Mandarins???

[Salty-Noob]

Someone give me the 101 on this guy

 

[Salty-Noob]

Looking for new fish to get since my damsel killed them all. Still new at this so help me out?

 

[Albeez]

Eats copepods, some eat brine shrimp as well. Need a mature tank with plenty of copepods. They're beautiful though. Mine has been doing pretty well in my 30 gallon, I dose copepods every three or four weeks, he eats brine as well though.


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[Rikerbear]

The starve easily in new tanks with little to no pods to eat. They need to eat almost constantly as they don;t store food like other fish.
I would keep looking for your next fish....mandarins may not be right just yet :neutral:

 

[Albeez]

Any signs to tell if a mandarin is not eating enough???


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[Salty-Noob]

That's why I'm asking... I know bout the copepods, but what makes it so hard to keep one? What does a mature tank consist of

 

[Salty-Noob]

Any signs to tell if a mandarin is not eating enough???


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That was my next question

 

[Rikerbear]

They get thin and scrawny looking....a good plump mandarin is a happy well fed mandarin.
Mature tanks are tanks a year or more in age and have been stable for long enough to have a good solid pod community growing with all the various stages of their life cycle.
Some tank raised mandarins have been weened onto live brine and frozen foods.
In my 30+ years in SW I have never been able to keep one for more than 6 months. I know others are successful, so hopefully others will chime in here too

 

[NanaReefer]

A mature tank for a Mandarin is...A tank large enough to sustain a pod population long enough to repopulate themselves before the Mandarin can wipe them out.
Very important, no matter what your told
Frozen Brine Shrimp has absolutely NO nutritional value at all, for any fish! The only brine shrimp that are good as a food are the live baby brine and only then for the first couple of hours after hatching.
Sorry for the rant but I've personal experience with these fish. Both of which have since died



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[Salty-Noob]

They get thin and scrawny looking....a good plump mandarin is a happy well fed mandarin.
Mature tanks are tanks a year or more in age and have been stable for long enough to have a good solid pod community growing with all the various stages of their life cycle.
Some tank raised mandarins have been weened onto live brine and frozen foods.
In my 30+ years in SW I have never been able to keep one for more than 6 months. I know others are successful, so hopefully others will chime in here too

I didn't know they didn't last. How can you tell if its a good pod community and what are the cycles you are talking about?

 

[Salty-Noob]

A mature tank for a Mandarin is...A tank large enough to sustain a pod population long enough to repopulate themselves before the Mandarin can wipe them out.



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How do you do that?

 

[Rikerbear]

I didn't know they didn't last. How can you tell if its a good pod community and what are the cycles you are talking about?

The pods full life cycle....reproduction, and multiple generations and various stages of age...from nymph to adult
Lots of other fish eat pods too, so it can be really hard to keep enough for the mandarin unless it is your only fish.

 

[Rikerbear]

How do you do that?

That is the $64,000 dollar question. Very hard to answer....and the answer seems different for different people

 

[Salty-Noob]

The pods full life cycle....reproduction, and multiple generations and various stages of age...from nymph to adult
Lots of other fish eat pods too, so it can be really hard to keep enough for the mandarin unless it is your only fish.

I only have a firefish

 

[NanaReefer]

How do you do that?

Keep your tank running for more then a year. Listen to those who are keeping them successfully.
Fire Fish love pods! Just about every fish does.


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[Salty-Noob]

Still a pretty awesome fish

 

[Salty-Noob]

What about getting a watchman goby?

 

[Rikerbear]

Keep your tank running for more then a year. Listen to those who are keeping them successfully.
Fire Fish love pods! Just about every fish does.

+1 Keep researching, reading, and asking questions

 

[Salty-Noob]

+1 Keep researching, reading, and asking questions

That's why I love this ap. no stupid questions here

 

[o2manyfish]

Mandarins do well as long as they can feed at their convenience, not on our feeding schedule.

I have 3 mandarins in my tank that are all close to 2 years. They are obese little piggies. My largest is so fat he doesn't have to feed constantly an we only see him on occasion when he comes out of the rocks on occasion to show himself.

Now I have a 400 gallon display tank. But I have over 1000lbs of live rock. I also have a 250g refugium with hundreds of pounds of live rock.

Every 4-6 month I add some pods. But my pod population is out of control. We recently pulled 2 maricultured corals to dip. And in the dipping container there were over 115 pods, just living on the bottom of two small corals.

To successfully keep mandarins, and in the past I have had mandarins last over 8 years, you need a mature established aquarium with lots of rock. The rock is an area for pods to thrive in and provides the mandarin ample hunting ground. And having a refugium, just loaded with rock and algae for the pods population to explode in without anything munching them is key.

Mandarins are pretty simple, they just want to eat. So if you want to keep them (successfully) you have to have a stable and self-sustaining food source for them.

Dave B