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Great ! Thanks for the info. Can't wait for the podcast.

It comes out on the 10th. Thanks for asking.

SPS corals vary in response - most tend to really open up after the lights turn off and the fish go to sleep, as they don't need to worry about being nipped at. As they settle in, and if the water parameters are stable, you'll see polyps in the daytime as well. With your pumps you should have plenty of flow.

Generally speaking, the best choice is usually to put the corals low in the tank at first, then after a week or so, bring them up higher, and a week later to their final position. That way they get acclimated to your lighting. If you own a PAR meter, you can eliminate some of the guesswork, like if you bought some that are doing well at the LFS -- measure the lighting level, then find a matching spot in your system. Same for getting corals from a local hobbyist.

just as everyone said they are very hard to keep, my first one died in 2 weeks, i waited and found one at a lfs, the fish had been there a month and was fat so a very healthy fish to begin with, after 2 weeks of dropping the tiny formula one pellets on his head and in corner of tank where he only went i had him eating the pellets. ive seen a couple articles where people put jars,with an opening big enough for mandarin, with tiny food such as pellets to train them to eat. another food you can try that ive read mandarins love and so does mine is nutramars ova,i just squirt it on the rocks the fish is by(all pumps off) and he picks at it. good luck
http://www.marinedepot.com/Nutramar_...FZFSFP-vi.html

Copepods are tiny tiny dots. Almost invisible to the eye, compared to many other pods we see scurrying about. http://www.melevsreef.com/id/pods.html

Adding phytoplankton to the system will fed the pods so that they may thrive and make more of themselves, providing an ongoing meal for your reeflings. As Austin suggested, you may have gotten one that was already too thin, or something else led to its demise. I've got a beautiful female Psychedelic in my reef, and she's been with me 5 years this November. When I added a healthy male that was given to my by a local club member, they were quick to find one another and could be observed doing the nightly mating dance. However, within six months he died - seemingly of starvation. She on the other hand was completely fat and happy. I don't know why one made it and the other did not. Perhaps it was an internal parasite.

Originally Posted by Douwant2play

Hmmmmm.....More info please. Didn't know they were doing this.

We posted it in the In The News Category about a month ago:
http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...prepared-foods

My lfs said that they should be coming to the stores this summer.

Originally Posted by austin93

You could also just wait a little while longer and get one of the tank raised mandarins from ORA.

Hmmmmm.....More info please. Didn't know they were doing this.

I have a spotted green mandarin that I have had for over 2 years now and it is a fat little toad. I think the key to keeping these types of fish are getting healthy specimen in the first place. The vast majority that I see in the stores are already starving. When you look for specimen to buy, make sure their gut isn't pinched in as this is a sign they are probably already too far gone. You could also just wait a little while longer and get one of the tank raised mandarins from ORA.