Mandarin! Mandarin!

[Guitarmasta37]

Okay so I'm thinking about adding a Mandarin Goby to my 30 gallon. I've done tons of research on the topic, and I know that might be sorta risky, but I still think it's worth looking into.
I have a 30 gallon with about 50 pounds of live rock (it's pretty much maxed out) and i'm planning on putting in a 5-10 gallon fuge. Once the fuge is up and running for two or three months, hopefully it would be alright to add the fish. I'd probably end up having to take pods straight out of the fuge for feeding, but I think that would be doable. I've read some success stories and some failure stories. So i'm thinking it's kind of hit and miss
Has anyone had any experience keeping a mandarin in a 30 gal or something close to that? Any thoughts, comments, tips, suggestions, ect. would be greatly appreciated! I'm just wondering whether there would be enough pods to support a single mandarin with all that live rock in addition to the fuge.

Thanks!

[ludnix]

It might be enough, are there any other fish in they system?

You will not be able to see the copepods in the refuge for manual removal, the only way to get them out would be to shake the chaeto out in the display and hope some got out. Mandarins do not usually go for the larger visible amphipods.

[outy]

feeding or tank size was never a issue with mine and long term success.

mine all carpet surfed themselves to death, my new tank is jump proof

[d0ughb0y]

just isolate it first and feed it live brine first, then mix then later substitute frozen brine and frozen mysis. once its on frozen food, release to display. that's what I did for my green/spotted mandarin, which I read are easier to feed frozen food than the blue ones. mine ate frozen since day 1 I took it home.

[tinnghe]

Get a tank bred one from Ora. They gurantee that their fish will eat frozen.

[jfingers8]

i have had one in my 34 solana for 3 years. i do have a lot of rubble rock in the back for a pod breeding ground. i would def let you tank get established for a year and a fuge of at least 6 months. i would only do it if i was you if it was eating mysis. i have a spotted mandarin. i don't think he would survive though if he didn't eat frozen. i think eating frozen is the key. he could not survive on eating brine shrimp either as there is no nutritional value in it. good luck!

[Guitarmasta37]

just isolate it first and feed it live brine first, then mix then later substitute frozen brine and frozen mysis. once its on frozen food, release to display. that's what I did for my green/spotted mandarin, which I read are easier to feed frozen food than the blue ones. mine ate frozen since day 1 I took it home.

How would I get it to eat frozen mysis and brine? I've heard it's extremely difficult to get them to do that. Any tips?

Get a tank bred one from Ora. They gurantee that their fish will eat frozen.

I already looked into that, and I couldn't find them on the site! Are they still available?


Thanks for all the input, guys!

[ludnix]

ORA still needs to work on their tank bred mandarins, frankly they are harder to get to eat than the wild caught ones.

I have two of ORA's tank bred targets with my wild caught psychedelic and they refuse to eat pretty much anything other than absolutely tiny fish roe and do not eat copepods so they are much more dependant on you. I would really like the tank bred specimens to do well, but they are not advisable just yet until ORA starts training them better or more is known about training them at home.

[Guitarmasta37]

ah dang, that's disappointing to hear. I was hoping they'd just be a whole ton easier to care for. how long ago did you get yours?

[corbett_n]

I failed with the same setup

[d0ughb0y]

Originally Posted by Guitarmasta37

How would I get it to eat frozen mysis and brine? I've heard it's extremely difficult to get them to do that. Any tips?

each fish may be different, but as I mentioned, the one I got ate frozen brine and mysis right away when I got it home, so it was not difficult for me at all, likewise, I read the same from other people's experience. The key is to isolate it first. tip is already what I mentioned. it should eat live brine right away, then switch it to frozen brine on the next feeding. I use the hikari mysis, the PE mysis is too big for the mandarin. you can ask the LFS what they feed the mandarin at the store and ask them to show you that it is eating, then start feeding with the same food. if the lfs says it eats only pods, then you may want to check out other lfs. the one I got was eating live brine at the store.

[JeF4y]

We had our mandarin in a 29 for several months, added a sump, he was great, BC29 popped and we moved everything to a 60 cube.

Moral of my story, yes, it can be done. Ours ate Rods frozen foods.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by corbett_n

I failed with the same setup

Same here. I ended up giving it to someone with a 90g tank where it grew fat and happy.

