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banasophia

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**IMPORTANT:  I should note that I do not recommend getting a mandarin for such a small tank... in Finnick’s case, he is a captive bred biota mandarin, I have had him for over 2 years, I already know he is a hardy eater that eats pellets and frozen, and I have successfully cultured pods in the past so I can add pods weekly as needed. In addition, I always monitor his weight closely, and can move him back to my larger tank if he is not thriving. 

 

 

Hank hanging out in the torch made me nervous...

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3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Every thing is looking great.

Thanks! Yours is looking great too... I’m pretty impressed with these little Evos so far. 

 

3 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Does he get stung at all by the torch? 

I was afraid he would, and I actually ended up chasing him out of it with the turkey baster a couple minutes after I got pics, but he didn’t seem to be harmed at all and the torch didn’t try to eat him. 😅  Of course they often live in SPS corals in nature, so they are probably pretty resistant to coral stings. He hasn’t gotten back in it that I’ve seen since that day, which was Sunday.

 

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6 hours ago, banasophia said:

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Hank hanging out in the torch made me nervous...

Is that a Mandarin in a five gallon tank? Is he/she happy in it and do you need to do anything special to keep them happy?

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20 minutes ago, Coolbreeze said:

Is that a Mandarin in a five gallon tank? Is he/she happy in it and do you need to do anything special to keep them happy?

They mentioned quite allot in their post about what it takes, and that it may need to go back into the bigger tank long-term as well, it's on the previous page.

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40 minutes ago, Coolbreeze said:

Is that a Mandarin in a five gallon tank? Is he/she happy in it and do you need to do anything special to keep them happy?

 

20 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

They mentioned quite allot in their post about what it takes, and that it may need to go back into the bigger tank long-term as well, it's on the previous page.

 

I think this is a great question for discussion... I expected it when I posted. 😊🤗

 

And it’s funny because I was just thinking about how I should be sure to include my comments about this every time I post a pic of him in this tank. Of course I want to promote responsible fish keeping, and mandarins can be extremely challenging to keep. Here are my comments about it:


** IMPORTANT:  I should note that I do not recommend getting a mandarin for such a small tank... in Finnick’s case, he is a captive bred biota mandarin, I have had him for over 2 years, I already know he is a hardy eater that eats pellets and frozen, and I have successfully cultured pods in the past so I know I can culture and add pods weekly as needed. In addition, I always monitor his weight closely, and can move him back to my larger tank if he is not thriving. **

 

It really is a good question I’ve been thinking about a lot for the past two weeks since I transferred him into the tank. As an active Instagram user, and somewhat of an “influencer” with quite a few followers, I understand the way we all influence each other as reefers. I suspect that some people may now keep mandarins in their nanos because they’ve seen my success keeping this mandarin in my 16 gallon BioCube for over two years now.
 

I was just thinking about the “tang police”, and recommended tank size, and number of fish we keep in our saltwater tanks. I also think about how I, as a reefer, tend to do things a bit differently from the older methods sometimes and I’ve been successful so far, but is it luck? Maybe it has to do with how much time I spend researching options, and how much time I spend on observing and my maintaining tanks? I’m not really sure... 
 

So, TBH, I was originally only going to temporarily move Hank (the YCG) from the Biocube to this tank, because I was contemplating getting an arrow crab temporarily to eat up the bristleworms in that tank, but arrow crabs can sometimes kill small fish, so I wanted to test it out to see if it would be an option to house Hank in here short term. Then interestingly, Finnick totally came up to where I was netting Hank so I went ahead and moved him too.
 

Now it’s a real dilemma because I do think Finnick is actually happier in this tank, I think he likes having a little fish buddy (Jack, the neon goby) to hang out with, and I’m able to watch him all day. The scape in this tank is nicer for observing the fish too.

 

I think the recommended tank size for mandarins mainly has to do with the capacity of the live rock to maintain an adequate pod population, more so than swimming space. So, with a captive bred mandarin that eats pellets, can they be kept in a tank this size and live a happy and healthy life, for more than a temporary placement? I’m still undecided, but I’m dedicated to happy lives for my fish.
 

