So i really want to get a mandarin goby. The only thing is that i know they eat things like copepods and that they tend to eat all of them in the aquarium. So my question is that how do i keep the copepods in check so that the goby wouldnt die? 
Mandarin
- Thread starter Mckitrick
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BigRedsReefs10
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What size tank? Do you have a fuge to seed with pods? IMO mandarins need 70lbs of LR to support one and even then you have a better chance if it will eat frozen foods. They should also be kept with docile fish that won't harass it
BigRedsReefs10
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What size tank is this? With those fish a mandarin would not feel very comfortable though. Mandarins are extremely peaceful fish, and those 4 are pretty aggressive
carey
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'd agree, the damsels can be very mean little buggers and the mandarin is a very peaceful, mellow fish. Also very slow moving.
You would have to have ALOT of live rock and a very mature tank to even begin to have enough pods for one.
I bought an ORA special mandarin that supposedly ate only pellets. Got him home and he wouldnt eat. he wiped out every pod in my tank and I had a fuge and a decently mature tank. i managed to get him eating frozen food, though I had to buy like a dozen different kinds and try sometimes 10 times a day to feed him any thing and everything. It took a month of non stop feeding for him to begin to eat frozen. her could have easily died, if it had taken even a few weeks longer he wouldnt have made it. :-(
I had mine for abotu 2 and a half years and he just died a few weeks ago due to a tank move, it stressed him that much.
These fish are probably one of the hardest fish you could hope to keep and the vast majority die of starvation.
Here is a shot of my Mandy, gone but not forgotten......
You would have to have ALOT of live rock and a very mature tank to even begin to have enough pods for one.
I bought an ORA special mandarin that supposedly ate only pellets. Got him home and he wouldnt eat. he wiped out every pod in my tank and I had a fuge and a decently mature tank. i managed to get him eating frozen food, though I had to buy like a dozen different kinds and try sometimes 10 times a day to feed him any thing and everything. It took a month of non stop feeding for him to begin to eat frozen. her could have easily died, if it had taken even a few weeks longer he wouldnt have made it. :-(
I had mine for abotu 2 and a half years and he just died a few weeks ago due to a tank move, it stressed him that much.
These fish are probably one of the hardest fish you could hope to keep and the vast majority die of starvation.
Here is a shot of my Mandy, gone but not forgotten......
