mandarins need a very well established tank of at least a year
another factor is mandarins are a very fragile fish to keep in captivity as they can starve very fast in a closed system .
survival of a mandarin is low in captivity around 10% and that percentage would drop with 3.
they don't do well with any type of parameter swings .
the only known way of having a better chance of one surviving is to be sure it is trained to eat frozen foods along with pellets . and that is not always a sure fire guarantee
3 mandarins in a tank of that size and why it wouldn't work :
1.) mandarins eats around 2500
pods a day times that by 3 that is 7500
pods in one day, mandarins eat constantly . a 36g tank couldn't maintain a stable pod population .
2.) 3 mandarins is a iffy issue , weather its 2 females to 1 male or vise versa the 2 odd balls will fight till death . and you still have the issue of a good stable food source .
buying
pods on a daily basis is a very expensive option ,
3.) mandarins need a very well established tank with a pristine water quality . established tank means of at-least 1 year they don't do well with any type of big parameter changes.
4.) with the average amount of food a mandarin consumes your tank wouldn't be able to keep up a good population of
pods as they could not reproduce fast enough. another factor is some of the other fish you have on your list will also consume
pods . so that's another thing to take into consideration .
this article should give you a better understanding of what I'm saying
...I'd like to buy a Mandarin! | Melev's Reef, Inc
over all your stock list with both options is over stocked
you could get by with 1 dwarf angel at most but that is pushing it.
long nose hawk fish would work
cardinal would work but do better in pairs
clowns will work so long as they are the smaller ones that don't grow large
flame hawk would work
Just so your aware:
damsels are very nasty fish and you wouldn't really be happy with them anyway .
the domino damsels do get big I have one almost 6 inch in size and aggressive.
the yellow tails will stay on the small side but can be very aggressive. they do better in bigger tanks
nothing said was to deter you from your choices , it's just to give you a better view of what you will encounter .
we want you have the best success you can ,
look forward to seeing your progress as your tank evolves
this was my stock list I had in my 37g bow front
- 2 bangii cardinal
- 1 pj cardinal
- 1 Clarkie clown
- 1 mandarin survival was about 8 months
- 1 lawn mower
- 1 engineer Gobi
- 1 orange fire fish
these fish were transferred to a bigger tank as I progressed in the hobby and as they grew.
I did have a few damsels but they were removed almost immediately because they picked on everyone in the tank very mean aggressive fish ,
36 Gallon Saltwater Bowfront Stock options
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