Everything you need to keep a mandarin dragonet fed
Is my tank ready for a mandarin?
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Plan your mandarin's copepod supply
The Feeding Schedule Builder has a mandarin path. Tell it your tank size and where your copepods live, and it works out how often to order, adds a PodHide if you have no refugium, and picks the cheapest pack at today's prices.
Build my feeding planIs my mandarin getting enough to eat?
Choose your starting point
I am thinking about getting a mandarin
The most important work happens before the fish goes in: a mature tank, somewhere for copepods to breed, a population already established, and tank mates that will not eat its food. Use the checklist above, then read these.
My mandarin is struggling
A pinched belly, faded colour or less hunting usually means the tank is not producing enough food. The fix is almost always more copepods, added regularly. Live copepods cannot be stored, so the whole pouch goes in the day it arrives.
I want my mandarin to thrive long-term
Your mandarin is settled and eating. Now the aim is a food supply that looks after itself: copepods breeding in the tank, phytoplankton to keep them breeding, and a culture of your own if you want one.
The live food and kit that keep a mandarin fed
Live Copepods
Live Tigriopus copepods to feed your mandarin and to seed a refugium or PodHide.Pod-Shot
A smaller, ready-to-pour pouch of live copepods for top-ups.Live Zooplankton
Copepods and rotifers in one pouch, for tanks where the corals need feeding too.5 Species Phytoplankton
Keeps the copepods in your tank and refugium breeding. Keep it in the fridge and use within 6 weeks.PodHide
Somewhere safe for copepods to breed inside the tank, when you have no refugium.PodHide Nano
The same copepod shelter, sized for smaller tanks.Copepod Culture Kit
Live copepods, feed, a culture container and my step-by-step guide.Copepod Feed
The live microalgae blend that keeps a home copepod culture breeding.Keeping Mandarins Alive
Feeding Mandarins That Refuse to Die
Refugium design, home copepod culture, phytoplankton, frozen food training and body condition scoring.Complete Mandarin Keeper's Library
Setup, feeding and long-term care in one download.The Right Start
Tank readiness, sourcing, compatibility and the first 30 days.Long-Term Care and Troubleshooting
Disease recognition, the copper problem, breeding and long-term tank management.I have been helping reef keepers feed mandarin dragonets since 2008. The ones whose fish reach year five, six, seven are not doing anything extraordinary. They built the system before the fish went in. They kept the copepod supply consistent. They paid attention. If you are thinking about a mandarin or struggling with one, talk to me. I would rather spend twenty minutes helping you get it right than see another fish lost to a problem I know how to solve.