Finding Mandarino

Balanje · Apr 30, 2018

So I have a bit of a case of the missing fish going on in my tank... I added male and female mandarins on April 12. They were captive bred green mandarins from Algaebarn. They are teeny tiny little suckers!

So I've added them, stocked additional copepods immediately in the tank as well as in my fuge with macroalgae. After I acclimated them, one swam away and hid and the other just froze up and didn't move for about 24 hours. After 24 hours, the other one swam away and hid. I spoke with Algaebarn and they said the initial shock is fairly normal.

Since then, I've only seen one of them once. It was on April 16th (i know b/c I took a picture of her). I've not caught a glimpse of either of them since. Is this a typical behavior of mandarins? I was expecting them to be fairly active, picking at pods around the tank all day long. I'm staying hopeful but losing faith

Anybody go through this before?

Mr. Limpid · Apr 30, 2018

A little more info is needed. What are the other occupants in the tank? Size of tank? Do you have a lot of hiding places? How old is your tank? What are your prams.?

Balanje · Apr 30, 2018

Mr. Limpid said:
A little more info is needed. What are the other occupants in the tank? Size of tank? Do you have a lot of hiding places? How old is your tank? What are your prams.?

I have a 90-gal mixed reef tank with a 40-gal sump and refugium.

The tank is only 6-months old but half the rock came from my old tank which was about 2 years old. That said, I know it’s still young for mandarins which is why I’m actively stocking pods.

I have about 100lbs of live rock and a good amount of caves/hiding places.

Other occupants:
Yellow tang
Kole tang
Melanurus wrasse
2x Clown fish
Bengai cardinal
Starry blenny
Hawkfish
Watchman goby / pistol shrimp pair
Blood shrimp
Skunk shrimp

Params:
Ph = 8.2
Sal = 1.024
Amonnia and nitrite = 0
Nitrate ~10ppm
Calc 420
Alk 9.0

Mr. Limpid · Apr 30, 2018

If they where super tiny, I say the shrimps are the problem. Hopefully I'm wrong and they come out soon. Also most people say wait a year before adding a mandarin.

Rispa · Apr 30, 2018

You could try to lure them out with brine shrimp.

Maritimer · Apr 30, 2018

Mandies can be pretty good at the ninja-vanish game. I've recently returned my target mandarin to my 220 gallon display, and only see her every few-to-several days - and she's an adult, in a tank with only nine other fish in it (the largest being blennies...)

That having been said, there are an awful lot of things that can go south for tiny fish in big tanks.

~Bruce