I have a noob question.

[Anemone_Fanatic]

As for the Mandarin I have 20lbs of rock. A feeding station with 2 copepod hotels that is surrounded by live rock. I have a sump which will be filled with dragons breath. Which is for the ruby crab and any other herbivores. I also have 2 gallon jugs for colonies of copepods. Almost forgot a 1/2 gallon of phyto.

So in total I would have 4 colonies of copepods. Including his feeding station.

You generally want about 50-60 lbs of live rock to maintain a copepod population that can sustain a mandarin. They eat well over a thousand each day, and will quickly starve with less. Some people can get theirs eating frozen, but it would need feeding at least four times a day for it to work.

 

[Mschmidt]

I didn't know you could add one first. I always thought let it age some first. I'm going to have 4 colonies of copepods for him. 2 1 gallon, Sump with dragons breath, and 2 copepod hotels as a feeding station with live rock all around them.

All of this is already set up. I'm just waiting to have the money for the copepods and phyto

It was first-ish. the tank had been running for 4-5 months at that point. I felt confident.

With cultures left, right, and center like you have you should be good fine for mandarin food. Sounds like you've done your research. I'd trust that.

 

[Knight420]

It was first-ish. the tank had been running for 4-5 months at that point. I felt confident.

With cultures left, right, and center like you have you should be good fine for mandarin food. Sounds like you've done your research. I'd trust that.

The Mandarin I'm getting is captive bred. There is a breeder close by. They have said each one is already trained to eat prepared food, but I'm still doing everything I can to have millions of copepods.

You generally want about 50-60 lbs of live rock to maintain a copepod population that can sustain a mandarin. They eat well over a thousand each day, and will quickly starve with less. Some people can get theirs eating frozen, but it would need feeding at least four times a day for it to work.

 

[LilsReefTank]

I am starting my first 40g breeder reef tank. There is a lot of fish I want to get for the tank.

1. Mandarin Goby
2. 2 Clowns
3.4 Blue Green Chromis
4. Cleaner Wrass
5. 2 Tangs, one for cleaning and a blue hippo like Dory
6. A Ruby Crab
7. A cleaner shrimp
8. A few snails
9. some hermit crabs.

There are other fish I want to add in time. Those are just the ones I wanted to start. The Mandarin will be the last to be added. I just have him first because I want him to be the center piece of the tank, for the fish anyway.

My question is how many fish can you add at one time? I have already done all the research on each of the fish on my list. I know Mandarin Gobys only like copepods and I have all of that in mind. I'm just worried if I add too many fish at one time it might crash the system.

Speaking for the hippo tang - I think it would be okay for a decent while if you started with a juvenile. I also have a 40g breeder and have a hippo tang. She is fine and doing great. I do have a 100g I plan to eventually move her into but if you didn’t, rehoming is a good option. (I actually am happy I did start her here because it was easy to get her to feed and watch her for health issues. Also so much easier to catch her when needed. There is still so much space for her to swim, that’s the least of my concern (againnnnn, if you started with a juvenile)

 

[Knight420]

Thank you, I was planning on upgrading to a 100+ tank in the near future. Move all the fish to the bigger tank and start again with other fish for the small tank. I work from home, so one for my office and the other for my living room. It's a slow process but it's going to be beautiful.