To Mandarin or not to Mandarin

Tough call on the mandarin consuming the flatworms. This seems to somewhat hit and miss. You will likely hear just as many negative results as positive in regards to that question.

Trust me your tank is not ready for a Mandarin.  Not even close.  I really would advise against it.  I think you'd be sad and dissapointed with it.

wait so a 6 line cant be kept with shrimp? i had mine together and no problems. but then the 6 line died. i want another one pretty bad!

thebutler4 wrote: ya know .. I really wish people would tell you they have/had issues with there crap before they sell it to you ... this really pisses me off!!! ... if I had known that there was a flat worm issue I could have done something about it before I put it in my tank ..

Dude you gotta QT everything, even your snails.

Not sure on the manderine flatworm issue, my eats them, but not all do. I'd wait a bit longer before getting a manderine. Even though you have alot of rock, and a refugium, best to give the colonies alot of time to establish themselves. Most manderins will only eat pods so the more the better.

I too have kept a 6 line with peppermints, and cleaner shrimp.

A very, very long time.  Unfortunately most aquariums today are just not well suited for them.  Our live rock is a very pour quality and most people like to have clean rocks with lots of corals.  Just not ideal conditions for a mandarin.  It is like asking how long should you wait before adding seahorses, or before adding a tuna fish.  It isn't really a matter of time as we just don't have the right set up for them.

If you can convince your wife to let you get a tank big enough for tuna fish, then I'll buy you the tuna fish to go in it!

What about a 6 line with  clams? ...

Edited by thebutler4 - May 22 2006 at 12:57pm

O com'on Adam, many of us are keeping maderis and seahorses long term, I even correspond with a guy who raises tuna. He uses net pens off the coast of Australia though.

The setup for Manderins is not complicated IMO. You need to have a well established refugium, a bunch of lr, and a big ol pod population. You can eve order pods online from several places.

I've kept my manderin for years, started in an 18g and has moved several times to be at home in the 65g I now have. The refugium ont hat system produces enough food to feed all of my fish except for the 6 ghosts I put in daily for the seahorse.

If you know the mandarin will eat frozen food then that is a great deal but there is not guarantee.  I got lucky with mine and it eats several different frozen items plus the pods.  Everyones experience is different.  Now flatworms.  You can be upset all you want but stuff like that is bound to happen.  Bruce did not want nudibranchs, no one wanted red bugs etc.  You could have started with only one and that one could have came from a store purchased coral.  Those are the risks.  I have successfully used FW exit without any side effects "that I know of" fish, invertebrates and coral seem fine.   It does take  several treatments and some patience also.

Good choice!