Mandarin
- Thread starter 40g Nano
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
Macro refugiums work well. I have used clear HOB filters as high energy refugiums. The six line wrasse will be a serious handicap for a shy Dragonett. Not only will the wrasse directly compete for the same live food but the aggressive wrasse may well keep mandarin. In hiding.
In a 40 gal with a Sixline wrasse, the Mandarin chance of living long term is like a snowflake in hell.
In my 420 gal with a pair of Mandarin, and a pair of Sixline wrasse, the Wrasse attack the Mandarin and peck her eyes out in a few seconds. They then leave her to starve. If that was not premeditated murder, I am not sure what is. I euthanized the Mandarin after few weeks and return the two Sixline wrasse back to the LFS (after really strongly consider death by flushing down the toilet)
In my 420 gal with a pair of Mandarin, and a pair of Sixline wrasse, the Wrasse attack the Mandarin and peck her eyes out in a few seconds. They then leave her to starve. If that was not premeditated murder, I am not sure what is. I euthanized the Mandarin after few weeks and return the two Sixline wrasse back to the LFS (after really strongly consider death by flushing down the toilet)
moulton1853
Active Member
In a 40 you will never be able to sustain both for more then a couple months before the mandarins starves. Even an ORA mandarin will starve unless you can feed it small amounts constantly throughout the day.
If you insist on trying look into Paul‘s mandarin feeder. A lot of extra work but it may sustain the mandarin.
If you insist on trying look into Paul‘s mandarin feeder. A lot of extra work but it may sustain the mandarin.
^but you must remove the Sixline.
blaxsun
10K Club member
Well, I have a very healthy Mandarin in my 25-gallon that has coexisted peacefully with my various wrasses (sixline, leopard, blue flasher). Mine is unique in that it eats and absolutely loves fresh food, including but not limited to: frozen copepods, blood worms and both brine and mysis shrimp. We're even able to hand feed him!
We did supplement twice with Tigger pods before introducing him to the tank, but Mandarins are very effective predators and I wouldn't be surprised if the copepod population was on the brink (then again, as he prefers mysis they may be thriving just fine).
From what I understand this is the rare exception rather than the rule, however. It's not so much the size of the tank but the surface area of live rocks which ensures you have a vast copepod population (I seem to recall somewhere upwards of a 60-80 gallon tank just to have enough live rock, but someone please jump in if I'm off on this).
We did supplement twice with Tigger pods before introducing him to the tank, but Mandarins are very effective predators and I wouldn't be surprised if the copepod population was on the brink (then again, as he prefers mysis they may be thriving just fine).
From what I understand this is the rare exception rather than the rule, however. It's not so much the size of the tank but the surface area of live rocks which ensures you have a vast copepod population (I seem to recall somewhere upwards of a 60-80 gallon tank just to have enough live rock, but someone please jump in if I'm off on this).
blaxsun
10K Club member
Every fish can be so different... Everyone I've talked to runs a separate refugium or farm to replenish their copepods, and they usually re-introduce them to the tank when it's dark.
I've still got copepods in both my tanks 6+ months on after introducing them, but I think that's more due to a lack of predators than anything I'm necessarily doing right. I think having a readily available food source for them to thrive is key (mine seem to like the seaweed I introduce on a daily basis). I hear they breed like crazy with Chaeto.
