mandarin... 10 gallon?

just making sure, but a 10 gallon is way too small for a mandarin, right? because I'm planning on putting 1 or 2 in a 50 gallon, with other fish of course, but thought it would really cool to have one in a 10 gallon (BTW, I know that you have to feed them a lot of copepods and amphipods, and I could keep them somewhere else as well as keep a pod pile in the tank

if you're prepared to feed it live foods like a seahorse would be offered (see link below) then you could probably even go smaller (remember they do grow larger).

now that's a bit radical statement for the Beg. Forum but you did ask the question. (and i will probably get flamed)

the mandarin's easier imo as you do not have to hand-feed them. the advantage of the mandarin over a seahorse is that the mandarin is a better hunter. slightly better hunter. (e.g. a koala bear compared with a sloth) just let the pods loose and the mandarin will eventually hunt them down.

seahorse.org's live foods listings are very good. don't misunderstand me, it will be very expensive (and exhausting?) to feed the mandarin versus having a mature and sufficiently large enough LR system to 'self-feed' it. (i.e. BIG tank with mature LR)

note: any amount of 'pods' you purchase or generate in a typical <40g will be decimated by the mandarin in a short time. they are voracious feeders and will stuff themselves to the gills. a healthy mandarin actually looks quite fat imo, not like the skinny little guys usually seen on sale. so the live foods/cultivation will need to be continuous (not for the lazy or uncommitted). good luck!

ditto what he said.

Consider a gravity fed refugium too. Something where a PH pumps water into the refug, and it free flows back to the main display. Make a 20g refugium a breeding ground for pods (ie macros, lr, ls...). Let it mature for several months (3-6) to let pod population build. Since the mandarin doesn't have access to the refugium pods are bound do reproduce and fall back into the main system regularly...providing food for it.

note: I've never done this personally. My old boss at an LFS brought up the idea and I played around with it (theoretically). I don't see why it wouldn't work, I'm just not positive on how big a refuge you would need (20g is a guess). I love mandarins too and really would like to do something like this for one, but more importantly I want it to do well.

Also...2 mandarins in a 50g...I'd say no to that one. Keep in mind though, you really cant have anything else that it going to eat pods if you have a mandarine in there already. any other competition for food will decimate your pod populations

If they are not a mated pair they will fight to the death.. X)

yeah, maybe if you had a 100 gallon tank you could support 2. i wouldn't even try one in my 55 because i think it's too small. they're decieving because they may seem to be doing good, but it's very difficult to keep one along long term, since you have to have enough pods to keep reproducing, even though the mandarin is tearing into them.

I am on a budget, so i can't afford a refugium, but do you think it would be possible to just put 2 10 gallon filters on a rubbermaid tub and grow the pods in there, and every once in a while place more in the podpile. also, vetteman, i already knew that, but thanks for the information... if i didn't know any better i might have bought 2 males. anyways, since i would have to let the pod population grow for a few months, do you think a clownfish a mandarinfish would work, or no? if not, how about green chromis?

Originally posted by VicSkimmr

yeah, maybe if you had a 100 gallon tank you could support 2.  

ive seen them fight to the death in a 125

I had a mandrin fish for 6 months in a 30 gallon. I used to buy live brine shrimp every two days. They are always on the look out for food. I think there the cutest little creatures. And was sad to see it go. But will never buy one aqain unless i had better resources for it.

the thing that i am going to try when i get my mandarin is to have a tank just for pod breeding then once or twice a day i would take one piece of lr out of the pod tank and put it in my display tank so the pod population won;t be gone so quickly

i've got 2 mandarins in my 55, they are a mating pair. I've had them since last october. I feed them live brine on a regular basis. I have a 10 Gallon HOB fuge, and a 30 gallon sump/fuge. I replace rock from my tank with my sump every couple weeks, and have multiple pod piles all over my tank... It's duable but be prepared to build your tank around them.. Oh yea and proboly about 100 pounds of live rock in my 55. (not including whats in the sump)

as far as a ten gallon, NO way.. Thats barelly big enough of a tank to support a non-demending fish and corals ect.. NO way would i think of putting a mandarin in there.

