FLARGUE Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I current have these inhabitants in my 20 Gallon Long. Black Perc Clownfish / Tailspot Blenny / Mandarin / Cleaner Shrimp What do you guys think for my last addition? I like the sixline wrasse, but they have a lot of similarities to the mandarin in appearance and swimming style. The royal gramma is really cool too, but i'm wondering how everyone will gel. Had a chromis but he passed. He did really well with everyone. Possum wrasse is an interesting option. Quote Link to comment
A Little Blue Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I personally like Sixline wrasses. Keep in mind that as they grow, they might become bullies. They can also pick on your tank-mates and invertebrates. It’s a “working fish”, meaning, they help with flatworm control. But they also might go after bristle worms, feather dusters and such. Edit: They have very little to do with Mandarines, including “swimming style”. Very active fish that can outgrow your tank pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment
Jesterrace Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 On 4/26/2018 at 11:51 AM, FLARGUE said: I current have these inhabitants in my 20 Gallon Long. Black Perc Clownfish / Tailspot Blenny / Mandarin / Cleaner Shrimp What do you guys think for my last addition? I like the sixline wrasse, but they have a lot of similarities to the mandarin in appearance and swimming style. The royal gramma is really cool too, but i'm wondering how everyone will gel. Had a chromis but he passed. He did really well with everyone. Possum wrasse is an interesting option. How long have you had your mandarin? The odds of one surviving long term in a 20 gallon tank are very slim since they need a ton of copepods to eat and a tank that size simply cannot support no matter how well established the pods are. I had one in my 36 gallon and it learned to eat Frozen Mysis, Frozen Reef Frenzy and I spent about $250-$300 on pods and it still starved to death in about 3 months. As for other fish to add, I would definitely skip the 6 line, plenty of people with 100+ gallon tanks that have had them kill off many tank mates before they could remove them. I would go with a Possum or Pygmy Wrasse as it would offer something unique for your tank, is well suited for a tank of your size: http://aquarium-fish.liveaquaria.com/search?w=possum wrasse Quote Link to comment
FLARGUE Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 Thanks for the advice. The mandarin has survived for about 9 months, so I’m not worried about her. Shes day and happy. Shes trained on frozen Ova which is probably a better particle size than mysis or reef frenzy. I def recommend it 1 Quote Link to comment
jesseatam Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 You could consider yourself fully stocked honestly, if you’re going to add another fish though you need to be conscious of its pod hunting habits as you don’t want anything outcompeting your mandarin. I’d say a buddy for your current clown or something like an assessor. Quote Link to comment
lobster876 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 how about a coral croucher? Quote Link to comment
Oldsalt01 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 1 hour ago, lobster876 said: how about a coral croucher? You could look at a Yellow Clown Goby. I have one in my 14g with a TSB and they get along fine. They stay small and will perch on some corals. Mine loves to sit in my Devil's Hand. I had a terrible time when he was in QT getting him to eat. At first he would only touch live brine shrimp. I gradually moved him over to frozen by mixing the two together and slowly increasing the amount of frozen over several weeks until that was all he got. He was also very shy in the QT, but since he's been in the DT he's become very social and actually comes out to the front of the tank when he thinks it's time for eats. 2 Quote Link to comment
ToplessCube Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 On 4/26/2018 at 12:51 PM, FLARGUE said: I current have these inhabitants in my 20 Gallon Long. Black Perc Clownfish / Tailspot Blenny / Mandarin / Cleaner Shrimp What do you guys think for my last addition? I like the sixline wrasse, but they have a lot of similarities to the mandarin in appearance and swimming style. The royal gramma is really cool too, but i'm wondering how everyone will gel. Had a chromis but he passed. He did really well with everyone. Possum wrasse is an interesting option. If you have a mandarin I would skip the six line wrasse. I have a six line that is peaceful as can be, even shy, and was the first fish added. But he will eat every bristle worm and pod in your tank leaving nothing for the mandarin. My experience with mandarins is that they are difficult to keep alive in a closed system because of limited prey. Quote Link to comment
FLARGUE Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 Thanks guys! I went with a Talbot Damsel - I can't say enough about this fish. It's very active and peaceful fish. I've heard they get territorial when mating, which makes sense. My clownfish has been acting territorial but the damsel is agile and swims about the tank undeterred. This fish has a lot of personality. I almost went with a beautiful goby, but I didn't want to take a chance with a really shy fish. Th damsel really breathes some live and activity into my tank. 2 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Talbots are fantastic underrated fish They are very pretty in person too and unique coloring. 