Think im ready for a mandarin.

[Fishman007]

Ive had my 37 reef up for 7 months, i have 85lbs of live rock and 20lbs of live sand. I run a CPR bak pak skimmer and a canister filter, i was thinking of adding a mandarin goby since i just took out my clowns in my 20. I have thousands of amphipods and am gonna add some copepods in a few days, i have no refugium btw. Do you think the copepods could breed in the cover of the rock? Or would the mandarin eat them all right away? I was thinking of putting in the copepods and then waiting a week or 2 before getting the mandarin so that the copepods have established in the tank. My stock so far is-
Flame angel,valentini puffer, 2 purple fire fish, starry blenny.

Thanks.

 

[huma-huma]

its hit or miss with mandarins. onyl thing i can say is be prepared to dedicate a LOT of time to getting your mandarin to eat if theres not enough pods in the tank. i have to target feed mine everyday (sometimes twice) and thats slowly bringing him back from the edge of starvation. the crazy part is that they dont die insantly or even within a few days. some of them go 2-3 months while they wither away to nothing. if you were going to get one, atleast try to pick one that goes after prepared foods (or atleast shows interest)

 

[Fishman007]

its hit or miss with mandarins. onyl thing i can say is be prepared to dedicate a LOT of time to getting your mandarin to eat if theres not enough pods in the tank. i have to target feed mine everyday (sometimes twice) and thats slowly bringing him back from the edge of starvation. the crazy part is that they dont die insantly or even within a few days. some of them go 2-3 months while they wither away to nothing. if you were going to get one, atleast try to pick one that goes after prepared foods (or atleast shows interest)

Alright i will try, my lfs has a bunch so i see which ones eat prepared and which ones dont

 

[Gregcoyote]

I would read some of the techniques used to try to wean them to prepared foods. They can wipe out your existing pod population in a few days. Your good news is that none of your other fish should pose a competition problem.

I love dragonettes but have had miserable long term luck with them. Partly because I have wrasses in the main reef that outcompete the mandarins and my biggest frag tank is but 60 gallons and can't come close to producing enough pods.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Also, just because it may eat prepared food now, will not guarantee it will always eat prepared food( speaking from experience)... Good luck.

 

[Fishman007]

I would read some of the techniques used to try to wean them to prepared foods. They can wipe out your existing pod population in a few days. Your good news is that none of your other fish should pose a competition problem.

I love dragonettes but have had miserable long term luck with them. Partly because I have wrasses in the main reef that outcompete the mandarins and my biggest frag tank is but 60 gallons and can't come close to producing enough pods.

Geez, if greg cant do it im sure i wont be able! Might just wait for it until i get my 60 cube ready because theres space for a fuge in the sump.

 

[Gregcoyote]

My son has a fat year old one in a 40 gallon, there are obvious variables to keeping them.

 

[Sniperhank]

I have a small green mandarin in my 55 reef. It developed a taste for mysis out of the blue and actually swims after pieces like the rest of the fish in the tank. Though this is the case, I still feed pods into my tank to keep him fat, as he can't graze for mysis all day long he has to eat something. Even when they eat frozen foods, they still keep grazing. That is the important thing to understand about these fish. It is doable...though I do enjoy him it is also one of the fish I would think twice before trying again. Pods can be expensive if you don't cultivate them yourself...something I could save money up to buy a piece of coral or a different fish.

 

[bettaowner]

All the fish you have now are active feeders so target feeding can be difficult.

 

[huma-huma]

All the fish you have now are active feeders so target feeding can be difficult.

It's not difficult at all. Just feed the other fish first, then target feed the mandarin

 

[Fishman007]

It's not difficult at all. Just feed the other fish first, then target feed the mandarin

Dont think thats possible lol, they would kill it for the food! So i will justnget one in the 60 as it will have a 6g fuge in the sump

 

[huma-huma]

Mine aren't shy at all about getting close or even touching the mandarin when there's food involved, but they never actually attack him. And I even had a puffer (Valentini) and trigger (niger) in there. Not saying you are wrong by any means, just think it's easy (Atleast for me)

 

[Fishman007]

Mine aren't shy at all about getting close or even touching the mandarin when there's food involved, but they never actually attack him. And I even had a puffer (Valentini) and trigger (niger) in there. Not saying you are wrong by any means, just think it's easy (Atleast for me)

Oh, ive observed that my 5" starry blenny will fight eveyone in the tank for food. He only eats frozen so it would be hard to get him away from the food for the mandarin as he isnt a bit scared of me or a net...

 

[Reeffanman]

There aren't many fish that will mess with a mandarins. Mandarin fish secrete mucous which might act to repel predators. The intense coloration also might play a role in avoiding predation by signalling to potential predators that they are toxic (Sadovy et al. 2005). Early development could possibly be an adaptive strategy to reduce the risk of predation (Sadovy et al, 2001). There is no available information on specific predators of the species.

 

[Gregcoyote]

There aren't many fish that will mess with a mandarins. Mandarin fish secrete mucous which might act to repel predators. The intense coloration also might play a role in avoiding predation by signalling to potential predators that they are toxic (Sadovy et al. 2005). Early development could possibly be an adaptive strategy to reduce the risk of predation (Sadovy et al, 2001). There is no available information on specific predators of the species.

Agreed. Sane fish won't mess with them. But the problem is they are very slow meticulous eaters. Any wrasse can out eat them and strip the reef of pods before they get them.

 

[seiz]

Have had a green spotted for a couple months. No pods. Started eating brine shrimp. Happy lil fish. Have fun! Dont stress.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Two months?