Manderine Goby & Spikey Puffers

[nugrad2005]

I have two questions which i thought i would ask at once.

First: Do manderine goby's really need live rock to live? And if so how much do they need?

Second: Would a spikey puffer live with a koran angel, pakistani bufferfly, clowns, damsels, and shrimps?

Any help is appreciated.

-Dan

 

[Guest]

Don't know about the Spikey Puffer, but the Mandarin Goby needs LR to hide and an abundance of Fauna to live...It feeds on the copepods and other critters that we want to keep. So, if your tank is not well conditioned and void of these critters, I would not recommend getting one...

 

[BrianH]

IMHO a mandarin requires a tank with a minimum of 75 lbs of live rock. The LR must also be mature LR, not newly(8 mos. or newer) added base rock. The reason for this is that mandarin's will not eat prepared foods. Their diet in a tank consists of copepods which require an established tank with LR. My minimum recommendation of 75lbs, is my estimate of the amount of LR you need to sustain a viable copepod population. Any less and the mandarin will wipe out the copepod population and then slowly die IMHO.

Brian

 

[loganj]

They also need a DSB as they will feed from it also.

 

[nugrad2005]

DSB is already there.

 

[loganj]

I should have been more specific. They need a DSB that is at least a year old and has a very well established pod and worm population. Along with the well matured LR. Quite often, as Brian H said, these fish starve to death in reef tanks. They are very picky eaters.

 

[ReefRaff]

Would a spikey puffer live with a koran angel,

What size is your tank? Korans can get upwards of ten inches.

 

[skip_16157]

The reason for this is that mandarin's will not eat prepared foods

My mandarin eats frozen foods, mostly brine shrimp. That's what the LFS weened it on. A benefit to buy your fish from your LFS. The same situation with my Fuzzy lion. It eats anything I feed it mostly frozen but it also will eat flakes.

 

[nugrad2005]

The tank is 150 gallons so 10 inches shouldn't be a problem. In fact that would be wonderful. Skip does your tank have LR and the mandarin still eats prepared food or do you have no live rock for it to live off?

-Dan

 

[skip_16157]

I have about 50lbs of live rock and it still eats prepared foods.

 

[HoopsGuru]

My mandarin eats frozen foods, mostly brine shrimp.

Brine shrimp is almost 100% water and is considered "potato chips" of reef food. You can improve this by soaking it in Selcon or something similar. If it takes brine shrimp, have you ever tried Sweetwater Zooplankton? This would be much more nutritious as on the brine alone it is still at risk for starving.

If one cannot add a ton of liverock, another option would be to add a gravity fed refugium to their system. Stock this with macroalgae and you have a perfect copepod farm safe from predators. I would ensure this was very populated before adding the mandarin....and would still not put them in a smaller tank as they feed all day long.

 

[kwtowmaster]

puffers eat shrimp

 

[rthoman]

I have had my mandarin for 4 months, and hes not touched brine or flake yet. But he is constantly nipping at everything in the tank.

 

[USMCTAT2]

I had a mandarin years ago or at least til the great power outage of 95 and he ate brine also he outlived everybody in there til the house got too cold for we to stay and try to save him we were without power for about 12 days 8)

 

[Bill1977]

I have a 55 gallon reef with 70lbs of LR. It has been set up for about 5 months now and I have had a manderin goby for about 3 months and it is doing great.

 

[reefrunner69]

I have a 55 gallon reef with 70lbs of LR. It has been set up for about 5 months now and I have had a manderin goby for about 3 months and it is doing great.

Does your mandarin take prepared foods? Some do. I have been looking for one in the LFS that does for some time, I've seen them in the past, but not now that I'm looking for one

 

[reefer]

I have a 55 gallon marine tank that i keep a clown and a gobi in. I have about 50 pounds or more of live rock in my tank, which my gobi does pick over, however, it readily accepts live brine shrimp. I've watched mine take down twenty little shrimp in a single feeding, but usually stops eating after about ten per feeding. I feed a home made reef food along with live brine shrimp 3 time per day.
Good luck.

 

[kidafius]

Good work, reefer!! If you will look to the left, at my avatar, you will see my pride and joy. He eats brine, blood worms, and veggies as well. All the while constantly picking over the microfauna in my 50-ish pounds of LR. I do not have a deep SB but it does support numerous little critters/worms/copepods. He is probably the best fed fish in my tank (true percula, black percula, dragon gobi, Pajama cardinal). Mine is a psychedelic mandarin, which probably shouldn't make a difference. I would just be careful to not pit him in with some mean fish. I keep a 1.023 Salt, 82 degree environment for him, and I'll swear that he is the healthiest in my tank. Good luck with it, I love mine!!