Mandarin

[FrogO2]

I have a 15 gal reef with DSB and latley I got a ton of live copepods out of my LFS reef tank and have been trying to populate the tank as much as possible.

I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with a Mandarin goby in their nano and if they took any frozen foods, and the copepods I ad will be enough. The only fish I have in there right now is a pair of Firefish.

Bicolor blennies eat alage right, im pretty dang sure.

[Acoustic]

Please....Please....Please......Please......Please..............use this:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/search.php?s=

 

This topic has been covered extensively since August.

[JLTRUK]

if I had a nickel...

[Gilman]

If it were up to me, you wouldn't add the mandarin. It's not up to me.

 

Do the research on this fish, and you will more than likely come to the conclusion that your tank is not the proper tank to house it, and will not provide enough of a food source to keep it fat and happy.

 

Good luck,

 

Gil

 

ps. it is fairly widely believed/accepted that a DSB in a nano does not provide enough surface area to allow the DSB to perform as it does in a large tank. (search here for dsb or reefcentral to find out more about dsb)

[FrogO2]

Its not realy a DSB its actually a Plenum wich has been cycled for over a year with damsels and just last month is when I took out the damsels and started adding other stuff two firefish. I must have done something right because I have not had any problems with it.

[Acoustic]

FrogO2-

 

TWO THINGS

 

1) Please don't tell me that you want to add one mandarin fish in addition to the two firefish that are already in the tank.

(Only 15 gallons)

 

or

 

2) Your last statement leads me to believe that the mandarin fish is already in your tank with your two firefish. Which then leads me to believe that you initially created this thread because you are worried about your mandarin fish which is probably dieing from starvation and wanted to see if you made a wrong choice. If that's the case, then by just creating this thread based upon those feelings by you, should tell you that it was the wrong decision, and are really just finding a way to justify your decision through defending yourself thereby making yourself feel that you made the right choice. Which in fact, will only lead to greater frustration and disappointment when the fish actually dies because you deceived yourself. But then again, when the fish dies you might have deceived yourself so much that you will shift the blame not on yourself, but on some other random reason that sounds good in your head.

 

SOOOOOOooooooOOOOOo, Which is it?

 

BTW, Plenum has nothing to do with copepod reproduction.

[kennerd]

Can someone validate my parking ticket. I was here for the ride.

[Crakeur]

Inconceivable Acoustic. Inconceivable.

[Dave ESPI]

SOOOOOOOOO going to be a quoteable "Clip and paste" reply or a sig line....

 

 

........Which then leads me to believe that you initially created this thread because you are worried about your (insert item here) is dyeing and wanted to see if you made a wrong choice. If that's the case, then by just creating this thread based upon those feelings by you, should tell you that it was the wrong decision, and are really just finding a way to justify your decision through defending yourself thereby making yourself feel that you made the right choice. Which in fact, will only lead to greater frustration and disappointment when the fish actually dies because you deceived yourself. But then again, when the (insert item here) dies you might have deceived yourself so much that you will shift the blame not on yourself, but on some other random reason that sounds good in your head.

 

[Jahkaya]

we got a bleeder.

 

If you haven't already, don't get the madarin unless you can verify it has eaten frozen foods and gained weight and is healthy for a good period of time. Next take the firefish ( and the blenny )out as that will create a huge bioload any frozen food you do put in there will be eaten by the faster fish. Mandarins are generally slow fish and don't do well with excessive competetion for food. If you had a full blown 125 reef you wouldn't have the issue with the other fish becasue the mandarin would most liklely be eating the copepods and not the frozen food fed to the other fish.

[mattie]

frog 2 you are traveling in choppy waters

alot people here love fish more than people so be mindful and good thing you are asking questions first( i hope )

