Am I ready for a Mandarin dragonet?

[Cerberusfish]

So my tank is about 4 months old which I know is a bit young for this. Not sure how much liverock as I didn't weigh it all but it's somewhere between 60-90 lbs probably closer to 90 lbs. 75 gallon DT with about 12 gallons in the sump (ik it's small but I had to add it after the initial setup and it was the largest I could fit) the sump has only been up and running for a couple days and im using the skimmer compartment as a refugium since I already have a HOB skimmer I like. Added a ball of chaeto (softball size) about 2 days ago. I know I've got a population of pods but I don't know how large. Would you who have more info or experience with them be able to tell me if this sounds like a viable environment for it? Or roughly how much longer I shod wait to get one? I'm considering buying some various pods from various places as I've read it's good to try and get species variety for the fish and I assume that's a good way to get different subspecies in the tank/fudge.

 

[TripleTruble]

You gonna need a large population of pods going as other things feed on them as well. I would get that refugium going as that is a good place for them to populate as well.

 

[Bryce M.]

your tank needs to be at least a year if not more

 

[Cerberusfish]

Any good way to know when the tank is ready? Or just give it as much time as I can, seed it, and hope all goes well once I add the fish?

 

[Bryce M.]

Any good way to know when the tank is ready? Or just give it as much time as I can, seed it, and hope all goes well once I add the fish?

seed it, watch the pods and just wait and wait

 

[robbyg]

Nope I would wait until the tank is at least a year old. I would not try a Mandarin fish until the tank is stable. Your going to hit into some Algae problems later down the road, plus possibly other issues. Your tank is not nearly old enough yet.

 

[Jesterrace]

Any good way to know when the tank is ready? Or just give it as much time as I can, seed it, and hope all goes well once I add the fish?

When you start seeing pods crawling all over the glass then you know it's ready.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

When you start seeing pods crawling all over the glass then you know it's ready.

+1. Not ready. wait till you see so many its impossible to count. Then wait a couple months and see if you still have that many. Then you are ready.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

As everyone has said, no it’s not ready. It’s hard to understand how much mandarins actually eat until you’ve watched one in your tank for a few days. Have you thought about culturing pods and white worms for it? What about a baby brine shrimp feeder?

 

[theMeat]

Get a bag of mixed pods from reefcleaners.org. Put half in display, half in sump. Wait week or two and buy your fish

 

[shookONES]

My tank is younger than yours and I bought a mandarin on impulse, against my better judgement. But he’s fat from Rod’s so I think he’s going to do just fine.

 

[Matt1997]

Both my mandarins were added within the first 2 months as well as a copper band butterfly. They took to eating mysis and brine shrimp almost instantly. They are still with me with fat belly’s a year later. I do have a strong pod population as well but it likely was not that way upon initial introduction.

 

[calvertc425]

Get a cab mandarin or a target mandarin they readily accept frozen bloodworms and the captive bread eat pellets and Mysis and such

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Some good advice here, some bad. Sure you could get one and hope it doesn't starve as others have done, but in reality if your tank was ready, you'd know it. Like aquacult said, they'll be everywhere on the glass and rocks when your tank is ready. I've kept green mandarins for about 5 years.

 

[OrionN]

If you see the pods during the day, they will be fine. They actually eating much smaller fauna, not the pods you see swim around, unless the really tiny babies of them. During the night, with a flash light at the corner of the tank where there are low flow, you will see these tiny crustaceans on the glass, moving around. Almost cannot see them with naked eye during the day. These are Mandarin food.
What other fish do you have in the tank? Certain wrasse and small angels can really compete with Madarin for food.
If you are going to get one, try your best to get a male. They are bolder, and display all the time. Female are always in the rock structure and never display. Lone female with good care will always have a huge stomach full of eggs, make her look unhealthy. I only buy female if I want a pair, never female singleton.
Female

Male

 

[Cerberusfish]

If you see the pods during the day, they will be fine. They actually eating much smaller fauna, not the pods you see swim around, unless the really tiny babies of them. During the night, with a flash light at the corner of the tank where there are low flow, you will see these tiny crustaceans on the glass, moving around. Almost cannot see them with naked eye during the day. These are Mandarin food.
What other fish do you have in the tank? Certain wrasse and small angels can really compete with Madarin for food.
If you are going to get one, try your best to get a male. They are bolder, and display all the time. Female are always in the rock structure and never display. Lone female with good care will always have a huge stomach full of eggs, make her look unhealthy. I only buy female if I want a pair, never female singleton.
Female

Male

Current stocking: 1 bengai cardinal, 2 occelarris clowns, 2 firefish goby's, 1 Royal gramma, 1 tomini tang, 1 pom pom crab, 3 cleaner shrimp, 3 peppermint shrimp and various snails and hermit crabs. This will be my last fish. Only other livestock I'm planning on putting in the tank after is coral.

 

[DraggingTail]

your tank needs to be at least a year if not more

More like 2 years with dry rock

 

[OrionN]

Your fish loads are OK. No problem. I would consider add some sand and live rock with living stuff on them like culture LR from Tampa Bay.
consider adding two or three wrasses. Flasher or small Fairy wrasses. You will never see any fish more colorful. DO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE COMPLETER COVER of the tank. Wrasses are jumpers. Tanks with no cover have no business having flasher or fairy wrasse

 

[Arthacker87]

So the answer is...... maybe ;Writing my 2 cent is it wont hurt to grab some jump starter pods and add them (tank and sump) and wait a couple months to make sure. I have got 2 over the years and they both perished. I tried getting them on anything frozen never had luck. They are some of the most beautiful fishies tho

 

[Cerberusfish]

I've got a full glass top. I don't want to add any other fish for a while until my current fish + maybe Mandarin get bigger and I can see how much physical space is in the tank. I do have a full glass top and will be looking to get a screen top made soon. Gotta keep the gobies in too haha. I did start the tank with maybe 20 lbs of liverock and coralife arag-alive before switching to dry rock to save some money. I know before I started adding fish I had a TON of pods all over the glass day and night. I presume the began retreating into the rock once potential predators were introduced same as my bristle worms. Ik the worms have to be in there but haven't seen a single one since I added my first animals.