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I'll start off by saying, I haven't tried putting a mandarin in a pico. But I've seen some pretty big mandarins, pushing four inches or so. I don't know that I would want any four-inch fish in a 5gal, except maybe a very thin goby. They seem to do a lot of hopping around, too, and there isn't much hopping space in a 5gal. Beyond that, since they need to eat so frequently, they should probably have a steady supply of live pods even when they are eating frozen. I would say it probably works fine as a temporary measure, but isn't something to be suggested permanently. I agree with you not recommending it.

 

I would also wonder if it's good for the tank in general to have so few pods. They're important little cleaners. 

 

Now, two tiny pico gobies in a 5gal? Should work fine. 

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22 minutes ago, Tired said:

I'll start off by saying, I haven't tried putting a mandarin in a pico. But I've seen some pretty big mandarins, pushing four inches or so. I don't know that I would want any four-inch fish in a 5gal, except maybe a very thin goby. They seem to do a lot of hopping around, too, and there isn't much hopping space in a 5gal. Beyond that, since they need to eat so frequently, they should probably have a steady supply of live pods even when they are eating frozen. I would say it probably works fine as a temporary measure, but isn't something to be suggested permanently. I agree with you not recommending it.

 

I would also wonder if it's good for the tank in general to have so few pods. They're important little cleaners. 

 

Now, two tiny pico gobies in a 5gal? Should work fine. 

Yes, I was just talking with someone about Finnick’s size... he’s two years old and only about 2 1/2 inches... I’ve seen some big daddy wild caught mandarins at my LFSs that are pushing 3-4 inches and I’ve wondered about the size difference, and whether Finnick will grow that big over time. He was itty bitty when I got him as a baby from Live Aquaria, maybe 1/2 inch. 
 

I feed my fishes for 1-2 hours once each night in the Biocube, less time in this tank. Finnick sucks up tons of pellets from the waters surface and ones that have sunk to the bottom. He also really likes fresh hatched baby brine shrimp and frozen. In the beginning I fed him twice a day, but now I find that once a day seems to work for him. I’ll try to video him swimming around and eating one of these days. 🙂

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Well @banasophia great job in keeping him happy and I was worried about getting one myself as many reefers say you need a big tank and they only eat pods. On top of that if you are using the ZEOvit system then you can't have one as well, but I have found many DT that are using ZEOvit and have a Mandarin in them as well. I plan on following your journal more closely to see how well he does and make a decision based on your success. Thanks for updating on the history of him and now I know what to get when I make my decision.

 

One thing, If we all did the same thing then all of our tanks will look the same and there would be no progress in the hobby. Again great job 🙂

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13 hours ago, Coolbreeze said:

Well @banasophia great job in keeping him happy and I was worried about getting one myself as many reefers say you need a big tank and they only eat pods. On top of that if you are using the ZEOvit system then you can't have one as well, but I have found many DT that are using ZEOvit and have a Mandarin in them as well. I plan on following your journal more closely to see how well he does and make a decision based on your success. Thanks for updating on the history of him and now I know what to get when I make my decision.

 

One thing, If we all did the same thing then all of our tanks will look the same and there would be no progress in the hobby. Again great job 🙂

Thanks. Yes, I’d definitely go for a captive bred biota mandarin for a small tank... and they are so tiny I’d think it could be better to keep them in a nano where you can keep a very close eye on them. I’m not familiar with the ZEOvit systems... are you planning to run one? 

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Poison Dart Frog

It's looking really good. Seems like the light that came with the Evo is pretty capable. 

 

Also, are you using Caribsea Life Rock, and if so, do you think it's worth the extra cost? I'm really considering it for my next tank (just got a 40 breeder, tank #4 lol). 

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3 hours ago, banasophia said:

Thanks. Yes, I’d definitely go for a captive bred biota mandarin for a small tank... and they are so tiny I’d think it could be better to keep them in a nano where you can keep a very close eye on them. I’m not familiar with the ZEOvit systems... are you planning to run one? 

I am on the IM30L as it was recently converted to and planning on my WB20 from the beginning.

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5 hours ago, Poison Dart Frog said:

It's looking really good. Seems like the light that came with the Evo is pretty capable. 

 

Also, are you using Caribsea Life Rock, and if so, do you think it's worth the extra cost? I'm really considering it for my next tank (just got a 40 breeder, tank #4 lol). 

