How strong are mandarins?

[Fish rookie 07]

I’ve been cycling my tank for months having no rich and have had multiple Copepod blooms but haven’t had any fish, would a mandarin work as a first fish or better getting a clownfish as I’d like both later but will only get one right now?

 

[najer]

I’ve been cycling my tank for months having no rich and have had multiple Copepod blooms but haven’t had any fish, would a mandarin work as a first fish or better getting a clownfish as I’d like both later but will only get one right now?

What size tank, how much rock?

 

[OrionN]

Mandarin are hardy fish and disease free. You can't have ammonia, or nitrite but they would tolerate a new tank fairly well. The question is, as @najer asked, how big is your tank? It is the food source that is important for Mandarin, and copepods reproduced very fast, but the tank need to set up right and large enough.

 

[Katrina71]

If in doubt, wait.

 

[Ewok1]

I’ve been cycling my tank for months having no rich and have had multiple Copepod blooms but haven’t had any fish, would a mandarin work as a first fish or better getting a clownfish as I’d like both later but will only get one right now?

Mandarins would die in a new tank because they won’t have enough copepods. Best if you went with another fish I just used a yellow tang.

 

[Dilan Patel]

I wouldn't say mandarins are disease free more like they are disease resistant as they have a Thicker slime coat making it hardier for parasites to enter. Thats also why Clownfish tend to be one of the best fish to introduce first as they have a thicker slime coat than many other fish making them a little more forgiving.

 

[OrionN]

I wouldn't say mandarins are disease free more like they are disease resistant as they have a Thicker slime coat making it hardier for parasites to enter. Thats also why Clownfish tend to be one of the best fish to introduce first as they have a thicker slime coat than many other fish making them a little more forgiving.

Well, I should say disease resistant. Nothing is disease free.
I few years ago, I bought a thin emaciated female mandarin. The gill bone was bare with algae growing on it. I got her for 5 dollars. I don't rescue fish from LFS or Petco. If there is a sick animal that I think I can keep alive and do well, I will buy it at a discount. I will not pay full price for it. Rescue animals from LFS is the most misguided action a reefer can do to help the fish. If the LFS cannot take care of an animal, they should not get it. If they get it, they must loose money, or else they just keep on order animals they cannot take care of if they keep on profit from it.

Anyway, after several months this is the fish. The gill plate on the L side still have hair algae growing on it. This did not heal for a year. Now you never know she was almost dead. I did not take picture of her when I first got her, but I make a point to take these type of pictures from now on.

How is that for disease resistant. Is there any animal with plant growing on their bare bone and live?

 

[NS Mike D]

A mandarin can wipe out a tank's pod population fairly quickly in a new tank and leave it starving if the tank isn't able to maintain the population. This is why it's recommended that one have mature large tank for a mandarin.

I am lucky in that my mandarin will now aggressively feed on brine and small mysis, but I also observed the fish eating that in the LFS before buying.

Given it can be risky, I would not start a tank with a mandarin. Keep an eye on your pods as the tank matures and if your tank is 75g or larger with lots of rocks and your pod population is abundant then pull the trigger as they are great additions to a reef tank.

 

[OrionN]

Mandarin is a hardy fish but must have food to survive. Their food are copepods and other tiny crustacean living in the sand and rock of the tank. How soon can one put a Mandarin in a system depends on how it is set up and how large the system is. If you set up a system with sterile dry dead rock and dry dead sand the chances are you won't be able to get a mandarin in it for a long time, even if it is a huge system. There are a huge number of species of copepods. Buying a bottle of copepods and dump it in your system is better than nothing, but this does not result in a diverse population of fauna that is needed for a stable system.
These tiny crustacean are small and have very short life, they reach equilibrium in a system very quickly. If you set up your tank with GOOD live sand and live rock, or mostly good LS and LR, there is no reason that you should wait 3 months or more to put one in, if your system in 60+ gal.

 

[shookONES]

My mandarin eats Rods and LRS with gusto. He just did slightly less than 5 weeks in quarantine, 3+ of those in therapeutic Copper.

 

[mfinn]

I’ve been cycling my tank for months having no rich and have had multiple Copepod blooms but haven’t had any fish, would a mandarin work as a first fish or better getting a clownfish as I’d like both later but will only get one right now?

As a first fish in a new tank, a mandarin is not a fish I would pick.

 

[Miller535]

The rule of thumb I was always told was they are BEST suited for 100+ gallon tanks that have been running for at least a year. Generally with a attached refugium. And you have to be mindful of the other fish, as a lot of other fish will eat pods also.

