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Ryan Thompson 
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 Topic: spotted mandarin
Posted: June 12 2006 at 3:19pm |
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ok so i want to take a step up in the fish world and try a mandarin. to be exact a spotted mandarin. my tank is about 14 weeks old and has rock that is well over 2 years old. am i safe to get the mandarin yet? do you guys think my tank has enough food for the mandarin to eat?
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aaaj
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Posted: June 12 2006 at 3:27pm |
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I personally put one in after getting an established tank and waiting about 3-4 month and he's doing well. I went with a spotted mandarin, and got the smallest one I could find. I also watch him really close and will feed live food if I ever see him hovering at all, (hasn't happened for a few months) and I have alot of macro in the sump, and a few sponges floating to help the pods. This has worked for me, but in general it is betting to wait longer. If you can be really dedicated I'm sure you can make it work.
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Amber
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kgwilliams
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Posted: June 12 2006 at 6:35pm |
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I had one for quite a while until my anemone got him. My tank wasn't very old when I got him, but I got lucky because he would eat frozen brine. Most of them will only eat live foods, which makes them harder to keep. If you were willing to feed some type of live food, then I'm sure you could make it work. That's my favorite fish! I'm thinking about getting another one!
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tileman
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Posted: June 12 2006 at 6:45pm |
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You should wait at least 6 months for your tank to establish more before adding a manderin goby
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sukie
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Posted: June 12 2006 at 10:34pm |
I agree w/ tileman! 6mos! I know I want one but some might not
eat frozen goods like kgwilliams. Tons of pods!!! I'm waiting for
a year or two before I get mine!! 
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ReefBones
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Posted: June 12 2006 at 10:52pm |
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Yup I agree with Sukie ... I am 5 months and counting ... I really really want one .. but I will not add one untill my tank is atleast 1 to 1.5 yours old ....
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Dion Richins
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Posted: June 12 2006 at 11:02pm |
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It is STRONGLY recommended for a minimum of 100G and 1-1.5y old. Most of us have done with smaller tanks but only with the luck of a Mandarin that eats frozen.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 13 2006 at 8:13am |
 kgwilliams wrote:
I had one for quite a while until my anemone got him. My tank wasn't very old when I got him, but I got lucky because he would eat frozen brine.
I'm thinking about getting another one! |
Sorry, but the truth is: That Mandarin was only barely keeping itself alive on frozen brine shrimp. Eventually it declined until it was too weak to care or to get away from one anemone tentacle which dragged it closer until more tentacles latched on and pulled it in. With only one exception, which Adam may tell us about, a healthy fish cannot get captured and eaten by an anemone. Sorry, but you should stay away from Mandarins for that tank.
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Kevin F
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Posted: June 13 2006 at 9:56am |
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IME I think that if you attached a refugium to your system, and
purchased a pod culture for your tank you could add a manderin in a
month or so.
The reason everyon suggests large tanks is so thereis ample room for
the pods to breed without there populations being decimated by the
manderins feeding habits. If you give the pods a place to breed where
they can not be directly effected by the eating manderin, your pod
population will fair much better.
I have kept spotted manderins in tanks ranging from 18 to 75g all with succsess.
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The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly. Albert Einstein
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Gahlenfr
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Posted: June 13 2006 at 11:32am |
Unfortunately Kevin, most people will read your last sentence and say great, I can do that too. I agree with you but how many are going to go to that extent to keep 1 fish? Be patient. Even doing what Kevin suggests takes time.
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: June 13 2006 at 1:30pm |
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yes i have a refugium that has a pretty good pod population but i dont know how good. i might do it i might not. is a scooter blenny ok right now? i have read they are difficult to keep but they also say copperbands are hard to keep. i have kept my copperband now for about 3 weeks. it loves to eat shrimp!
Edited by rtparty - June 13 2006 at 1:31pm
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kgwilliams
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Posted: June 13 2006 at 9:16pm |
Mark- you may be right about the anemone theory. All I know is that he was fat and happy one day, and dead the next. And none of my other fish had any problems. And come to find out I even had a pods in my tank, I just didn't realize it until the mandarin died and the population grew.
Anyways, rtparty, I really like my red scooter blenny! I don't think that they are really that hard to keep, mine eats frozen brine. Just make sure you don't have anything else in your tank that will pick on it. My bicolor psuedochromis gives mine hell, it's really starting to bother "scooter", you can tell he's stressed. That's one fish I will never suggest. . . psuedochromis. They are bullys!
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75gal reef /sump/ref 150MH 2 96w CF
Perhaps I would be better at basket weaving. . . at least it would be cheaper!
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 13 2006 at 10:43pm |
The Scooter Blenny and the Mandarin have almost exactly the same eating habits. It would cause starvation to place both in a single tank without ensuring sufficient small bugs for their nutritional needs.
That Pseudochromis is a bully partly because of it's nature, but perhaps even more so because it is competing for the same food as the Scooter Blenny.
Edited by Mark Peterson - June 13 2006 at 10:44pm
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: June 14 2006 at 1:42pm |
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well i wont get both. i will either get a scooter or a mandarin. which one will have the better chance in my tank?
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sukie
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Posted: June 14 2006 at 2:20pm |
My best-est most honest advice is wait on either. . . . but if you want
to speed up the process I think you can buy more pods and put them in
your refugium and wait a couple months. If you got a huge number
then get one.
Or just wait 6mos-1yr and get one then.
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: June 22 2006 at 3:55pm |
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ok so i got the scooter blenny. so far he is doing good. he has been in for one day so you cant tell anything really right now. i see him grazing on the rocks. i just hope it eats shrimp now that he has been moved. thanks for all your advice
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