Mandarin pair in 40

[Newfishgirl]

What are your thoughts on a spotted mandarin pair in a 40? I've added crushed coral and porous rock for lots of pod hiding places. I'm also going to breed pods as well for a large stock.
I've added a few more pieces to the rock structure.

 

[jjh302]

What are your thoughts on a spotted mandarin pair in a 40? I've added crushed coral and porous rock for lots of pod hiding places. I'm also going to breed pods as well for a large stock.
I've added a few more pieces to the rock structure.

I’m following this post. I’m starting my RSR 250 as a sps tank and to breed pods in for a year or so so I can House only a green and a red mandarin in it. Best of luck!

 

[Transporter]

I don't know, as I have never had Mandarins, but I can tell you from years of reading that the general consensus is not to do it. Not saying that it can not be done, but it will require a mature (not just cycled or stable) tank with no other competitors for pods, and more than likely a constant (more than once a day) supplementation of baby brine shrimp (bbs).
I am simply regurgitating information I have read, so don't take my word as gospel.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Love Mandarins too. Following your thread.

 

[Newfishgirl]

I don't know, as I have never had Mandarins, but I can tell you from years of reading that the general consensus is not to do it. Not saying that it can not be done, but it will require a mature (not just cycled or stable) tank with no other competitors for pods, and more than likely a constant (more than once a day) supplementation of baby brine shrimp (bbs).
I am simply regurgitating information I have read, so don't take my word as gospel.

No thank you. I've had them before and did okay. I'm choosing the spotted because they were the only ones I was able to teach to eat bribe shrimp. I read online people staying not to put them in a 40 which now has me second guessing myself

 

[alton]

If they are eating frozen you are fine. I had one for a year in a 29, I ended up selling him because he kept stealing food from my corals. I also used coarse gravel creating a haven for pods.

 

[alton]

Another option
https://www.algaebarn.com/product/biota-captive-bred-green-mandarin/

 

[Claus84]

Honestly unless you are going to be setting up a feeder for live baby brine and hatching them everyday then I think you would find that one mandarin will soon clean out the pod pop in a 40 let alone a pair. I have had a biota green mandy in a 90 for a year with 120lb rock and it still whittles the population down over time. I'm not saying it can't be done but it will likely take some work to be successful

 

[mckinleyw]

get algaebarn pods once a month and you should be fine. also let population of pods climax before adding the mandys. this is my .02

 

[JoshH]

As above, a pair might be pushing it but if you're willing to do the leg work and there will be a fair amount if it, I've seen people successfully keep them in a nuvo 20 but the work involved in that was Farr more than most would do. You do seem to have some knowledge of what you're getting yourself into which is good. I'd take it really slow and allow your pod population to explode before you add any at all and once you get them immediately start trying to lure them onto frozen food to ease the strain on your pods. Not to wean them off pods enirely but to relieve the damage on there numbers.

 

[Newfishgirl]

I had a pair of spotted mandarins in a 20 Long and I was successful until my stupid 6 line killed them. So I put him in my mantis tank...insert evil laugh here! Unfortunately my mantis shrimp could have cared less.

 

[Transporter]

Please don't take this the wrong way, because it is very hard to establish tone or expressions in reading text.

I had a pair of spotted mandarins in a 20 Long and I was successful until my stupid 6 line killed them. So I put him in my mantis tank...insert evil laugh here! Unfortunately my mantis shrimp could have cared less.

But, it sounds as if you are steadfast and have already answered your original question...

 

[Newfishgirl]

Please don't take this the wrong way, because it is very hard to establish tone or expressions in reading text.



But, it sounds as if you are steadfast and have already answered your original question...

I should have added a little more, had them in a 20 for about 3 months as a holding tank while I was moving over to a new 90 gallon set up. They did great as mentioned, until the 6 line became extremely aggressive. But long term wanted to get a feel for a smaller tank

 

[Paul B]

Unfortunately I can almost guarantee your mandarins will starve in that tank. It is much to clean and small. You will have better luck if you built a feeder such as this one and hatched brine shrimp every day as I do. I have been keeping and breeding mandarins for a couple of decades and they really need the correct food constantly. This pair has been spawning for a few years. Buying pods won't work for more than a few months in that tank. Sorry.

 

[Transporter]

And this man right here ^ is where I based the majority of of the information I posted ...

 

[ReefingwithO]

I have a Red Sea Reefer 350 (about 75 gallons). I have a pair of Mandarins. Tank was about a year and half before I put them in and I have a 2 gallon refugium that's mainly to breed pods. I feed heavy so there is always a lot of leftover food and I'm not currently running any filter socks.

I've only seeded my tank once, maybe a year ago with 5,000 algeabarn pods. I see lots of copepods and amphipods when I clean out my cheato reactor every two weeks and if I look at my refugium closely at night.

I think tank maturity is key. The photo posted above looks like a new tank