Advice on caring for Mandarin fish

[Sam]

Soliciting advice from all keepers of this beautiful fish. I am considering adding this to my 1 year+ old 135G reef tank. But with everything I have been reading, I want to solicit some experiences on acquiring and caring for this fish. How have others dealt with QT issues given the nutritional requirements? Appreciate as much information as you can supply. Thanks

 

[Corty]

Haven't owned one, but they munch copepods mostly (at all?) right? Should be pretty easy to scoop some out of your main tank and put them in the QT.. it's just the other way around you need to be worried about.

 

[Sam]

Well I plan to use tank water for the QT. I just wonder what other strategies others may have used for this. Thanks

 

[malkore]

A guy in my area has been able to get his green mandarins to eat mysis shrimp. Don't know how he did it...but it is possible.

But I don't have an old enough, or large enough tank for them, so I can't comment otherwise.

 

[RocketSeason]

Thanks for being so careful Sam. The Mandarin is a fish that should be rare and hard to find. Unfortunatly every fish store has at least 2 for sale at any given time. 98% of them die from starvation. Your concern is refreshing.

As far as how to care for them, I have no Idea. It sounds like it should be fine in your main tank as long as you have lots of live rock and a large copopod population. Feeding in QT may be a bit difficult.

 

[quarryshark]

Its a tough fish. A system with a large pod population is needed. Unlike their cousins the Scooter dragonet, they seem to rarely take to frozen food and many slowly starve.

 

[lando]

100 plus lbs of LR is a good start. The more LR the better. Also, as with all fish, it is important to pick out a very healthy one. Check your filter pads and Lr after dark to see if you have an abundance of pods.

 

[clowninround]

When I put mine into QT, I put some of my LS and I also took out some water in a container and shook some of my live rock into the container. This seemed to suffice for the two weeks he was in there. Had him about a year now. He's so peaceful that you barely know he's in there.

 

[clowninround]

Oh, I didn't explain myself very well lol. I put the water from the container in the QT. And like you, I use my water from the main tank for QT.

 

[lando]

I normally QT all of my new-arrivals, but given the special dietary needs of my mandarin I introduced it directly to the main tank. They are less prone to parasites due to thier think mucus coat. In fact, they may look like they have ich but it is just sand stuck to the slime coat. It has been several months now and no problems.

 

[Sam]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I have about 200Lbs. of LR in the tank and about a 5" LS bed. My tank is one year old so I think it is mature enough to support the Mandarin once it is in there. My concern is with the QT part. I have read differing experiences on different boards on how easy and how hard it is to keep and wanted to poll my fellow aquarists here for their experiences. So again thank you all for your input and I would appreciate any more information/experiences from anyone who has had/have experience in dealing with this species. Thanks

 

[RocketSeason]

I'd go with Lando's suggestion. purchase a healthy looking Mandrin from a shop you know and trust. Do a seriouly long drip aclimation, net 'em, and put him directly in your display tank.

Then cross your fingers and hope no bad guys got in with him.

Do people here recommend a FW dip??? That may be a good idea too.

 

[quarryshark]

Do people here recommend a FW dip??? That may be a good idea too.

I usually don't if one is going to qt, pretty stressful on the animal. If that step is going to be skipped, I would then do a ph and temp adjusted dip.
IMO, I would do at least short stint in a qt. Who know, it may be a good chance to see if he will take to frozen foods.

 

[Sam]

Based on what I have read, I plan to use a FW dip. I use this with all my new additions before I QT them, along with Methylene Blue. I may just try to FW dip/QT first and if I have difficulty getting it to eat, do a transfer to the main tank. How does that sound?

 

[quarryshark]

Sound like a very good plan, good luck to you. It looks like your system will be super for this fish, just need to get him in there clean.

 

[Sam]

Thanks Kurt and to all others. Appreciate the brainstorming.

 

[seaham358]

I just added mine right to the tank after a drip with Methylene Blue, IMO this stuff is great. I have never seen or heard of a mandarin with ick so I was not worried about it. I wanted the fish to get right in for some food, no telling how long he was w/out at the LFS. I also added a 15 gal fuge for some extra pod population. She has been hovering around the tank for a long time now....... (knock on wood)

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I have had mine for about a month now and it's doing great. I didn't qt mine neither-like Lando sais they aren't very prone to parasites. He is the coolest 8)

 

[mjr0315]

I have a 75 gallon reef aquarium with lots of live rock and different corals. My green mandarin has survived for about 3-4 years now when other fish have come and gone. It has been a great addition to my tank. I don't feed it anything special. Beginner's luck must have worked for me.