i have a manderin it won't eat frozen foods

it eats the pods that grow in the tank and my refugium i also purchased a fauna kit from inland aquatics to speed things up and to ensure a variety of pods i waited untill after i noticed many ( I mean 100's) of little pods on the glass and 100's swimming thru the tank before I got the manderin. but within 2 weeks he cleared all the pods of the glass. so I have been supplimenting him live brine once a week but manderin fish is lazy and won't really look up to eat or chase down food more than a few inchs so have to plan it out turn off the pumps and feed just enough I also have 2 little clowns and they eat first and when they are about to burst then the manderin can eat.i also have added nothing to the tank that will hunt down and eat the eat the pods. the little clowns always stay in front corner of the tank leaving the rest of the tank to the manderin I also feed the pods in the fuge sinking crab pellets to make them grow fast and big. my manderin has grown almost doubled in size and is very active and healthy. actually now he is by far the biggest thing in the tankand makes suprisingly giant PooPs ( thats for dave) the thing to mostly undertand is the manderin has a unique natural diet and changing from that too much will insure it's demise in time. but even if you get a rare manderin that will eat frozen foods it will get internal problems from lack of nutrition even if you feed quality frozen foods. and again with the frozen foods manderins have a focused vision which is designed for picking out small bugs,pods and invertabrites from the rock and sand so they don't even pay attention to whats floating in the tank unless it swimmes right past them.

a manderin fish is a poor choice for a nano and is also a poor choice for some one new to this hobby. it takes alot of research and planning to keep a manderin.

manderins not only require a specialized diet but they are very senstive to water quality which are 2 things that are difficult to maintain in a small volume of water

i would strongly recomend against you getting one. but

do alot of research and after you've learned so much you haven't heard anything new then you can start your plan. becouse with certain animals in this hobby getting one limits you on alot of other things which you can add to the tank and a manderin is high on the list not to mention its requirements already stated

i hope this helps I can give some help on were to do research on the subject there is alot to learn when dealing with dragonets manderins and so on probably the most upsetting thing is they are in every fish store but yet no employees generally know thier requirments. 1 guy at my LFS knows and he is kinda phsyco about this subject like many of the readers here at nano-reef and he won't sell you one untill he know for sure whats in your tank the size and how long it been running and how much experience you have. and I've heard him tell people no you can't have this one cause you have a six line or your tank is too new etc.

don't be frustrated just become educated

good luck

[tinyreef]

froggy,

try some of these sources for live foods supplementation. i would also try to wean the mandarins onto frozen mysis.

 

mysis.com

mariculturetechnology.com

aquaculturestore.com

instant-algae.com

 

checkout shorgy's* food forum, those girls are used to feeding finicky eaters so mandarin's are almost a breeze in comparison. hth

 

*seahorse.org

[JLTRUK]

not to hijack, but I am considering a mandarin for my 100. I had one in the highschool tank (which was a 160 back in the day) which did well.

 

here is what you want to look for before you can keep a mandarin. Turn off all your room lights and your tank lights, get a flashlight and look around your sandbed...if you cant see 100's, and I mean 100's of pods your mandarin has a chance of not doing very well. There are always exceptions to the rule, but I wouldnt buy the fish on an exception.

 

Unless you can supplement, like it has been stated, the mandarin will clear out your 15 gal tank of pods in no time flat and will subsequently suffer (die).

 

its really not a fish I would advise for such a small tank, but hey its up to you bro.

[FrogO2]

For I don't have a blenny just two firefish

I have not got the Mandarin yet. I have been watching one down at my LFS and been talking to the guy about aparently it has been eating frozen. I going find out for sure, feed in front of me. I don't plan to give him only frozen if I do (if frozen formula). I have been siphoning copepods out of the reef at my LFS and adding them to my tank so they will hopefully takeoff. I also have live brine for other fish. If I do run out of cops I can always get more and have thoughts for a possible refugium. I read on an early post that someone said their Mandarin was eating black worms have you ever heard of this.

Another thought. Why do scotter blennys do just fine without tons of live cops but mandarins don't?

Quetion for thought.

[mattie]

a manderin will never ever eat formula 1 and anyone who's say's so doesn't know sh*t about a manderin

I've heard about the black worms but thats still losing focus on there nutritional requirements

a refugium is beneficial in many ways but is not they golden key to success

[JLTRUK]

its copepods...pods. not cops I dont know of any fish that eat cops

[SpYdeR468]

a manderin will never ever eat formula 1 and anyone who's say's so doesn't know sh*t about a manderin

 

 

heh, atleast learn to spell the name before you bash the hell out of him like you know everything man.....Mandarin

[mattie]

so i can't spell big whoop tee dooo I didn't know anyone kared

I'm not trying to bash anyone I don't know everything But I do know a little about a few difficult fish. and my assumption is that the LFS is giving false info.

I just want frog02 to be informed and know how to prepare and care for a mandarin if its a fish he has his mind set on getting

I'm not trying to be negative

I'm trying share knowledge on a fish with specialized need which I know about man....spider

[unsped]

in realted news, my LFS got in what has to be the biggest mandarin every. its about 6 inches long!

