Do you have a Mandarin RIGHT NOW?

stanleo · Apr 22, 2021

I have one Mandarin and I love him but I have never seen him flare. He looks fat and happy so I think I need to find a female for him to impress.

Patientman · Apr 22, 2021

Did have one for a little over four years. Wife's favorite so you KNOW I will be getting another! She calls them the hummingbirds of the sea because the way they can hover.

Daniel92481 · Apr 22, 2021

I have had one for a couple of months now. His name is “Blu” and likes to cruise around looking for his next snack. He’s a tiny captive bred at only about 3/4 inches that seems to be happy and healthy. Love this guy!

UK softy bloke · Apr 22, 2021

revhtree said:
How many of you have a Mandarin Goby in your tank right now?

Don't you just love how those little "feathery" looking fins move?

Hi, I've had my green spotted mandarin for nearly 2 years now. It was getting skinny at the lfs and I felt sorry for it, luckily it ears frozen and marine s pellets, quite chunky now.

vlangel · Apr 22, 2021

I love mandarins but am afraid to try one in my display, even though I have a 30 g fuge and 20 g sump attached. I have lots of blennies & gobies in the 56 g display.

bdare · Apr 22, 2021

Here's my little porker...

Sharkbait19 · Apr 22, 2021

Man, I totally wish. They're definitely a favorite of mine, and if I could keep one in my nano tank, I sure would.

salty joe · Apr 22, 2021

I put one in my tank a month ago and figured he died. Then, my found him last night, he looked good. Haven't seen it since.

Schweezy · Apr 22, 2021

Just got a Biota Captive Bred. His name is Keanu. He’s in my 6 gallon planted tank getting his fill of pods and Calanus.

BlackGoldReefs · Apr 22, 2021

revhtree said:
How many of you have a Mandarin Goby in your tank right now?

Don't you just love how those little "feathery" looking fins move?

Here is my little dude I got from Algae Barn when it was about .75 inches. He is almost doubled in size. I dose pods about two three months and he is super happy. Even survived the Texas Snowpacolipse!!

Gemdora · Apr 22, 2021

Neros503 said:
Yes! I have one in my biocube 29 with refugium. He's grown from around 3/4 inch, to probably more than an inch in the month that I've had him. As far as I know, he only eats pods even though he's captive bred and is supposed to eat frozen/dry foods. I've added one supplementary bottle of pods to the tank after 3 weeks, and the next day, I didn't see a single one. Not sure if he ate them that quickly or what.

Adorable!

jazzfisher · Apr 22, 2021

I have 2, my female in my DT who eats everything, frozen, pellets whatever. Had her for several years. Got a captive bred Biota male for potential pal. Had to set up a separate tank until he gets big enough to introduce. Highly recommend getting the captive bred, they are used to pellets & frozen. Be aware they are tiny but grow quickly if fed frequently. Did not need to dose pods at all although new tank set up with rock from DT.

NashobaTek · Apr 22, 2021

I have a male and his harem of 2 females. They're great and hang out with each other all day. They're in a 125, when I first got them they were tiny but now they're fat pigs. Here's the 2 girls. Still looking for the males picture. Found him, he is the last picture.

Hallowhead · Apr 22, 2021

My fiance wants one in the worst way...

She hates the hobby but when I drag her along to LFS she only finds them and sits at their tanks.

I'm building pod population now

strike2867 · Apr 22, 2021

vlangel said:
I love mandarins but am afraid to try one in my display, even though I have a 30 g fuge and 20 g sump attached. I have lots of blennies & gobies in the 56 g display.

I have basically the same setup. I threw in a bottle of pods. About a month later I saw them all over the glass. At which point I got the mandarin. He's been good for around 4 month. I still see the pods all over the glass. If I ever see him skinny or no more pods on the glass I'll throw in another bottle.

sghera64 · Apr 22, 2021

Yup. I have had them over the past 18 Yrs in my 135 Gal DT. I've mostly kept them for about 1-2 years. I've had them eating blood worms and "stuff" from the rocks, but none lasted more than two years. Now, I have one from a LFS. I think we've had this one for about 4 years. I don't feed him but he seems to eat the fresh sea food scraps I feed my Copper Band and I'm sure he's got plenty of pods as the system is loaded with them every since I added a chaeto refugium. I think one of most important aspects of keeping this fish is plenty of live pods. I find the simplest way to do that is to have a lot of space for pods to grow "un-hunted". My 50 gallon frag tank and common refugium are plumbed together with the DT. I never worry about this Mandarin eating. He's always fat. Maybe too fat for his own good.

vcollins9850 · Apr 22, 2021

revhtree said:
How many of you have a Mandarin Goby in your tank right now?

Don't you just love how those little "feathery" looking fins move?

Fell for the trap a couple months ago. Saw one at lfs that actually wasn’t bone skinny so figured I’d give her a shot and rehome to a friend of needed. Tank is about year and a half old 40 gal, no sump/fuge but have always had a good pod population. She fattened up quick in tank and immediately I tried pellets, dried mysis and frozen in case pods depleted faster than expected but she was not interested. Saw someone on R2R mention theirs eating xsmall chromaboost and ordered some. After a week of spot feeding around her she was going to town. Now she always swims up to the top back of tank when I turn pumps off and stares at me until I feed her. Trying to explain to my wife why I was so excited bc a fish was eating just got me stared at funny. But it is def her favorite fish now too, calls her miss piggy bc of her plump little belly.