Mandarin with a pair of clownfish?

[sonnyteee]

Hey guys, I have a 20 gallon reef tank with a pair of clownfish, 1 banded coral shrimp, 6 trochus snails, 3 dwarf blue legged hermit crabs 1 red scarlet crab and 2 tiger conch snail's. Can I add a Mandarin or will the pair of clown fish be a problem? And or is the load to much? Basically I only have 2 fish in there at the moment with a bunch of corals and a clean up crew

 

[James M]

Your other inhabitants aren’t a problem...it’s the food source.
Are you going to be dosing pods ?
Are you culturing pod ?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I,agree,with James, I don’t see 20 gallons being enough to produce pods he needs for him to eat.

 

[sonnyteee]

I,agree,with James, I don’t see 20 gallons being enough to produce pods he needs for him to eat.

I won't be culturing pods so this probably won't work then?

 

[Clownfish2]

Clownfish and mandarin should be compatible. The challenge is a mandarins diet which is live copepods. A mandarin will slowly starve without a continuous supply of copepods or very established reef rock full of small zooplankton it can prey on.

 

[sonnyteee]

Clownfish and mandarin should be compatible. The challenge is a mandarins diet which is live copepods. A mandarin will slowly starve without a continuous supply of copepods or very established reef rock full of small zooplankton it can prey on.

So if I decide I want to dose my tank with zooplankton it would work?

 

[Clownfish2]

So if I decide I want to dose my tank with zooplankton it would work?

It depends. Buying a $25 bottle of copepods and squirting in a couple ounces a day would be a big fail and expensive!! The other fish in the tank would eat them in the water column before the mandarin noticed.

Ideally, you’d have 75 pounds plus of established rock that’s been in a reef tank for a couple years that has microscopic life on it for mandarin to hunt on.

A better option is to buy a bottle or two of copepods and begin culturing them. I have 4 gallons of copepods in glass jars that I grew from one $25 bottle of reef nutrition copepods last June. They breed slow so build up a population 6 months or more before purchasing a mandarin.

 

[sonnyteee]

It depends. Buying a $25 bottle of copepods and squirting in a couple ounces a day would be a big fail and expensive!! The other fish in the tank would eat them in the water column before the mandarin noticed.

Ideally, you’d have 75 pounds plus of established rock that’s been in a reef tank for a couple years that has microscopic life on it for mandarin to hunt on.

A better option is to buy a bottle or two of copepods and begin culturing them. I have 4 gallons of copepods in glass jars that I grew from one $25 bottle of reef nutrition copepods last June. They breed slow so build up a population 6 months or more before purchasing a mandarin.

Alright sounds good thank you

 

[sonnyteee]

Alright sounds good thank you

What other fish would you recommend I could get that is compatible with what I have now?

 

[Clownfish2]

A royal gramma or canary yellow wrasse would be good additions

 

[sonnyteee]

A royal gramma or canary yellow wrasse would be good additions

Gotcha. Thanks..now if I just wait a year for things to build up to keep a Mandarin would that work to?

 

[pezcadoazul]

Your other inhabitants aren’t a problem...it’s the food source.
Are you going to be dosing pods ?
Are you culturing pod ?

I have had no problem keeping mandarins. I have a very well established tank to which I used to add pods regularly, but I never established a population in the tank. I have had success feeding mandarins live brine shrimp hatched at home as well as frozen brine shrimp. I feed them frozen brine shrimp from a long pipette, and they have learned to approach the pipette to eat.