20 gallon mandarin goby pair tank

[Sh0velman]

Yes I know their dietary needs. Yes I know how fast they can deplete a population of pods in a tank, even more do in a tank this small. So no flamers or ragers as I believe this can work. So any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome. Heres what I've got planned so far (note:this is a plan. If all sounds well I will most likely be starting later this summer to get the tank going).

-20gallon tall tank I am going to load with live rock In a sort of terracing effect to maximize hunting grounds for pods as well as sheltered breeding grounds.
- 2x moded aqua clear hob filter for pod breeding and basically hob fuges.
- majority macro algae tank to help with water chemistry as well as pod production.
-a light to accordingly provide such conditions.

The goal is to try and maintain sustainable pod cultures in the moded hob filters all the while making the tank itself a pod paradise. The second part is for the hob filters to sustain the mandarins all the wile I try my best to get the mandarins onto frozen food ie mysis and other foods like ova that I've heard there have been success with. If I get lucky and am able to get them on frozen or prepared, they will also still be fed pods as Ive read they have proteins and enzymes that cannot be replaces by other foods.

Now here are some advantages I have.
-I work at an aquariums store that sells mandarins (various posatives you can figure for yourself)
- we sell live pod cultures at the store....so if worst comes to worst I'll have food at my finger tips. Partner that with my employee discount and
So there we go. The plans so far.

 

[randomfishguy85]

are you doing a sump? it would make this endeavor or your much more realistic, just based off the higher volume of water you will have. Tbh you wont even need a skimmer, just a sump stuffed with macroalgae and live rock. Look at it like this; The largest aquaclear only holds like 3-4 gallons, so with 2 of them the most water for a fuge you would get is like 8 gallons. Now with a 20 gallon sump, you can fill it 3/4 of the way and have 15 gallons to work with. In that 15 gallons of water, you could add tons of rock and macro, instead of a little macro and some rock rubble.

 

[Sk8r]

If you had a 50 gallon sump/fuge added to that you'd be golden. A very big tub with a shop light and cheato could serve.

 

[messesb52]

im pretty sure mandarins are supposed to have at least a 75 gal tank

 

[Sh0velman]

Yeah this is a bedroom tank. Will not be sumped hence the aquaclear filters.
And regarding the 75 gallons that's what some of the older reefers swear by since in their time that was the only way to keep one. But now with advances in the hobby and things such as pods ready to go in a bag, people (not just me) are keeping them in smaller and smaller tanks with no complications.
A coworker if mine has a 30g reef tank with a wild caught mandarin on mysis for the past 3 years and the little is going strong. Worst comes to worst I buy a bag of pods at a discounted price every week or every other week to suit their needs. Hopefully by then I'll have them on mysis too to keep em nice and full.

 

[moshi1ry]

This will most likely end in a fail. Even if they were on mysis it still does not matter. Mandarins have no way to store food these is why they are constantly required to hunt there food. 20 gallon tank is just not big enough not even for 1 mandarin. They will destroy the pod population and will you honestly add pods everyday? I would love to see this done but i dont think it can be done without a sump. A pair of mandarins is hard to come by that wont kill each other and on top of that finding 2 that would eat frozen is also difficult. Maybe working in a pet store this is possible though. I would strongly encourage you too add a sump to this setup even a 5 gallon sump will be worth it to breed pods. This way you can just reach your hand down and add a sponge worth of pods every night or so. Definitely make sure though that it is a mated pair. Good luck would love to see how this turns out.

 

[moshi1ry]

Did not mean to sound so dismal in that post but i would encourage you to look in the nano section there is a guy there that had 1 mandarin in a 10 gallon i think? So could it be done possibly but probably no.

 

[Sh0velman]

Yeah I've read his whole setup and thread. I think he put an article about it In an aquarium magazine. Basically what I'm modeling it after and he seemed to have astounding success so I don't see a reason not to give it a go.

 

[Ryand63]

google melevs mandarin diner too. it'll give you great ideas on supplemental feeding for them. http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html I'll be following along b/c I want a mandarin in my 29 with using an in tank refugium growing pods!

 

[Ambition]

Rather than buying pods every time you run out you should start a culture or two of pods (a couple different species to add variety). Then you could use a pipette or turkey basted to add them to the tank every so often. This would save you a lot of money.

For frozen foods you may have to start feeding them live baby brine then slowly mix frozen baby brine. Keep mixing in the new food slowly until you don't need to mix them.

These are just things I would do and plan on doing when I get a single or paid of mandarins.

 

[Sh0velman]

Thanks you guys for the help so far! Right now I have to deal with upgrading my archer fish tank so I will most definitely make a journal when im able to get started which should be in a couple of months (most likely In August)

Im actually having thoughts of getting either the 14g bio cube or the 30g bio cube as I would then mod the back sump areas for macro extra rubble and whatever else. Also there would be no need to tamper with lighting being that the stock lights are fine for macro (need to double check if I'm correct on that) but other than macro I just want to spoil myself with 1 rocordia :3
Anywho I bring up the bio cube because ive always been attracted to it, but also the compactness, plus the money I would be spending on the aquaclear filters and lights would most likely equal that of either bio cube systems (I can find a good one on Craigslist)
So either ....
-20g tall mandarin pair
-30gbiocube either a pair or a single male and then I'll add something else with it (kinda want to check comparability of a mandarin with a dwarf angel, I've had a crush on flame and or coral beauty angels)
-14g biocube I would only attempt one mandarin and then a macro forest for him to frolic in.

