I have a small YWG, I was wanting to add a mandarin in about a month. Anyone had success keeping these 2 together?

I have a spotted mandarin and YWG together now for a few months with no problems....as long as you can keep your mandarin properly fed you are good to go!

+1 on keeping the mandarin fed. Are you going to supplement pods? Train it to eat frozen?

thats what i was thinking of doing i have a small ywg hes always in the back never see him and i have a lawnmowwer blennie that eats of the back wall all day and i want to get a madrian friday i have tons i mean tons of pods so i should be good ? do the mandrians eat of the sand and then sift it out im not sure and was just wondering cause thats what my ywg does thx's and good luck with your ywg there a blast but i never see mine i was pissed

wtf did you just try to say?

Let me attempt to answer:

No one cares how many pods you have. A mandarin will decimate your pod population in a matter of HOURS. If you do not have a 75g tank or larger, either plan to supplement live pods, or plan to train the fish to eat frozen food. Type Mandarin in the search feature and do some research - they are not beginner fish. My recommendation is to just forget about them and maybe get one in a year or two when you've been in the hobby longer and have learned a few things about the fish you want to keep. Do not get one on Friday. You will most likely kill it in less than 6 months, if not 6 weeks.

And no, they don't sift sand like some gobies do.

Here, I'll do it for you. Read lgreen's thread.

http://www.nano-reef.com/search/q.php?cx=p...&sa=Go#1018

i have had plenty of madrians in my life never ever had a problem there easy i think and they have never eaten all my pods before i just wanted to knoe if anuone had them with a ywg so you can chill out..lol try to make this all scary to keep there easy as long as you know what your doing anything is easy as long as you do a good job jesus christ take a pill...lol

what happened to them all? i mean, obviously they lasted a long time because you went through so many.

also, OP, fiddly_foo is wrong. they aren't easy.

i had that combo for a while..the two together had no probs.... but the YWG was a PITA cuz he messed up my sandbed/rockwork!

Im going to get one in about a month for my bday. I have a ton of macro algae in my tank, that is a pod nursery. But I am going to try to get it to eat frozen too. Anyone know of a place that sells them already eating frozen?

pod nursery is nice, but like others say a mandrins main food is pods. they go threw them really fast. i have a non nano tank luckly lol so mine went from not so fat to fat in one week from when i bought from lfs a while back. next thing i noticed when i feed mysis and a few got stuck on a rock the mandrin also eats frozen so i got lucky on that . just watch out with other bottom dwelling fish, mandrins are nice and peaceful but you dont want something to bother it much on the bottom.

What size tanks were these? Did they or did they not have populated refugiums? Did you train them to accept frozen food? Who told you that dragonets were sand sifters? How long did your 'plenty of madrians' last under your prescribed conditions? Not trying to be mean but I feel these are legitimate questions if you believe you have been successful with these animals and are asking advice for a second shot.

I woll post pics of my 4 tanks all that have mandrians in them ans the tanks are all years old and the originally mandrians are in them and all the tanks are under 24 gal. i never had a problem with them i just have alot of lr and feed pods once a month dint see the problem as long as you foloow these rules if you cant foloow 3 steps then your an idiot and dont deserve to be in an hobby execpt throwing handgrenades.......

This thread needs some of these (and spell check):

.........,,,,,,,;;;;;;;

Like others have said, the mandarin should have a safe food supply before adding a goby, which will also eat pods.

fiddly_foo: How can you ask, "do the mandrians eat of the sand and then sift it out im not sure" if you've so successfully kept mandarins for years in nano tanks?

fiddly_foo,
If you have kept "mandrians" before, why would you ask if they sift sand? And if the "originally mandrians" are eating pods in a 24g, the population would be eliminated in a couple weeks. Their metabolism is so high that they require an immense copepod population to sustain such energy requirements, hundreds a day. So, if you feed once a month, do you feed with tens of thousands of pods? If so, what type? Where from? Do you have a refugium to support any kind of copepod/amphipod proliferation? How long have the M-A-N-D-A-R-I-N-S been in there? You cannot really say you have success in mandarin husbandry until the 6 month mark. It can take up to 6 months for them to starve provided they are healthy upon introduction into the tank. Tank age doesn't matter in this respect if the tank parameters are stable, adequate LR is provided, and there is a pod population. Also, what 3 steps? What rules. The "steps" or "rules" you mentioned are as follows:
"(1) i just have alot of lr and (2)feed pods once a month dint see the problem"
On a side note, if you know where and how I can get into the hand grenade-throwing hobby, please provide details. I'm sure there are many of us that would love to participate in such destruction.

