feeding green mandarin with baby artemia

[corallover]

i have a green mandarin in my 3x2x2 aquarium.. but since bought him, i didnt see he eat at live rock... he just stay behind the rock near the glass. so i thought i need to feed him with baby artemia..
the problem is i dun know how to feed with live baby artemia in that big aquarium...actually not so big haha..
do i need to switch off the water pump n wave maker?
what about my other fish? is they will catch the artemia first nonstop or they doesnt eat that artemia?
im so worry about that.. im afraid my green mandarin will die coming soon. but by now he still look ok.. just need to make a first step before he die..

someone please help me!!!!

 

[Lorna]

hmmmmm shades of crackerman/sunnymittu

first, mandarins eat copepods and you should buy bottled ones to supplement your tank especially at tank that small. You don't say what else is in the tank, this is important as other fish may be competing for the food. Mandarins are very hard to keep in small tanks as you can't provide enough natural food for them and you will need to supplement them with bought pods. Artemia are brine shrimp and don't have sufficient nutrient value to maintain the mandarin long term even if you gut load them first.