I just got a Mandarin and although I have tons in my tank, I want to add a bit of a buffer while I get my phyto/pods operation going. That dude eats ALL DAY.

try training him to eat pellets and frozen food. It is cheaper and a heck of a lot easier than pods...

I am getting my mandarin to eat frozen prawn eggs and Cylopeeze. He lives in my fuge because he was soo skinny when I moved things over to my new tank. He is the only fish in a 27 refugium filled with live rock, chaeto and pods galore and he still isn't plump so I'm training him to eat other things. I have a small glass jar, on it's side, in the fuge and it's his new feeding station. I put the food in it with a baster and he goes in and eats it. You could try something similar. Mandarins are just not a fish that you should add to your tank unless you have plenty of food and no competition. Mine was fine in my main tank until I added a 6line wrasse then he got skinny.