Question to PaulB about his mandarin feeder

[spiraling]

Hey Paul.
So I have a 34 gallon. I'm absolutely not planning on getting a mandarin now, but I would love a large tank with a pair of them one day. one day. so I'm practicing good fish husbandry until then. and saving my money. my clowns seem to like the attention.

I have several freshwater tanks (for 7 years) and an RSM 130 (for about a year and a half). so I'm almost an expert at this. well at least better than i was, and I haven't killed a fish in over two years (don't laugh the rest of you, you have all lost beautiful fish). I have read many of your mandarin posts both here an on other places. Because I really want mandarins one day. They are the reason for me to pay the expense of saltwater vs the (relatively) super cheap freshwater route of a beautiful tank. I get lost in a beautiful place when I watch them.

So I've been setting up live foods for both my freshwater and saltwater. I don't have local supplies. Everything is online. Which is good because the internet is always right, except when it isn't. I have my white worm culture from ebay multiplying to a point where i almost have enough for a fish treat. And I'm looking into a brine shrimp hatchery. Strangely enough in the freshwater world if you want your discus/angel/chiclid/other cool fish to breed you feed them live foods. Which seems to go along with your philosophy about mandarins and other cool marine fish.

My understanding on the internet, which is always right, except when it isn't, is that brine shrimp can thrive in an environment of 1.026 salinity and 80F. They need food to do so, and they need not to get eaten by predators. But, um, that's actually why I would put them in the tank. Is to get eaten by my beautiful mandarin predators. one day.

So here's the question. (Thanks for reading this far. ) Why do you use a feeder instead of putting the newly hatched brine in the tank? It seems like if you thought there weren't enough that you can just hatch more. And they seem like they can survive until they are eaten by something so they won't foul the tank. Your feeder looks really nice and your fish seem to love it. But I'm actually a lazy supermodel and I don't want to fill / refill / clean this thing out if I don't need to. Ok, I'm not actually a supermodel, but my guy thinks I am so that's good enough for me. But I am lazy. and dumping a bunch of newly hatched brine into the tank every couple of days seems a lot easier. So why the feeder?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

the below... will direct Paul here

@Paul B

 

[DaveK]

You use a feeder like PaulB does because it provides a constant supply of live food. It may be the same amount of live food, but it's supplied in small amounts over time. If you dump it in all at once, your filtration system will suck up a lot of the food and killing it in the process. Obviously this will really lower water quality.

 

[Paul B]

I love answering questions from lazy Supermodels. Don't worry if you are not really a Supermodel, most females are Supermodels to me as it is not only a matter of looks. Any girl with a salt tank is a Supermodel in my book. Your question is an easy one. Mandarins are also lazy and only eat on the bottom. They don't go up to the surface unless they want to text a Supermodel mandarin. Their mouth is facing down because hey only eat on the bottom. Brine shrimp on the other hand are very vain animals and are drawn to the light as they like to see their reflection at the surface. As soon as you add them to the tank, they head towards the light. That is also the basis of my shrimp hatchery and shell separator. So the shrimp are at the surface and the mandarins are on the bottom. Can you see the problem? The mandarin feeder I designed has a mesh top and the shrimp try to head to the surface but they get slowed up by the mesh. The mandarin, knowing this, lays on top of the thing and sucks out the shrimp all day. I hope that answers your question
Here is a video of the mandarin eating with some friends.

 

[spiraling]

I love that madarins are as lazy as lazy supermodels like me! Makes me love them all the more.
Thanks Paul, that answered the question completely and logically. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I never really thought about the feeding zone of the predator and the escape zone of the prey before.

 

[Paul B]

You need to think about those feeding zones. Supermodels are easier to feed as you only need to spray some chicken soup into their face once or twice a day

 

[Coraljunkie]

LMAO

 

[Mayja]

Any girl with a salt tank is a Supermodel in my book.

Paul B called me a supermodel.
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