i want a mandarin goby......

I want a mandarin goby but im not sure if i can have one in my 10gal. if i cant woudl one be fine a 29gal.? any info on them woudl be great thanks,

and i want "a blonde with #### that taste like vanilla ice cream"

satch? crak? name that movie.

1st of all it's a mandarin dragonet not goby. 2nd this is a MOST difficult creature to raise (not impossible by any means tho).

if you're not reefing now i'd say go as large as you can, tank-wise. read up on the dragonets in general first tho. the red dragonet is actually pretty cool looking imo. i like the splendius-whatever better than the picturatus-paininthebuttcus.

develop your brine shrimp raising skills too. that will help you immensely unless you can get one that will feed on frozen mysids. if so, never feed live to it or it'll get spoiled (brat-wise) X)

i want to vomit now.

I've been thinking about this.

29 Gal with a 20 gal refugium on a two stand rack. Load them with as much live rock as you can. with a good sand base. Let it Mature for a year with good lighting on both. You should have an adequate Pod population to sustain a Mandarin in a 29 gallon. There are also sites online where you can order pods that would help resupply the pod population. Make sure you limit the amount of livestock that would also feed on the pod population.

Originally posted by SoS

There are also sites online where you can order pods that would help resupply the pod population.  Make sure you limit the amount of livestock that would also feed on the pod population.

Those pod kits will only serve enough for a single meal... they're just enough to help get a tank started(without predation), not nearly enough to restock a depleted tank with a mandarin in it.

Save this animal til you can buy a tank that better suits its needs. Anything nano wouldn't be a wise idea.

Or unless your lucky enough to find a madarin that eats prepared foods like brine shrimp. Make sure u ask the lfs to feed it so u can see if it does or not. My uncle got lucky with finding one like this.

Yea, try and find one that eats prepared foods, like mine:) . Brine shrimp isn't enough, needs to eat more than that, so if its eating mysis and some other prepared foods you will have good chances with the fish. Pods are still very good to have in the tank, the mysis and prepared foods being more of a "supplement" rather than the sole form of food. My tank is a 20g btw.

lost mine to a tiny anemone

came home and all I saw was the tail sticking out!

a sad day

I do still have it, but 1 more incident and it's history...

Just curious, but are they similar to care for as a skooter Bleny (draganet)? They appear to eat the same thing, exact same shape, and have the same behavior, except the skooters are more active.

scooters are much more likely to adapt to prepared foods

I wonder if the temporary use of a skooter, as a visual aid for the manderine, would help get him on prepaired foods?

Originally posted by Catspa

I wonder if the temporary use of a skooter, as a visual aid for the manderine, would help get him on prepaired foods?

You'll be adding two fish who are in there fighting for the same food source... your pod population. This won't be good. Especially with the sized tank you're planning.

Please try to rethink your decision and leave this beautiful fish alone until you can properly sustain it in a larger, healthy environment.

hey take it easy ChrisIsBored, I don't have a nano (well my qtank is). Sorry didn't mean to confuse the issue of the post.

Originally posted by Catspa

hey take it easy ChrisIsBored, I don't have a nano (well my qtank is).  Sorry didn't mean to confuse the issue of the post.

Sorry, didn't mean for it to come out sounding harsh.

Just wanted to stress how difficult it is to keep such a fish without first having the proper home for them.

thanks for all the replys...i guess i wont be getting one then anymore information on them would be great

thanks,

Brine shrimp direct sells different sized brine shrimp in egg form. I think the chinese eggs hatch out to exceptionally small naptulii but you should check with them. I agree though that they are not suitable for the only food source over the life time of your fish.

Mandarines are stunning fish and if they weren't so demanding I think most of us would have one.

The need large aquariums 90 gallons+ so a consistant food supply is available. Nano reefs simply do not provide enough space or liverock to house enough pods to keep a mandarin alive long. And many mandarins that do take processed foods usually don't get enough nutrients.

what would be an easy fish that is close in color to a mandarin? somthin for a 10gal. with allot of color..

thanks,

a royal gramma, it ain't close in color but it IS colorful and hardy.

purple firefish are nice too, a bit more sensitive and higher tank like the 29g you were talking about may be better imo.

are they really that difficult to maintain???

Before "the incident" mine WAS doing fine, very mello

eating what i fed the crew (maroon clown, yellow tang, 1blue dvl 1blk/wht damsel 2-anemones a blood shrimp & prple lobster and a gold band/stripe goby who i call bob da builder) mostly morsle flake and basically any of the frozen stuffs...

I guess i was lucky UNTIL... sleepin with the anemone.

again, i am new! 1st yr anniversary and everything has been long hours reading and browsing and *sigh* lots & lots of research... So I thank each and everyone of you Who takes the time to spread the knowledge...thank you Master!

humble grasshopper

It is better to learn from the mistakes of others.

Honestly, how many of you guys have actually tried to keep one? I think you are reacting mostly based on myths and rumors.

However, if you read enough, you will find sources that state that a lot of this is misunderstanding and that it is actually not too difficult if you do things properly.

For example, a Mandarin dragonet can thrive on a mature, not-so-huge tank (i.e. 29G, 55G, don't remember exactly) with a DSB, no skimming, no cleanup crew and few or no corals, and a good, established, non-predated pod population. Getting a healthy specimen from the LFS is key, as many are in critical condition by the time they are bought and won’t make it no matter what. They should be plump and active.

I would not want to keep one. As beautiful as these fish are you have to compromise so much to have one. Pretty much having your tank look like a sump. IMHO it is not worth it, unless you want to prove a point.

i just wanted to comment on what chufa mentioned on healthy specimens of mandarins. healthy or mal-nourished is not the critical aspect when buying from a lfs ime. i've had two mandarins, spotted-2 years and regular-2 mos. :*( , both of which fell victim to my sally crab (if i EVER catch that little sob! )

i bought both as VERY mal-nourished fish and both took about two weeks to even show improvement (i.e. fattening), of course it didn't help them that they both had rough tankmates (damsels, tangs, anemones, and of course that friggin crab!).

the POINT i wanted to make is that i didn't want peeps to think just because the mandarin (or anything else for that matter) is healthy and fat at the lfs that that will give you a margin of error on your tank setup.

if your system is large enough to keep a healthy population of pods and worms then you can probably support a mandarin (note: other critical factors such as water flow and tankmates). raising mandarins are very close to raising seahorses imo (very difficult or at least a PITA). altho you can have a little more current w/mandarins.

I had one in a 45 and I was smitten with it, however I had a clean up crew, and yes I skimmed but not 24/7. Did it thrive? probably not seeing as it seemed to starve slowly over time. I had over 50 pounds of live rock, 30 pounds of live sand and everything else was doing well. FWIW, the tank was aged for about 4 months before I added the mandarin.

I'm speaking from my own experience, I tried baby brine shrimp, and doing large water changes from a 33 gallon I had set up in another room that had nothing but live rock in it. Still the mandarin didn't make it. I suppose I may try another if I ever buy this 135 I have been considering, I figure with it, and if I use my 45 as a refugium I may try another but I may not.

well I should of done my studies on this site before I went and got one from Jeffs Exotics. I ask the fing guy there as well if they are an easy fish to keep. I decided to do some research after the fact to find out I made a HUGE mistake in getting it. I want to take the bastard out so I can get him to a lfs before he dies but its going to be way to hard to grab him when he is hding in the cracks of my LR.

I am VERY disapointed in Jeffs, not only did they screw me out of snails that I paid for but they sold me a fish that not supposed to be in a tank my size!