Green Mandarins

[cward]

Looking for a little help here. I want a Green Mandarin but I learned to ask alot of questions and investigate before I buy. So here it is..............I have a 24 gallon NANOCUBE DX that has been up for about 7 months now. I hear that they are hard to care for, why is this? I will be putting it in a reef system with a Maroon Clown, is this bad? Any info on this matter I would love, thanks for your time.

[chrissreef]

yes 9 out of 10 will die in that tank as 9 in 10 won't eat prepeared food and need live food found on your live rock... they would need a 100 gallon OR MORE to live as anything less wouldn't provide enough population/food to sustain it for more than a month.

[Peterock]

They are constant eaters, mainly only eating pods and ghost shrimp, and brine. The only way to have one of these guys is to ask a LFS to start training one to eat frozen and have them set him aside with a small deposit or something strange like that.

[Stanley]

Do a search on Mandarins... they are difficult to feed. Very picky eaters that need to eat frequently. I would only consider buying one if you see it eat prepared (frozen) food in the store and you are able to feed several times a day.

[cward]

Thanks for all the help, keep it coming. The more I know the better my decission will be on getting one or just to admire them from afar.

[Peterock]

If you must have something that plays on the bottom then get a goby or a blenny.

[Mark_H.]

Ive had a mandarin goby in my 10 gal for about 3 months now. I feed with live brine once a week, but its really not enough because he's "always" looking for food. He looks healthy but I'm going to hand him over to my LFS to be a display fish. Scooter gobies are easier to switch over to frozen. Mandarins are the pickiest eaters!!!

[BKtomodachi]

I would try a goby of some sort instead. Watch from afar, for their sake.

[Kogut]

How many threads do we need, ladies? :| The search button is a literal reference... Not an imaginary fabled creature of the deep! Gosh!

[Caesar777]

Yeah, really.

 

One quick thing to note: Mark H., brine shrimp are like celery, devoid of any FOOD type content. You may as well not feed him and you'd end with the same results. He could look fat and happy but he's actually starving to death... malnutrition.

 

I wish people would stop insisting on keeping these.

 

And using the search would be nice, too.

[Pinrod Urkish]

GOD BLESS MARINE CUISINE! I've bought three mandrins in four years and they all eventually switch over to MARINE CUISINE. I kept two in a ten gallon, BUT that was because they were both about 1" since they grew to 2" I moved them to my 55gal. It not that they can't swich over it's just tricky.

[Wobach]

Mandarins arent ideal for nanos, mine ate all my pods within two weeks so i moved him to my 45 gallon, hes alot happier there, they like to explore to.

[impur]

I've got a spotted mandarin in my 29. I've had her for about 2 months now. When i got her she was very thin to the point that you could see some of her ribs. Took 10 days and she finally began eating frozen foods, mainly blood worms and enriched brine. I also used freshly hatched baby brine to get her used to hunting for food that I put in. Now she is plump and happy, still loving the blood worms. I also add frozen cyclopeeze which she chows down on. I soak all food in Selcon. Thats the good part, shes eating and fat. The bad part is feeding twice a day means more WC and better skimming. I also have a 5-6 gal fuge full of cheato and pods. One way a lot of ppl are having success with these fish is using a jar to hold the food in the tank, then the fish goes into the jar to eat without being bothered.

 

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

 

This was her first venture into the diner about a week after being in my tank.

[DiverDave]

I love the jar idea. I too have a spoted in my 20. It was fat to begin with, and is still fat as can be. I have many corals and critters to eat the left over food in the tank. The jar idea is great in that 1) if the Manderain goes in to eat it can do it without competition, and 2) the Manderain can easily be caught if need be. I'll have to try this soon! Thanks.

 

DD

[ccjung]

My mandarin once went over the rear wall of my cube. This has happened to him many times before, but the last time it happened, he saw me crack the lid, put the net in, and i gestured to him to go into the net. Believe it or not, he went right in. the look in his eyes are similar to finding your dog in the pound, just very happy to see you...

 

Its absolutely amazing how much intelligence these creatures have. My fish are definately a part of my family.

 

 

Chris

[doody]

I have one that eats all kinds of prepared foods, but I have to overfeed because my strawberry basslet is way quicker at getting the food. So I compensate with a large clean up crew, large water changes, skimming and fuge. I'm gonna try the jar idea but my yashe hase, and strawberry basslet are about the same size as the manderin. So, I'm sure they'll get in there too.