***If people give you advice, heed it or state your case witout insult. There is no need to insult people that are trying to be responsible in the hobby. If the methods you practice "work", then you are truly a success story. Given your stated knowledge in the beginning of this thread, I doubt that is the case. Such ignorance is okay if the person is humble and admits a knowledge deficit, not defiant and condescending. The care of mandarins has long been a point of contention in the reef hobby, mostly because the large majority of hobbyists don't have the proper facilities to adequately care for such a fish. As more people buy and unknowingly condemn these fish to a slow death, more Mandarins are collected from the reefs, depleting the naturally existing stock as happens all too often with other collected species. It is our duty to be responsible aquarist and preserve the natural habitat whenever possible.

what the fuc ever i dont give a #### what any one says i have never had a problem with them i have 4 tanks and all have mandrians in them for over a year and i have a 10 gallon tank that has like 20,000 pods in it and i add them each week and do water changes weekely i have nio problems why is it that hard to belive that some people in this world no what the fuc there doing i dont need help from people like you who think cause they post 1000 of posts there smart but then you go to your tank builds and see all the problems your havving never asked for your help all i did was tell someone they can have a ywg and mandrian together so thats were i leave it never responding to idiotict ?'s and replying to your rediculos arguments I know were i am in reefing and am quite happy with it not having any problems so stuff you and have a nice life

Wow you guys are out for blood.

+1
Masterbuilder

Lol.

WOW

Vs.

----This is one of the few times where I did notice an attempt at punctuation. Usually a "?" implies asking a question and being that a forum is a place for people to share ideas and experiences, it does seem like you're asking for help.




Secondly,

---Didn't you just ask if Mandarins sift sand like the Yellow Watchman Goby? Seems like something someone would notice if they had any experience with a Mandarin.




Next,

---Well then why were you asking if you had the the proper food source for a Mandarin. Supposed years of husbandry would at least clue you in to their eating habits. It's funny you ask the most basic of questions and then proclaim yourself the Mandarin Master by following with this:

---So having a lot of live rock and feeding pods once a month are considered 3 steps? That is beside the point; plenty of people have trouble with Mandarins, even experienced reef aquarists. They are by no means an "easy" fish to care for. They are difficult at best. Just Google "MANDARIN GOBY" and view all the experiences and advice to only undertake such care of this fish if you fully understand and can provide for its requirements. Additionally, if hand grenade throwing is a hobby, where do I sign up?




Finally, when someone posts a logical, informative, and concerned response, you reply with this:

---Pure class this one.




For the most part, the members of this forum are quite knowledgable. This is not because of post count but experience and many man hours spent researching to gain knowledge of reef aquaria. I have very few posts, even less than you. No need to get angry or cuss.....you switched your story, so we asked "idiotict ?'s" to clarify the situation. Our "rediculos arguments" were in concern for the welfare of the animals in question and quite informative I think. So please, spare us of the crude language and false claims. I don't mean to offend you fiddly_foo but you reap what you sew.

You know you sound like a moron, right? Learn to use spell check before you try acting like a tough guy, k? Punctuation helps too.

if you have so many healthy mandarins then post pics of them

+1 Nanobuds

This reminds me of controlsreefer.

we are waiting for the pics

Came here to say this. Carry on.

"." They make people care what you say.

So... aside from everything else, I CAN keep a Mandarin and a ywg together?

Yes, but they will most likely both die.

HAHA. Way to keep it on track

IMO...shouldnt be a problem for most folks. You?????

Dude go ahead and Get the Fish you want
mandarins are easy to take care of 95% of them eat frozen food already

I swear people take this to seriously hahah

get the mandarin!!!


why would the YWG die?

Oh my bad I got it confused with YCG, so just the mandarin will die.

Thats...
APOCALYPTIC.

OP. please dont listen to this guy.

IMO mandarins are nicer but a lot harder to keep Vs YWG.

you tend to say that a lot nate

yeah. cuz its worst than epic. what he said was just.... apocalyptic...
theres no better way to explain it IMO.

lol i agree

And Why would the mandarin die? If I do everything right? Everyone here is so negative.

unless you have a 75 with populated fuge your fish will slowly starve unless weaned onto a captive diet. I guess you could also sink tons of money into buying pods to feed it also. Sorry for the gloom and doom but many inexperienced reefers dive into mandarins because they are such cool fish. Most of those reefers don't do the research needed to know how to keep a mandarin, which causes a great number of mandarin deaths. As a result dragonets in nanos is sometimes a sore subject in the reef community. To be honest, if you have the time to put into it, it isn't too terribly difficult to wean dragonets onto frozen which will greatly increase chances of survival.