before getting the fish... make sure it feeds on prepared food... because some mandrains will feed on frozen... it's really a hit or miss... if not I would not get one... its just too small even with a refuge...

even if it ate frozen foods I wouldn't place it in a 10gallon, you won't be able to feed it enough, those things graze every waking moment.

even if it is possible it'll just be too much work. in the words or chris rock "you can drive a car w/ your feed but that don't make it a good f*****g idea." it's not worth the risk IMO. even with it surviving it probably won't be happy in there. just like tangs in small tanks. it can be done but not done right.

Hey mandarin flamers! Haha, I must state AGAIN that I had my mandarin in my old 29 gal. There were plenty of other fish and it was a rather juvenile tank. I got him before checking on their requirements, so in a last ditch effort, I bought some blood worms and tried to feed them to him. He wouldn't touch them if I put them near him, but if I let the cube fall down to the bottom, he ate a ton of them. He's still alive today with my ex who has no idea about anything saltwater, but got the tank when I moved and it couldn't come with. It is possible to keep them in a small setting if, like tinyreef said, you treat it as a seahorse... For a noob, that's quite a task... But it is doable.

*Crawls under a rock 2 hide*

Originally posted by Kogut

Hey mandarin flamers! Haha, I must state AGAIN that I had my mandarin in my old 29 gal. There were plenty of other fish and it was a rather juvenile tank. I got him before checking on their requirements, so in a last ditch effort, I bought some blood worms and tried to feed them to him. He wouldn't touch them if I put them near him, but if I let the cube fall down to the bottom, he ate a ton of them. He's still alive today with my ex who has no idea about anything saltwater, but got the tank when I moved and it couldn't come with. It is possible to keep them in a small setting if, like tinyreef said, you treat it as a seahorse... For a noob, that's quite a task... But it is doable.

 

*Crawls under a rock 2 hide*

1 alive.. 9999 dead. Your an insperation to us all.

I must state AGAIN "you can drive a car w/ your feed but that don't make it a good f*****g idea."

1, can anybody answer my question about having a clownfish or green chromis in there as well, and 2, even though i am new at this, i think that i could do it with a large refugium, replacing the pods every time the population in the display tank gets low.

the clownfish or the chromis won't matter..but seriouslly.. don't get a manadrin for a 10 gallon.. There are sooo many other better fish, that would be much more suited for that size tank.

Peter - honestly, although it is possible...leave it alone. Don't do it. Not in a 10. Plus, the clown/chromis & mandarin is going to really task the bio filtration. Mainly because, IF by a miracle you get one that eats frozen (you have better chances of getting hit by lighting) the clown will out compete it for food or you'll be WAY overfeeding and ruin the water quality.

I've wanted a mandarin for 5 yrs now and STILL to this day have not gotten one. I'll have one someday when I have the tanks to support it but until then...no mandarins for me.

okay. i took everybodys advice, and didn't get the mandarin. i did, however, set up a 10 gallon nano-reef with a dark green citron goby, a few hermit crabs, 10 pounds of fiji live rock, and a mini might HO Fluorescent and actinic. I have had it set up for about a month, and it is doing great. BTW, this is my first SW tank. I am planning to get some easy corals and maybe one more fish in a few weeks.

good for you, get some experience first... then tackle the difficult species.

yeah. In december I'm going to go all out and set up an 80 gallon reef, let it mature for a year, year and a half, really look into the mandarins, and get one then

Mature for a year and a half.. is a bit much.. I've had a pair in my 55 for a year now.. I didn't let it mature for a year and half! Just setup a fuge and get lots of live rock.. and get your mandarins as small as possible.

really? thats cool