[San Diego Reefer]

Here is my two cents...

 

Mandarins are tough... period. It is my belief that it is 'possible' to wean them onto frozen foods such as mysis shrimp, but usually they just refuse to eat anything but live foods.

I have heard a good rule of thumb for keeping them and that is -one mandarin per 50 gallons of at least one year old reef tank (with no other exclusive live feeder such as scooter blennies or seahorses)

I think that is a pretty conservative rule.. but when it comes to beautiful fish that, as of yet cannot be bred in captivity.. would you want to take the risk of killing it just to test "if" you can keep it?

I would say if you just "have" to keep one. Don't even think about it until you take all other fish out of your tank and let it sit and become a copopod heaven for a good while. And then consider if it is worth it.

I also am a great believer in refugiums. I particularly prefer the types where refugiums are plumbed in above the tank so that you can use gravity to help pull the pods out of the refug into the main tank. (This way they are not required to go through any pump/skimmer/mechanical filter)

[bobioden]

BTW 2 firefish is a nano is not a very good idea either. One will eventually take over and the other will die.

[FrogO2]

Well I have made my decision.

I concure, live food is the only way to go for him and my other fish, its the healthiest thing to do.

I am not going to get the Mandarin right now.

But I am working right now on attaching a larg rubbermaid (10-20 gal.) refugium on the shelf above the tank.

Do I need to light the refugium for pods, what is the best refugium set up for pods. I will continue to syphon pods out of the tank at my LFS to get the population going strong.

So it looks like about anthor couple of months till the mandarin.

(by the way it is a mated pair of firefish they get along just fine and I have done my research on these)

These will be the only 3 fish in my tank after the mandarin (other then inverts).

[mattie]

yes light the fuge with a small pc or something similair

and stock the fuge w/ some LR rubble and different types of macro many of the different pods like to breed and feed off the and in the macro you can feed the pods sinking crab pellets

and personally I would get a glass aquarium and get it drilled for an overflow or buy an overflow box because a fuge can be something nice to look at the same time. if you wait after 3 months of having the fuge stocked and seeded it should be up to production speed

and the fuge has alot of other benefits

3 fish in a ten is a high bioload doubling your volume and haveing a large amounts of macro algae will remove nitrates from the water and if you leave the light on all the time the or on oppsite time scheduals as the main tank it wll help balance ph and you can use fine arganite to help buffer the alk and calcium in the tank at the same time

the fuge is not the golden answer but will greatly increase the long term success of a mandarin in a nano

[Nanu Nanu]

My 2 cents and the success that I have with the Mandarin fish. Well for starters I'm not promoting nano reefers to get a Mandarin, because I've been bashed a lot on this subject. I have a 18 gal nano with 30 pounds of LR,a clown, and full live stock. My Mandarine has been alive for 6 months and is very healthy, the reason I say its healthy is that when I first got it had a pinch in its stomach. My 18 gal had a lot of amphipods at its first 2 months of cycling, then I got a Mandarin. The amphipods didnt even last a month, my Mandarin wiped out the whole intire family of amphipods. So then now I had to find a way to feed my Mandarin. Ever since I got my reef tank set-up and cycled I spend about 3 hours a day just looking at my tank, looking for any changes or to see how my livestock is doing. I did a lot of research on other success on Mandarins, and one idea that stood out was a CPR refugium. A CPR refugium go for like $30, but I cutomized my own CPR refugium. I found a inside filter that cost me $4, it was big enough to fit some LS and 3 small pieces of LR. In a month I cultured both cope, and amphipodes. Till now my CPR is so filled with copepods that it like a sworm of bee's. The other thing that made my Mandarin fat is that, it now eats frozen brin shrimp. I gotta first turn off my power head because the Mandarin cant swim that fast to chase the brine shrimp. It's just about 6 months since I've had my Mandarin now, and I'm positively know that it will be in good care for more and more months to come. Well this is my success story for my Mandarin. Please remember now that I'm not promoting nano aquarists to go out there and get a Mandarin. I'm just shareing my success that I have with the Mandarin.

[londonaussie]

My mandarin somehow jumped out of my tank last night.

It was shrivelled up on the floor. I have no idea how it managed to get to the top of the tank and then jump out.