Mandarin Gobies... The RED kind!

[TheNowMovement]

So i've seen this red goby on live aquaria and Im pretty much in love! I always seem to get hooked on the lesser known animals, so I always have to ask from people's experience... Have any of you had a RED mandarin goby? I dont see anyone with one on here... Are they different to take care of then the Blue or Target Mandarins?

Im thinking about pulling the trigger on something like that in a few months once i get my copepod population rolling good... But i wanna know first hand experience first before i jump right in. Any input appreciated, as always!

 

[Shep]

They are simply a different color morph of the blue (I assume you are talking about Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Green Mandarin when you say blue) and as such they have the same care requirements. If you have a really good pod population and good water quality they are actually pretty easy to care for. Some people can get them to eat frozen and other prepared foods but others can't so I would not count on that as a way of feeding it. I've had no problems with my green, they are awesome fish with great personalities. Hope that helps!

 

[TheNowMovement]

lol... I looked at my post and realized i put blue instead of green... but at least you know what i mean... Is there any reason as to why the red ones arent as popular?

 

[Shep]

Honestly I have no idea, they could be just rarer in general due to genetics or something. I plan on getting a red female to breed with my green male. If you can, try getting a captive bred one from ORA, they are much more likely to take to prepared foods and in general captive bred fish do better in tanks than their wild caught counterparts. What's your setup like?

 

[TheNowMovement]

The system is a 90 gallon with a 20 gallon sump... I just started a refugium area within the sump today, so that should be kicking off within a month or so. I have WP40 Jebao wavemaker powerheads with dual controller, roughly 70-80 pounds of live rock...

1 Scopas Tang
2 Occelaris Clowns
3 Blue Green Chromis
1 Diamond Goby

Just dosed the fuge with tisbe pods today... Im getting my new Reef Octopus skimmer tomorrow, so the water will start to get a little cleaner (My current Bubble Magus is totally failing on me, and relatively useless 85% of the time). As for coral, I have a rather big leather, brown button polyps (they look kinda like palys, but Im not sure), green star polyps, and some run-of-the-mill zoas

 

[Karen]

I have one that hunts continuously. I think he is also eating the frozen mysis when I feed my Firefish but I am not sure. I supplement with pods.

 

[TheNowMovement]

Nice pic of your goby Karen... but this is what i mean about the Mandarin Goby... Totally different fish

 

[Karen]

Oh. Wrong one.

 

[Shep]

That's an awesome system, do you have a tank build thread? Also I am not sure but I think the goby will sift the sand and eat pods from there, so you might want to make sure you have more than enough pods but if you get the captive bred one I think you will be fine!

 

[Shep]

I have one that hunts continuously. I think he is also eating the frozen mysis when I feed my Firefish but I am not sure. I supplement with pods.

Love those ones! they are so tiny and cool