Mandarin Gobi Care

[Bethany Yates]

Hey guys!
I recently adopted a mandarin goby from a friend who was breaking down their tank. I have a good population of copepods living in my 150 reef tank. Do I need to continually be adding cops to the tank? How can I tell if it is getting enough to eat? Any advice is appreciated!

 

[LordJoshaeus]

They WILL eat all your copepods sooner or later...I would have a back up food source ready. You could culture your own copepods; alternately, it is sometimes (but not always) possible to train a mandarin to eat frozen foods (I am no expert on these fishes, though, so you may want to wait for more advice).

 

[Sosuke]

If you have an 150 gallon you probably have a sump, so I think the copepods will have a safe place to breed. The mandarin probably won't deplete all the pods in an 150 so you're probably good for now but I feed phytoplankton in my tank so pods definitely have food to eat and grow. To see if its eating well its stomach should be nice and plump and not sunken in.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes- you can’t give them enough when it comes to food source

 

[OrionN]

A 150 gal reef tank, if run 1/2 way normal should have enough food for a Mandarin. There are fishes that would compete for food against Mandarin, but I think it should be fine. I have a 65 gal reef and it is enough to keep my Mandarin fat.
What are the fishes in your tank?

BTW, what you have there is a fat MALE Mandarin with his spike broke off. If you are doubtful about this, wait 3-4 weeks and post a picture of this fish and you, or anybody who doubt, see that I am right.