Can yellow watchmans live with mandarins

[olonmv]

My mandarin pair only eats pods as far as I can see. (I’ve had success cultivating pods with Phytofeast, both in separate culture and by adding directly to tank.) The ruby dragonet in my nano however, also goes crazy over “tobiko” roe that I buy from a Korean supermarket. It’s hilarious seeing her try to swim and grab the roe out of the water column. She even hops higher up on the rock to grab it. She must get some of it as she’s quite plump

Can I be your pet mandarin? Man they Eatin good!!!!

 

[GHOSTLY]

Even if a mandarin is eating pellets, it still needs multiple meals a day. Their systems are set up to be constantly full of incredibly nutritious food. You won't find anyone who has a mandarin live to a nice age without feeding it very frequently.

I feed 3 to five times a day, I feed 11 different kinds of foods, and I dose live pods

 

[Tired]

Ah, good, that should do it! Keep a close eye on its body condition, still. They eat hundreds of pods a day as adults.

 

[Gup]

I have a Watchman and to each other. You should be fine.

Thank you guys for being my guinea pigs with combining these fish in the same tank. For sometime, I’ve wanted to get a yellow watchmen and a blue mandarin. But everything I read says it It should not happen. Well now with your advance notice reefers. I’m going ahead and buy both. Thanx

 

[Tired]

Where are you seeing that they can't go together? Watchman gobies are fine with anything that's not another watchman, pretty much, and mandarins are only territorial with mandarin-shaped fish.

 

[GHOSTLY]

Where are you seeing that they can't go together? Watchman gobies are fine with anything that's not another watchman, pretty much, and mandarins are only territorial with mandarin-shaped fish.

Im not seeing it anywhere. I just found that my old YWG would get defensive if my hecters goby came close

 

[Tired]

Oh, yeah, they'll do that with anything. But that's not a problem at all. The mandarin will either stay away from the area immediately around the watchman's burrow, or will ignore the watchman and get displayed at a lot. Watchmen will display at most fish, and may even nip something that comes super close, but they can't do any harm and they won't go after anything that's not really close to the burrow. Which is why they're compatible with most fish.

 

[GHOSTLY]

Oh, yeah, they'll do that with anything. But that's not a problem at all. The mandarin will either stay away from the area immediately around the watchman's burrow, or will ignore the watchman and get displayed at a lot. Watchmen will display at most fish, and may even nip something that comes super close, but they can't do any harm and they won't go after anything that's not really close to the burrow. Which is why they're compatible with most fish.

The mandarin is only about an inch long or 2 and 2CM Across. I know its annoying about my asking but won't a bite from one be mildly dangerous? I mean Buddy cost me 136 bucks so I really don't want to risk it

 

[Tired]

Yellow watchmen don't have strong bites, just an engulfing mouth. They also don't fully bite without being seriously provoked, and only rarely ever slightly bite. Also, mandarins have bright colors to say "oi, don't eat me, I'm toxic", which makes them resistant to biting.

In short, they're safe. The worst that will happen is the mandarin will get surprised. Probably even that won't happen.

 

[Paul B]

They will live together as I have spawning pairs of both those fish, but not in a 13 1/2 gallon tank. No mandarin will live in there for long I really don't care if it eats pellets, spam, spare ribs and chicken soup.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[Tired]

Yeah, the tank size is still going to be an issue. Even ignoring the food issue, that tank is a bit small for an adult mandarin, they're actually quite active. And a mandarin eating pellets isn't enough. Even if you feed them pellets constantly, the pellets aren't nutritious enough. A couple meals a day of pellets won't be anywhere near enough food. If it was as easy as just having a mandarin eat pellets like other fish, everyone would have them. You're either gonna need a 30+ gallon fuge, or you're going to need to feed that mandarin 4+ times a day on the most nutritious foods you can get. Start hatching BBS.

 

[GHOSTLY]

They will live together as I have spawning pairs of both those fish, but not in a 13 1/2 gallon tank. No mandarin will live in there for long I really don't care if it eats pellets, spam, spare ribs and chicken soup.

Just my opinion of course.

I don't think you understand, I dose and breed apex and Tigger pods along with pellets, frozen, and feed Tigger feast 4 times to 5 days a day

 

[GHOSTLY]

I also dose phyro and have a fuge with 8lb of live rock. I spot feed him and I spot fed my ywg when I had one. Very enhoyable to do that

 

[Paul B]

I don't think you understand, I dose and breed apex and Tigger pods along with pellets, frozen, and feed Tigger feast 4 times to 5 days a day

I understand perfectly. I doubt a mandarin will live in such a small tank for long no matter how many pods you can breed. Just my opinion of course and I have been keeping mandarins since they invented them.

But good luck. I hope he lives happily for many years.

 

[GHOSTLY]

I understand perfectly. I doubt a mandarin will live in such a small tank for long no matter how many pods you can breed. Just my opinion of course and I have been keeping mandarins since they invented them.

But good luck. I hope he lives happily for many years.

Thanks!

 

[GHOSTLY]

Update. Decided not to get a ywg and instead sell some livestock and got a fireifsj

 

[1stMarineTankDude]

I have a Watchman and Mandarin in my 20g and they get along. At first the Watchman would open his mouth wide and try to act tough when the Mandarin would swim by but now they don't even pay attention to each other. You should be fine.

Are these two fish still alive? Did you find that you needed to provide additional food or how did you feed? I have a Red Sea Reefer 170 with 40lbs of sand and 30lbs of live rock. Will also be running a refugium. Trying to learn if i will be able to support with copepods.