 

[Seanb1]

Not very strong at all if they dont have sufficient food to eat like pods.
I suggest you not get one till your tank matures.

 

[Sailingeric]

This strong!

 

[Crustaceon]

Long time mandarin keeper here. I have mine in a 55g with around 40lbs of rock and no refugium. I’ve seen them struggle in 100G tanks with 200lbs of live rock after obliterating the pod population, which they inadvertently will do. That being said, I don’t consider them to be a “passively” kept fish. What I mean by this is I don’t expect them to just live off of pods because in my experience that has never worked. But what has worked extremely well is training my dragonets to accept frozen food. I’ve done this with around a dozen dragonets throughout the years (all but the one I have going to happy homes and still thriving). In a nutshell, you’ll have to put in some effort for the first month or two and if successful, you’ll end up just feeding the tank a cube of brine or mysis with the pumps turned off for ten minutes or so every day.

 

[OrionN]

It is all in how you set up your tank. I always have Mandarin in my reef I I have never target feed them, they just eat of the pods in my tank. I have keep them doing well from 28 gal to 420 gal

 

[Rvs187]

I also have a new tank and I’m also dying to add a mandarin , but like most people have told you , your best option is to wait , from what I have read and heard is 6-8 months intel you can add that type of fish ... I have my tank for close to 2 months now and the fish that I have and have been doing great are
1 clown
1 yellow watchmen goby
2 fire fish goby
1 fairy wrasse
1 royal gramma

those fishes are hardy and really easy to keep

 

[VR28man]

@OrionN while looking for information on that other magnifica thread I came across this thread a few qs:

Well, I should say disease resistant. Nothing is disease free.
I few years ago, I bought a thin emaciated female mandarin. The gill bone was bare with algae growing on it. I got her for 5 dollars. I don't rescue fish from LFS or Petco. If there is a sick animal that I think I can keep alive and do well, I will buy it at a discount. I will not pay full price for it. Rescue animals from LFS is the most misguided action a reefer can do to help the fish. If the LFS cannot take care of an animal, they should not get it. If they get it, they must loose money, or else they just keep on order animals they cannot take care of if they keep on profit from it.

Anyway, after several months this is the fish. The gill plate on the L side still have hair algae growing on it. This did not heal for a year. Now you never know she was almost dead. I did not take picture of her when I first got her, but I make a point to take these type of pictures from now on.

How is that for disease resistant. Is there any animal with plant growing on their bare bone and live?

That's really interesting, albeit even more unfortunate. Does she still have the GHA on her gills???!!!!

It is all in how you set up your tank. I always have Mandarin in my reef I I have never target feed them, they just eat of the pods in my tank. I have keep them doing well from 28 gal to 420 gal

How did you keep enough pods to feed a mandarin in a 28G? (disclaimer: I have no intention to do this, but I do of course realize that some people would take whatever answer you might give as license to do so.....)

 

[OrionN]

I keep the Madarin in a Oceanic 28 gal cube with a pair of Snowflake Clowns and a small Magnifica anemone. The tank have a HOB skimmer and Skimmer. I specifically have a 1-2 inches fine sand bed, and a 2 inches layer of small bi-vales shells on top of the sand bed. These shells are about 1/4 inch size. The thick layer give the pods a lot of room to growing and multiply and keep away from the Mandarin. I do feed the tank enough to have a thriving polulation of fauna and pods, and isopods.
With the mandarin as the only hunter, the 28 gal set up as above provide plenty of pods for the Mandarin. He was very fat and grew fast. I had them in there for many years until I got them all in my 420 gal tank.

 

[VR28man]

I keep the Madarin in a Oceanic 28 gal cube with a pair of Snowflake Clowns and a small Magnifica anemone. The tank have a HOB skimmer and Skimmer. I specifically have a 1-2 inches fine sand bed, and a 2 inches layer of small bi-vales shells on top of the sand bed. These shells are about 1/4 inch size. The thick layer give the pods a lot of room to growing and multiply and keep away from the Mandarin. I do feed the tank enough to have a thriving polulation of fauna and pods, and isopods.
With the mandarin as the only hunter, the 28 gal set up as above provide plenty of pods for the Mandarin. He was very fat and grew fast. I had them in there for many years until I got them all in my 420 gal tank.

Ah, very interesting. Did you make the layer yourself (like off of shells collected on the beach)? I think many people would consider the 2 inches of shells a detritus trap.

But maybe that's the point- it seems the pods would eat the detritus.