Do people have success with mandarin fish?

[ser_renely]

good info on this thread.

[Paul B]

I have always found mandarins one of the easiest least maintenance, long lived fish but my tank is old.
A 6 month tank is too new.
You should not have to feed them or do anything as they will find their own food but not in a 6 month old tank, especially if you keep it very clean.

[Paul B]

I love these things

[Zimster]

Do you guys think it is possible to keep a spotted mandarin and regular blue-green mandarin in the same tank without having to worry about them fighting? Granted one would need to have a pretty generous food supply to keep both of them.

[ILoveReefer]

I have a red scooter blenny and a green mandarin that ignore each other. There both dragonets. However on live aquaria's compatibility chart it says with caution. Heres the chart. http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/c...lity_chart.cfm

Maybe someone with a green and a spotted will chime in. I know mandarin's can be aggressive with other Dragonets through reading here on RC. But I don't know how aggressive. Rough housing? To the Death?

Also tank size would be a big concern. I would think at least a 100lbs of live rock and a refugium would be minimum for long term success, providing they do get along.

[ILoveReefer]

Originally posted by Paul B
I love these things

I love the action shot PaulB

[dots]

[sillygoose]

We have had a happy mandarin in a 36g with about 40lbs live rock for close to a year now (no fuge). The tank had been running for about 6 months when we got him. Early on in the process, we seeded pods from our LFS. We added them after lights out, and apparently they boosted the local population because we've never seen the mandarin eat any supplemental food. The bottle of pods was $20 well-spent.

[lilmonster]

Originally posted by dots

That's an Awesome Pic!

[dots]

Thanks, I guess that means this one is a male due to the "stinger"

I think a BB tank goes a long ways to ensuring one of these guys survives. I was lucky enough to find one that eats PE MYSIS shrimp. Having no sand, with the pumps off to allow it to settle, allows the shrimp to "dance" on the bottom and be found easily.

As with any fish, see if it eats before buying. If it isn't healthy when you bring it home, the deck is already "stacked against you".

I have had this one over two years now, and because I am more into my SPS than my fish, probably closer to 3 now that I think of it.

Creating pod rock piles, refugiums, dosing a little phyto to help the copepod population, larger more mature tanks, and don't get in such a flippin hurry to scrape the glass or try to eliminate ALL the algae in the tank. All will go a LONG way to ensuring your long term success.

My biggest point that I want to make here.......I got lucky, this is not the norm with this specie.

Now, Sunburst Anthias........thats a difficult one even more so.

[pammy]

My spotted Mandarin is out all the time....day and night.

Originally posted by gbreynol
I have had one over a year in my 72 gallon. I have 150lb of rock and a fuge so he is well fed. While they are beautiful fish they rarely venture out from behind the rocks in the day. A more active fish might be a better choice.

[calkulon]

Have not seen it mentioned, but folks starting their tanks with dead, dried rock will have no pods. Some can be added from a bottle, but it will only be a small variety. A few pieces of established rock,preferably wild harvested, or a wad of cheato, from different tanks will assure a wider variety of pods, including mysis shrimp. And as mentioned , an area left sort of grungy somewhere in the system will greatly aid in pod production.

[Eashton123]

So if i let a batch of baby brine shrimp go in my tank the mandarin would defiantly get some? Even if I have aggressive eating fish?

Also do I or don't I quarantine a mandarin?

[ser_renely]

can't wait to get one someday.

[Zimster]

i would definately quarantine a manarin just to make sure it is eating properly without the presence of other fish...i quarantined mine for about 2-3 weeks before adding him to the main tank

[Paul B]

So if i let a batch of baby brine shrimp go in my tank the mandarin would defiantly get some? Even if I have aggressive eating fish?

Not exactly. Although mandarins will eat baby brine, these fish normally eat by picking food off rocks and the substrait. Brine shrimp swim and do not lay on or crawl on rocks. The shrimp will be long gone before your mandarin eats two or three. I hatch brine shrimp every day for my many gobies and other small fish but the mandarin usually ignores these as his attention is on the rock. He may eat a couple but those are the ones that happen to swim into his face.
A Mandarin needs pods and he needs them all day. They don't have stomachs like other fish where you could just feed it and that food will energize the fish for the entire day. They eat a pod about every 10 seconds or so and that is the way they need to eat.

[Roy G. Biv]

I think the key to keeping a healthy pod population is by dosing LIVE phytoplankton to your tank.

[Zimster]

yeah and the key is how much and how often....i only feed phyto once or twice a week....with about a teaspoon each...how much does everyone else dose/go through??

[museumguy]

I have a mandarin and a scooter blenny in my 120g tank. 20g sump but no fuge. Have had the mandarin for about 6 months and the scooter blenny for about 3 months, no problems with either, they ignore each other. Pulled out a piece of dying coral yesterday and it was covered in pods so there is enough food for them. The tank has been up and running about a year and a half.

[lilmonster]

Ever since i saw that Awesome pic above, I'm looking for one of those lil'critters.

In fact, I think I'll go shopping for 1 today.

[lastduke]

What the brand of the seeded pods is? also, how often did you supply your tank using this?
It is amazing to keep it alive in 36g, I just bought one for my 29G withough knowing all these requiremnet

Originally posted by sillygoose
We have had a happy mandarin in a 36g with about 40lbs live rock for close to a year now (no fuge). The tank had been running for about 6 months when we got him. Early on in the process, we seeded pods from our LFS. We added them after lights out, and apparently they boosted the local population because we've never seen the mandarin eat any supplemental food. The bottle of pods was $20 well-spent.

[lilmonster]

Thanks for showing how beautiful these fish are,

I finally found one at a LFS,

[lastduke]

great fish, doesn't hide all the time, very peaceful.
Once it starts to eat the fronzen food, it will survive.

[explod3]

i was on another forum and got yelled at for getting a mandarin as a newbie.

I talked to someone that was experienced in keeping mandarins and she told me that they can be trained to eat mysis and even pellet foods. i guess you shoot live brine shrimp at them with a turkey baster then slowly replace with mysis shrimp and they will eat it.

another guy got his to eat pellet foods by keeping his in quarantine before releasing it into the tank and feeding it only pellets.

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Random question:

How do Mandarins do with a pair of clowns and a damsel as tank mates? I am mostly concerned with competition for food, but i feed the damsel/clowns daily at the surface....would this be a possible problem?