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 On 4/28/2018 at 4:07 AM, Jesterrace said: How long have you had your mandarin? The odds of one surviving long term in a 20 gallon tank are very slim since they need a ton of copepods to eat and a tank that size simply cannot support no matter how well established the pods are. I had one in my 36 gallon and it learned to eat Frozen Mysis, Frozen Reef Frenzy and I spent about $250-$300 on pods and it still starved to death in about 3 months. As for other fish to add, I would definitely skip the 6 line, plenty of people with 100+ gallon tanks that have had them kill off many tank mates before they could remove them. I would go with a Possum or Pygmy Wrasse as it would offer something unique for your tank, is well suited for a tank of your size: http://aquarium-fish.liveaquaria.com/search?w=possum wrasse Have you successfully owned a mandarin? Or do you repeat what everyone else writes on the internet, like the tang police because you can't successfully do it. mandarins don't just eat pods, given them the right coaching and they will eat a balance of a lot of commercially available food. That is if you've had the experience in owning and raising a mandarin in the reef. I've seen successful mandarins kept in tanks as small as 6g and tanks without refugiums or adding pods constantly. I have successfully kept a mandarin in a 15g and watch him eat every bit of food I put in the tank. Maybe your starved to death because you don't understand how to keep one. Quote Link to comment
FLARGUE Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 Not to turn this into a mandarin thread, but it's a popular topic -- Raising a mandarin trained on proper frozen foods is extremely easy. Mine eats Nutramar Ova shrimp roe. I think frozen mysis should be avoided. The particle size is too big for a mandarins little mouth. With how readily mandarins gobble up Ova, I would just pick some up and train the mandarins yourself. Supplementing your tank with pods isn't a good solution. It's expensive, and does nothing to establish pods in your tank. They just die a few days later because if your tank could support them, they'd already be living there. Hope this helps someone in their quest for a nano tank mandarin. It can be done. 2 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 43 minutes ago, FLARGUE said: Not to turn this into a mandarin thread, but it's a popular topic -- Raising a mandarin trained on proper frozen foods is extremely easy. Mine eats Nutramar Ova shrimp roe. I think frozen mysis should be avoided. The particle size is too big for a mandarins little mouth. With how readily mandarins gobble up Ova, I would just pick some up and train the mandarins yourself. Supplementing your tank with pods isn't a good solution. It's expensive, and does nothing to establish pods in your tank. They just die a few days later because if your tank could support them, they'd already be living there. Hope this helps someone in their quest for a nano tank mandarin. It can be done. Just want to point out nutramar ova is not for sale reliably. It vanishes at times, it was even off the market for a few years due to a shortage in the wild shrimp they collect from. I would not rely on nutramar ova at all and make sure the fish is eating something else as well, another type of roe perhaps. When it last vanished people were scrambling to try and find other foods, I am sure some mandys died when people could not source it any longer. It is a great food but make sure a mandy can live without it. 1 Quote Link to comment
FLARGUE Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Tamberav said: Just want to point out nutramar ova is not for sale reliably. It vanishes at times, it was even off the market for a few years due to a shortage in the wild shrimp they collect from. I would not rely on nutramar ova at all and make sure the fish is eating something else as well, another type of roe perhaps. When it last vanished people were scrambling to try and find other foods, I am sure some mandys died when people could not source it any longer. It is a great food but make sure a mandy can live without it. Great point I haven't even considered this. Thanks for the info 1 Quote Link to comment
Jesterrace Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 On 5/7/2018 at 8:02 AM, gogeta said: Have you successfully owned a mandarin? Or do you repeat what everyone else writes on the internet, like the tang police because you can't successfully do it. mandarins don't just eat pods, given them the right coaching and they will eat a balance of a lot of commercially available food. That is if you've had the experience in owning and raising a mandarin in the reef. I've seen successful mandarins kept in tanks as small as 6g and tanks without refugiums or adding pods constantly. I have successfully kept a mandarin in a 15g and watch him eat every bit of food I put in the tank. Maybe your starved to death because you don't understand how to keep one. No, but I did have a green one that died after 3 months DESPITE learning to eat both LRS Reef Frenzy, Frozen Mysis and spending $250-$300 on copepods. I turned off the powerheads and even target fed the fish an inch or two from it's face and other fish would still beat it to the punch. So after giving this fish everything I possibly could it still wasn't enough. How many times a day do you feed your Mandarin? Quote Link to comment
FLARGUE Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 I feed my Mandarin about every other day. It helps to feed to clown and other fish regular food, and they will be less likely to gobble up the roe. The roe can then settle to the bottom, and the mandarin picks around. Quote Link to comment
FLARGUE Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Hey everyone - beware of the Talbot Damsel. It's becoming very territorial towards my clownfish and probably sees it as a challenge to it's dominance. The damsel does okay with my mandarin and tail spot blenny. The clown has been bullied into a very small corner of the tank, while the damsel zooms around. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 That's a bummer... Mine never bothered my clowns. I just added a different damsel to my 20g but my clowns have a bubble tip to hide in if anyone is a bully as it is pretty much a semi aggressive tank. Quote Link to comment
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