option or if somebody else has followed in your footsteps with this I would be very interested!
Karin

[chris]

Great work, and i wish you continued success.

[Dan]

Matt,

I've enjoyed your articles on mandarins. I was wondering if it would be possible to buy a raised male and female mandarin from you? I really would like one but do not want to risk buying a live caught one and getting it to accept frozen and pellet foods. Thanks!

Dan

[Alcapown]

Great work, definitely following along.

[Vlad]

Matt, you are doing great work for yourself and for the advancement of the hobby. I am closely following your updates and am broadcasting it on my blog. Keep up the work, as it is already recognized!

[Amy Drehmel]

Matt, guess who......I just had to post!!! I love the picture. But I think you should do a blog about gobies. Maybe watchman? Your Goby Girl

[Amy Drehmel]

Hey Matt, guess who......I had to post!!! I love the picture!!!!!But I think you should do a blog about gobies.Maybe watchman????Your Goby Girl

[Darwinski]

Matt,

Fascinating! What are you feeding these little guys?

[Jessy]

That picture is amazingly cute! I met you at MACNA this year, hanging out with melev. I really respect what you are doing and just basically enjoy the pictures of tiny cute fish. Keep up the great work and don't forget to offer plenty more cute baby pics :).

[Nicole Castle]

I have also used a feeding station for slow/picky eaters and for training shy new fish to eat prepared foods. (Thank you, Pavlov.) It's perfect for gobies and dragonettes, and has the additional benefit of target feeding them desired foods or meds as will... as well as being a handy way to catch the fish in a emergency. It has literally been a lifesaver for me. Anyone who has torn apart a reef tank looking for a goby would appreciate such a handy way of snatching them up.

But if you ask me, there are better uses for a beer mug. :-)

[Marc Levenson]

You are quite welcome Matt. That's awesome, and a great solution against polluting the water of your fry tank.