manderin

[dwint]

I have a 75 gallon community tank and was wondering if I could get a mandarin to eat foods

[mr_X]

It's possible but unlikely that a mandarin will eat prepared foods. What other fish are in the tank right now?

[dwint]

bangai cardinal,two clowns,foxface flammin angle and a lawn mower blenny coral banded shrimp

[melosu58]

First of all you'll need to have alot of pods and to have that you'll need a bunch of live rock. I always try to tell people to make sure you see it eat first but with those that is no guarantee it will eat when it gets home.

[dwint]

that sucks,i think they are the best looking fish out there,but im not going to chance it just because I like them.thanks

[Gregcoyote]

That's a very intelligent statement. I love them enough not to want to kill one. I wish more folks were like you. With diligence, they can be kept alive. But it isn't easy and any lapse on your part can be a death sentence. Some systems support them fine, many don't. The bottom line is the number of pods you can grow. Even dragonettes that have been weaned on prepared foods, revert to their old live food habits sometimes. There has to be low, or no competition in the reef for the dragonettes as they are very slow eaters. Just remember, one Mandarine can wipe out a big pod population in days.

[Sniperhank]

Mine is an odd and out of place experience. My green mandarin ate pods that I replenished constantly. Several months ago, he began swimming after mysis when I fed the tank and ate them like the rest of the fish. This is highly abnormal and many that have got their mandarin to eat prepared foods do so with a feeding station. Like already stated, he is very slow and can easily have the food swiped out from infront of him by faster fish...and normally does. With this being said, he still consumes pods quickly. I do regret trying to keep one, in all honesty. Great fish, but more money than I'd want to put into a fish at this time.

[Gregcoyote]

It really is a mixed experience. My guess is that about 5% (my son included) can keep them without much effort. The rest of us (me) have failed over and over to the point I can't recommend them to anyone.

[epaz]

I have an odd experience with a mandarin as well. I bought a fully established tank on sunday that came with a mandarin. Don't get me wrong its a gorgeous tank with probably 50-60 lbs of rock but he only had an oversized skimmer and 2 power heads with foam filters for filtration no sump/refugium with which to grow pods out. I see him pick at rocks and the substrate all day and he appears really healthy I just don't see where there is a large pod population for him. In my 125 my fuge is teeming with pods so I don't know really what he's living on in my 75.