Mandarin Goby/ scooter blenny questions

[James M]

I have 2 scooter and 2 mandarins in my 150 they all are fine and have seen them eat about anything put in tank as well as pods tank and fuge been running about 5 years these fish have only been in there about 2 months will see how it goes had a scooter prior to these for about 3 years he disapeared? So far so good I supplement pods with live brine also keeping a close eye on them

You tank is much larger than mine

 

[PDR]

I think you would need a minimum of a 20 gallon fuge setup for at least 6 months (maybe less if you seeded with a variety of pods and fed them phyto consistently for a few months), any less and I think failure is inevitable, unless you take the time to train and feed prepared foods multiple times a day.

 

[James M]

I think you would need a minimum of a 20 gallon fuge setup for at least 6 months (maybe less if you seeded with a variety of pods and fed them phyto consistently for a few months), any less and I think failure is inevitable, unless you take the time to train and feed prepared foods multiple times a day.

For both scooter and mandarin

 

[PDR]

For both scooter and mandarin

I have never kept a scooter, so I can't say for certain if they are easier, but I personally would not do any less for either of them.

I recently started feeding PE Calanus and I have found my mandarin eating the ones that settle out on the sand and rock. So there is a chance that could help, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[James M]

I have never kept a scooter, so I can't say for certain if they are easier, but I personally would not do any less for either of them.

I recently started feeding PE Calanus and I have found my mandarin eating the ones that settle out on the sand and rock. So there is a chance that could help, but I wouldn't count on it.

I was aiming towards the scooter but I’ll pass if I can’t support the needs of it .

 

[PDR]

I was aiming towards the scooter but I’ll pass if I can’t support the needs of it .

In your current tank, I think this is the best decision.

 

[code4]

The females of both are much smaller than the males. So less bio load. If you wanted to use Paul's feeder, daily, and I mean daily, you could keep a female of either one. And yes they can easily start eating frozen food. But they need to be able to eat for longer periods of time than just a few minutes each day. I have been hatching brine shrimp daily for years. Both fish have long life spans. Brine shrimp direct sales the feeder and brine shrimp eggs. I use 2 feeders so I can alternate them. The free samples that come with each dish can last for many months. You do not need to heat them. Harvesting the shrimp every day is easy with the dish. I like watching the mandarins eat off the feeder. My scooter did great with the Mandarin for years. You would not need to buy new eggs for over 6 months with the samples that come with the dish. Ask if they don't say. I bought a can of them, like a small coffee can. I keep them in the freezer and have only used about half the can. I just refill the small plastic bottles that came with the dishes. Bought them around 4 or 5 years ago. Good luck. PS, my cat loves watching mandarins!

 

[code4]

And might I suggest a purple fire fish instead of the clown? Clowns can get aggressive. Just keep a tight cover on it. Even mandarins jump!

 

[James M]

Not going to get one overall thank you for the suggestions

 

[Claus84]

While they require training and conversion, mandarins can be kept on frozen/prepared foods like mysis. I have a breeding pair that do not touch the overwhelming pod population in my tank because they are lazy and eat pellet/frozen/anything I put in the tank.

Biota breeds mandarins that eat @Reef Nutrition TDO pellets (almost exclusively) and rarely peck around for pods. So if you could get one of those it would do well eating in a smaller aquarium, but they do like to scoot around a bit.

I've had a Biota mandarin for nearly 2 years, I assure you it eats a lot of pods!