mandarin and wrasse coexisting

[jeanjo85]

Has anyone been able to successfully keep a mandarin and wrasse in the same tank? I have never even considered owning a mandarin fish because I love wrasses and they can cause the mandarin to starve due to them competing for the same food source. But lately, I have been re-exploring the possibility to keep a mandarin fish with my fairy wrasse and I am wondering if anyone has been able to do it.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Has anyone been able to successfully keep a mandarin and wrasse in the same tank? I have never even considered owning a mandarin fish because I love wrasses and they can cause the mandarin to starve due to them competing for the same food source. But lately, I have been re-exploring the possibility to keep a mandarin fish with my fairy wrasse and I am wondering if anyone has been able to do it.

I'm sure there are many tanks with both types of fish.

I have them in my tank, and the key would be to stock and maintain enough micro fauna to satisfy all the fish.

I can see that smaller tanks would have a difficult time though.

 

[Mikeltee]

For sure. I have a coris and Mandarin in a 40g. The Coris is always hunting Pods too. I culture 10g of 3 strains of pod and 2g of phyto to feed them.

 

[jeanjo85]

i have a 40 breeder, and had it running for 3 years. I would assume, at this point, the micro fauna should be well established. But it is still a 40 gallon with about 40-50lbs of rock, not sure if that s enough for a mandarin.

 

[jeanjo85]

For sure. I have a coris and Mandarin in a 40g. The Coris is always hunting Pods too. I culture 10g of 3 strains of pod and 2g of phyto to feed them.

Wow, very interesting! For how long have you had the two of them in the same tank?

 

[DaJMasta]

Train your mandarin to eat prepared foods and feed your tank well, there should be no issue. In terms of personality, mandarins tend not to give a f, so if almost any other fish tries to harass them, they just keep doing their thing with virtually no reaction.

I've had two mandarins, two ruby red dragonets, two pygmy possum wrasses, and a ruby finned fairy wrasse in the same ~45g. All trained onto prepared foods, fed twice a day, and everyone got along great.

 

[jeanjo85]

thank you for the info. Now that I know that it can be done, I will definitely look into that!

Train your mandarin to eat prepared foods and feed your tank well, there should be no issue. In terms of personality, mandarins tend not to give a f, so if almost any other fish tries to harass them, they just keep doing their thing with virtually no reaction.

I've had two mandarins, two ruby red dragonets, two pygmy possum wrasses, and a ruby finned fairy wrasse in the same ~45g. All trained onto prepared foods, fed twice a day, and everyone got along great.

 

[DJF]

Very few fish bother mandys except it’s almost guaranteed with other mandys