Thanks, yes, I’m pretty surprised about the light... I do run it a long time, with the whites on from 8 am until midnight or so. I have a kessil a80 at the ready for possible upgrade, but so far I’m thinking I’ll be able to stay stock. 
 

And yes, I use Caribsea Liferock in all my tanks and highly recommend it... I actually think it’s the main reason my tanks tend to do pretty well... IMO, it looks nice from the get go, and I think it’s fairly resistant to algae growth but corals are still able to encrust on it. I do add bags of matrix media in the back of all my tanks to add extra surface area for the beneficial bacteria since I think the Liferock may not be as porous as some other types of rock. 

 

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3 hours ago, Coolbreeze said:

I am on the IM30L as it was recently converted to and planning on my WB20 from the beginning.

Hmmm... I need to read up on it and scope out your tank! 

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1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

I had no idea you ran that long.  I need to up my time. Slowly of course.

Your tank seems to be doing great already... maybe your time is enough? How long do you run yours? 
 

I do mine that way mainly due to my work/feeding schedule... though partly because the lights aren’t super strong so I figure the longer duration could compensate... I also run my Biocubes with long hours. I keep heavy duty cleanup crews in all my tanks to control algae issues, plus the Liferock which I think resists algae. 

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8 or 9 hrs. white and some times blue for another hour or 2. I shut Diver Dan off while running the light. Then I set the light on the stand in front of the tank when I turn Diver Dan back on. I don't trust the bubble splash on the light. I picked up a couple timers but never set them up because of this.

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1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

8 or 9 hrs. white and some times blue for another hour or 2. I shut Diver Dan off while running the light. Then I set the light on the stand in front of the tank when I turn Diver Dan back on. I don't trust the bubble splash on the light. I picked up a couple timers but never set them up because of this.

Yeah I got some serious salt creep/splash on the light when I had an airstone in mine for chemiclean treatment... I decided against using the Fluval timer because it didn’t seem you could separately set whites and blues. 😕

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41 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I already have hair algae on mushroom mountain. It has always been there. I pull it off manually when it is long enough. I expect longer hours might mean a growth spurt there. 

I’d be worried about that too... and I worry that I also get natural sunlight beaming in as well on mine... I have 2 turbos, a ninja star, and a full reef cleaners crew so hopefully they will keep up.

 

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Since I moved the tank off of the kitchen counter it does NOT get sunlight any more. I got the timers at Lowes. I use one on my nano box. They have adjustments for every half hour and are $6. I really like them.

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Alrighty then... after only 2 weeks with Hank and Finnick in here, the algae is actually starting to grow significantly with small patches cropping up on the rock everywhere. 
 

I just switched salt last week - from Red Sea Blue Bucket to Tropic Marin Pro - I noticed an immediate increase in diatoms/brown film a day after changing salt so I’m switching back with today’s water change. Also transferred an additional turbo snail into this tank and it immediately went to work. 

 

I usually do a weekly 2 gallon WC (50%) on this tank... may consider just mixing up extra to do an additional WC midweek. 
 

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19 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Alrighty then... after only 2 weeks with Hank and Finnick in here, the algae is actually starting to grow significantly with small patches cropping up on the rock everywhere. 
 

I just switched salt last week - from Red Sea Blue Bucket to Tropic Marin Pro - I noticed an immediate increase in diatoms/brown film a day after changing salt so I’m switching back with today’s water change. Also transferred an additional turbo snail into this tank and it immediately went to work. 

 

I usually do a weekly 2 gallon WC (50%) on this tank... may consider just mixing up extra to do an additional WC midweek. 
 

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So you are thinking that the Tropic Marin Pro is causing the extra diatoms and brown film? 🙁

 

I just bought a bucket of it to try out since I am using their Reef All in One product.

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7 minutes ago, Coolbreeze said:

So you are thinking that the Tropic Marin Pro is causing the extra diatoms and brown film? 🙁

 

I just bought a bucket of it to try out since I am using their Reef All in One product.

I’m not really sure... it’s probably not the salt... I added the two fish and a new powerhead to this tank two weeks ago, so it’s more likely to be related to those changes. But it’s easy enough for me to switch back to the Red Sea Blue Bucket and see how it goes. That’s always a problem when making multiple changes at once... pinpointing the problem if one encounters any issues.

 

Parameters are very similar between the two salts.

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