What is necessary for an "established" tank - Opinions?

[Autumnsky]

Looking for general information on the subject (curious of opinions) and also some specifics for my quest.

If I have a set-up that has been running for years now but been upgraded and downgraded several times, is it really basically 3 1/2+ years old?

Or is every time you change the glass tank and add or subtract live rock and sand, mean it is a "new" tank... and the clock starts over?

Or just until you make sure there aren't any transfer issues?

What is the average time needed to make an established tank say from LR and LS from scratch?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the future I am wanting to try the "Captive Raised" Mandarin Gobies and need a 40G minimum "Established" tank per the breeders. Since I want the little guys to be happy and content eating their pellets, and live and frozen foods stuff, I need to do what I can to make sure they can be sustained adequately.

In addition to living about 15 minutes from the pods supply company, I want to have my own too, and have a pod/macroalgae tank well breeding pod population presently.

 

[Sniperhank]

Mature in this case will be a large population of pods that is reproducing large amounts of pods to keep the mandarins fed.

 

[Brookster123]

Imo.. if you're willing to supplement the population weekly and have decently established colony?? Think of the utter trash pile they may end up in? Get them those tank raised specimen are something.

 

[Sniperhank]

Even tank raised mandarins that will eat frozen foods can revert to only eating pods, to which they eat hundreds if not thousands a day.
You need exactly what you said. A 'garbage pile' of rock rubble in a safe place for them to breed. Usually in a sump, but they need to be reproducing on such a high level that tons of pods make their way into the display.

 

[Autumnsky]

The seller related that the past purchasers of the CB Mandarins they had sold, found that the fish ate all pellets, frozen and pods.

I figure the pods are like treats in that they would be preferred. The CB M probably need the constant food source of eating all day long. Maybe that is the biggest reason they often do not last that long in tanks.

Really looking for a balance in how to keep these guys. I can buy pods every week.
I can have a big rubble rock pile too.

But this information is in hopes of getting a real space for the CB M to call home and do well.

At some point I will add a thread for what one might need for a off the charts pod breeding sump.