Mandarin's strange behaviour

[El Scorcho]

I've had my blue mandarin for about 3 weeks now and he seems to be
doing good so far. There seem to be enought copepods in the tank to
keep him healthy and he also enjoys frozen brine shrimp that fall to
the bottom.
Recently I started to notice some strange behaviour. Usually he likes
to hide and go behind the rocks, but when I turn off all the lights and
turn the moon light on he jets to the top of the tank and starts
skimming near the surface. sometimes he seems to stick his mouth out
of the water. He does this as soon as the moon lights go on.
I have seen some tiny creatures moving around the surface of the water
so I thought the mandarin was just going to munch on them.
Has anyone seen anything like this?

FL

[[email protected]]

El Scorcho wrote:
> I've had my blue mandarin for about 3 weeks now and he seems to be
> doing good so far. There seem to be enought copepods in the tank to
> keep him healthy and he also enjoys frozen brine shrimp that fall to
> the bottom.
> Recently I started to notice some strange behaviour. Usually he
likes
> to hide and go behind the rocks, but when I turn off all the lights
and
> turn the moon light on he jets to the top of the tank and starts
> skimming near the surface. sometimes he seems to stick his mouth out
> of the water. He does this as soon as the moon lights go on.
> I have seen some tiny creatures moving around the surface of the
water
> so I thought the mandarin was just going to munch on them.
> Has anyone seen anything like this?
>
> FL

My clown fish loves the moon light. As soon as the lights go off and
the moon light goes on, he darts to the surface and will swim there
until I turn off the moonlight.

[Ray Martini]

I think you're lucky your Mandarin eats the frozen shrimp. From what I've
read and been told they want live food and won't eat prepared foods. If you
catch one that does, you'll do well with him. This is what's kept me from
getting a Mandarin.


"El Scorcho" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've had my blue mandarin for about 3 weeks now and he seems to be
> doing good so far. There seem to be enought copepods in the tank to
> keep him healthy and he also enjoys frozen brine shrimp that fall to
> the bottom.
> Recently I started to notice some strange behaviour. Usually he likes
> to hide and go behind the rocks, but when I turn off all the lights and
> turn the moon light on he jets to the top of the tank and starts
> skimming near the surface. sometimes he seems to stick his mouth out
> of the water. He does this as soon as the moon lights go on.
> I have seen some tiny creatures moving around the surface of the water
> so I thought the mandarin was just going to munch on them.
> Has anyone seen anything like this?
>
> FL
>

[Billy]

"El Scorcho" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've had my blue mandarin for about 3 weeks now and he seems to be
> doing good so far. There seem to be enought copepods in the tank
> to
> keep him healthy and he also enjoys frozen brine shrimp that fall
> to
> the bottom.
> Recently I started to notice some strange behaviour. Usually he
> likes
> to hide and go behind the rocks, but when I turn off all the lights
> and
> turn the moon light on he jets to the top of the tank and starts
> skimming near the surface. sometimes he seems to stick his mouth
> out
> of the water. He does this as soon as the moon lights go on.
> I have seen some tiny creatures moving around the surface of the
> water
> so I thought the mandarin was just going to munch on them.
> Has anyone seen anything like this?
>

I have my daylight lamps and actinics on seperate timers, creating a
similar situation, and my spotted Mandarin does the same thing. My
theory was that the bright lights prevented him from seeing the
surface critters, but when the 10,000K's go out, he can see them.

That or he's just barking mad.<g>

billy

[[email protected]]

Mine is more than happy with frozen brine shrimp. He spends most of his time
crawling over the reef eating whatever he can find but I squirt a bit of
brine shrimp in his direction from time to time and he seems to be one happy
fish!

Mark

[Marc Levenson]

I bet you have swimming worms in your tank, and the
moonlight attracts them to the surface. The mandarin is
figuring that out, and dining upon the easy to find food.

http://www.melevsreef.com/video/afterdark.wmv (3.3 megs)

Marc


El Scorcho wrote:

> I've had my blue mandarin for about 3 weeks now and he seems to be
> doing good so far. There seem to be enought copepods in the tank to
> keep him healthy and he also enjoys frozen brine shrimp that fall to
> the bottom.
> Recently I started to notice some strange behaviour. Usually he likes
> to hide and go behind the rocks, but when I turn off all the lights and
> turn the moon light on he jets to the top of the tank and starts
> skimming near the surface. sometimes he seems to stick his mouth out
> of the water. He does this as soon as the moon lights go on.
> I have seen some tiny creatures moving around the surface of the water
> so I thought the mandarin was just going to munch on them.
> Has anyone seen anything like this?
>
> FL
>

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