well if it is in fact eating prepared foods, that is more valuable to many people.
is it worth twice the price?? thats for you to answer, is it worth it to you?
while it doesn't guarantee results, it can increase odds. you have to remember that mandarins are still slow methodical eaters, and even if they eat prepared foods, they have to get the chance to eat them before other fish eat it all. so it may eat frozen food, but could still starve because other fish eat all the food before they can get to it.
you can use a mandarin dinner like Marc did here
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html
