Starting a Mandarin tank

[MODZISTER]

I'm fairly new to reefing I decided my first tank I would tackle a Mandarin tank. I'm using a 29 gal HOB. I have 2 hydor evo 425. 4' deep sand bed live sand, dry pukani rock.HOB skimmer HOB refugium copepods. Is there anything special about Mandarins that I should know about?

 

[mrcoffee2]

I love mine! Just make sure you have LOTS of pods ready for them. If I were to give a new reefer advice id say don't add a mandarin until 6-8months after your pods are introduced. If you don't have a very healthy pod population you will probably have to dose them to keep the fish happy.

 

[NanaReefer]

Deeply research this special needs fish beforehand!

 

[MODZISTER]

I planned on waiting till my pod population has grown but I didn't think that long. Will adding gobbys and shrimp to have something in my tank eat up the pod population.

 

[MODZISTER]

Or what else is safe to add till that time I know I should wait at least a year before adding corals

 

[J Rog]

Also, with that size tank it's going to be hard to keep a decent amount of pods in there for even 1 mandarin. I have a 120 gallon with lots of live rock and a refugium and still have to buy pods every now and then to make sure she is getting enough. If your going to do it I wouldn't put more then 1 in there.. And make sure you are stocking up on pods to add to the refugium if your not seeing many. That is all the mandarin does all day is look for pods to eat. So they go through them very fast

 

[MODZISTER]

I feel like I need a dedicated refugium bigger than my tank just to reproduce pods. I still have time my tank has been up for only about 2 weeks now

 

[J Rog]

Ya, I agree

 

[MODZISTER]

My only thing is I wasn't planning on a downstairs fuge or sump but maybe just adding one the same size as my tank wouldn't be bad adding now I just liked the fact with the HOB fuge the pods can be easily flowed right in to the tank and not through pumps