[Dave VG]

Hit and miss IMO. Alot easier to keep if you have a fuge with lots of rubble and cheato for the pods. Don't worry about the fish worry more about the pod population. If that is good no worries

[jmoney]

ive heard that most of them will eat rods original food blend

[JeF4y]

Originally Posted by jmoney

ive heard that most of them will eat rods original food blend

After hearing many other success stories we tried Rods and within 2 days our mandarin was eating it like crazy. Now it eats everything from pods to rods to pellets.

The ONE caveat with feeding a mandarin rods is that you WILL be overfeeding the tank. If you're not extremely diligent with carbon, GFO and water changes you will be in algae hell.

[dcombs44]

That's the problem with mandy's in small tanks. If you get them to eat prepared food, you have to feed your tank so heavily that it causes additional problems without spot on husbandry.

It can be done, but they will quickly wipeout the pods if you don't have a very good fuge set up for them to flourish. I did have success with a green mandarin in a 55 gallon with a 29 gallon sump. The tank was over 4 years old when it went in, and it was crawling with pods. I still supplemented by adding pods to the sump now and again, but mine never touched Rod's, cyclopeeze, brine, mysis, or any prepped food.

Just be prepared to give it away if you have to. Don't starve it to death.

[sslak]

I wouldn't expect success. Sure a few people roll the dice and get lucky, but most do not.

[davocean]

The real issue is they have a very high metabolism rate.
A mandarin eats about 1-3 pods per minute, non stop.
Even if they eat prep'd food, it's pretty hard to replicate that.
I personally would not depend on prep'd food as it's sole source, most will just slowly starve out over a long period of time, and alot of people will think they are having success in the meantime.

[Guitarmasta37]

Wow, lots of feedback! Thanks much guys!
I'm very suprised to hear all the success stories. I didn't think there were that many. I'm still debating whether or not to go for it, but this was definitely a huge help. They're such a pretty fish, it's almost hard to pass up if there's any chance of getting it to work. I'm almost thinking of setting up 2 fuges, just in case. If I can get it to eat frozen mysis, it'd be great. The combo of that and pods might make life a little easier haha

just isolate it first and feed it live brine first, then mix then later substitute frozen brine and frozen mysis.

As far as isolation goes, would you suggest setting up like a 5 gallon QT Tank, or would one of those breeder boxes be sufficient?

[Nanz]

Teach it to eat formula 1 small pellets in QT. My Mandarins have been eating pellets for 2 years now. I only feed them once a day and they are so healthy. You don't need to feed them constantly. I was told this exact same thing when I purchased my mandarins.

[Nanz]

Originally Posted by davocean

The real issue is they have a very high metabolism rate.
A mandarin eats about 1-3 pods per minute, non stop.
Even if they eat prep'd food, it's pretty hard to replicate that.
I personally would not depend on prep'd food as it's sole source, most will just slowly starve out over a long period of time, and alot of people will think they are having success in the meantime.

This is not true. Both of my mandarins are fat and healthy from eating formula 1 pellets once/day. They are both almost 3 years old.

[jcolletteiii]

I've just seen the first ORA target mandarins this past weekend here in SoCal - so if you want one already trained onto pellet, they should be widely available soon. They were 70 bucks (YOUCH!), compared with 15 for a much larger wild caught. The ORA mandys were all around 1.25 to 1.5 inches - quite small. Something you might want to look into if you want a mandy that will take pellet right away, and don't have the time or want to take the risk of trying to train one yourself.

[Guitarmasta37]

Teach it to eat formula 1 small pellets in QT. My Mandarins have been eating pellets for 2 years now. I only feed them once a day and they are so healthy. You don't need to feed them constantly. I was told this exact same thing when I purchased my mandarins.

What would be the best method of getting them to eat the pellets? Just QT him and plop the pellets in? Or is there some special trick to it? It almost seems like it's too easy haha

[davocean]

Nanz,
The fact that yours are still alive does not make my statement false.
Most of the exp reefers on here will agree.
I see alot of people fairly new that just don't want to agree w/ this.
Not calling you new, just saying that in your sig it says 75g plus a 30g sump, and the fact yours are eating prep'd food may help aid in your success, but they are probably sustained greatly or mainly by pods.