Mandarin and Goby compatibility

[ctmedman]

I currently have a Spotted Mandarin in the tank and want to get a sand sifting goby.

Since the Mandarin is a bottom dweller and the sandsifting gobies are bottom dwellers I was wondering if there are any compatibility issues. I was thinking about the Valenciennea species (either strigata or Dragon goby).

 

[TCTFish]

Mandarins only seem to have a problem with their own kind, except the opposite sex. A sand sifter shouldn't pester it especially being the mandarin is already in the tank, so long as the tank is big enough to satisfy their territorial demands.

I find the striatas to be more attractive but the dragon gobies do seem more hardier. I think the dragon goby has a more bulkier build and may compete more for food and space.

 

[tmkx3]

I was wondering about the same thing. I want to put these two together also but I have a friend og mine that had a mandrin amd he starved to death because he only eats microfauna. Will these 2 compete for the fauna? Do Gobies eat prepared food? Sorry, I jumped yout tread but you proably want to know this too

 

[TCTFish]

I doubt there was much food competition between the two. Mandarins and other dragonettes have pointy mouths to fit in crevices and tiny places, where pods are more likely to be. Sand sifting gobies have big mouths for scooping up substrate. These gobies are not equipt to take food from where the dragonettes can. Sand sifters eat whatever food is in the substrate. They don't 'hunt' per say like the dragonettes for anything specific. Any competition between these two types of fish are more territorial in small tanks.

 

[TCTFish]

Oh and as far as I know, the mandarin dragonettes are the only ones I know of that are that demanding in their food. Scooter blennies, mother blennies, and other dragonettes are more likely to take thawed out frozen brine. You MIGHT get a mandarin to eat live brine. I've seen it, but very few and far between. Worse than seahorses when it comes to food.

 

[ctmedman]

Thanks for the posts so far. Luckily, my mandarin not only takes frozen brine shrimp but he also eats frozen mysis shrimp. I soak the frozen brine and mysis shrimp in garlic, selcon, cyclopeeze, and zooplankton. He loves it. One guy I spoke to mentioned using live blackworms or bloodworms as food and then slowly mixing in frozen bloodworms/blackworms to get him to switch over.

I'm not too worried about the food competition but more about the territorial competition and also from the fact that dragonettes are somewhat related to the goby family.

Does anyone else have any opinions on which sandsifter may be better in this situation?

 

[Gatorfreak]

I have a spotted Mandarin as well. IME, he is oblivious to what any other fish has to say about territories or anything else for that matter. He just ignores all forms of aggression. Also, most gobies are really passive (my two are).