So that's kinda the laid out options. Just trying to figure out which would work...like I said its in its planning stages.

And I'd love to culture my own pods in separate containers. I just need to figure out how to go about it.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

I don't think there is enough room in the back of the biocubes to have a 'pod' facility that could support one let alone two mandarins. I have a friend who keeps a mandarin in a biocube though. He has an alternate tank specifically for pod production. I think it's a 30g tank. It's chuck full of macros, some of those pod hotel things (not sure of their name). He adds pods from this tank to his biocube every day for the mandarin. He does not have anything in his pod production tank that could feed on pods (no fish, etc) since he needs all the pods for his mandarin's dietary needs. The tank simply has snails for cleaning other than the pods. His mandarin does eat frozen but mandarins have to eat constantly throughout the day so the frozen food is simply supplemental to the pods. His keeping a mandarin in such a small tank is a huge undertaking and requires lots of time and work on his side.

 

[reeferstace]

Yes I know their dietary needs. Yes I know how fast they can deplete a population of pods in a tank, even more do in a tank this small. So no flamers or ragers as I believe this can work. So any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome. Heres what I've got planned so far (note:this is a plan. If all sounds well I will most likely be starting later this summer to get the tank going).

So you only want comments if they support your view? Why even ask for them?

Keeping mandarins in that small of a tank goes against the general consensus of how to care for them. Can it be done? Yes. Should it be tried? IMO, no. You obviously are going to do it regardless. I sincerely hope that if you are not successful that you get the mandarin(s) into a better suited environment long before it/they starve(s).

 

[JaneG]

I had a pair of mandarins in a 20g that's now been reduced to 1 (the female) that's still happy. They got fed 3-5 times per day and were super fat but still fought like CRAZY - and they were for sure a boy and a girl! I tried everything to get them stop but gave up after 6 months of separating, temporarily moving, etc. It was horrible. Just keep this in mind - I'm not going to pair my female again until I upgrade. I would sincerely suggest against it. Plus, my nutrients went through the roof with all the very necessary feedings - my levels started out ok because I was doing all the maintenance but when I slacked for just a little I had all kinds of algae, etc. that I'm just getting over.

 

[Sh0velman]

So you only want comments if they support your view? Why even ask for them?

Keeping mandarins in that small of a tank goes against the general consensus of how to care for them. Can it be done? Yes. Should it be tried? IMO, no. You obviously are going to do it regardless. I sincerely hope that if you are not successful that you get the mandarin(s) into a better suited environment long before it/they starve(s).

Why don't we save these kinds of comments for someone else's thread. I'm sorry you don't view the topic the same as some others do so if your only going to spread a negative point of view then why bother with commenting? No I'm not just hearing what i want to hear, and in fact if you noticed I'm building this tank AROUND the needs of the mandarin. Im simply attempting to keep a mandarin in a smaller tank while providing it with the same dietary needs that it would be provided for in said larger aquaria. Not being offensive, just making my point clear.

 

[Sh0velman]

I had a pair of mandarins in a 20g that's now been reduced to 1 (the female) that's still happy. They got fed 3-5 times per day and were super fat but still fought like CRAZY - and they were for sure a boy and a girl! I tried everything to get them stop but gave up after 6 months of separating, temporarily moving, etc. It was horrible. Just keep this in mind - I'm not going to pair my female again until I upgrade. I would sincerely suggest against it. Plus, my nutrients went through the roof with all the very necessary feedings - my levels started out ok because I was doing all the maintenance but when I slacked for just a little I had all kinds of algae, etc. that I'm just getting over.

Thanks for the info! Since I work at the store I already know what the mandarins are being fed as well as which ones might be male/female and also If I saw correctly there were 2 mandarins that were keeping pretty close to each other last time I looked in their 10g display tank

 

[reeferstace]

Why don't we save these kinds of comments for someone else's thread. I'm sorry you don't view the topic the same as some others do so if your only going to spread a negative point of view then why bother with commenting? No I'm not just hearing what i want to hear, and in fact if you noticed I'm building this tank AROUND the needs of the mandarin. Im simply attempting to keep a mandarin in a smaller tank while providing it with the same dietary needs that it would be provided for in said larger aquaria. Not being offensive, just making my point clear.

I actullly view this topic as MANY others do. I am not "spreading" a negative viewpoint. I am sharing a realistic one. This reminds me of someone on here who wanted to shove a mantis shrimp in a 3g.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1492650

 

[Sh0velman]

Hahaha welp you have your opinion and I have mine. And if you are referring to me and my past pico tank I apologize for not making it clear enough that it was temporary for a tiny mantis that otherwise was going to be wrongfully killed as a pest.

Anyways getting back on track here in regards to a skimmer I doubt one will be needed due to the mass amounts of macro that will be present to help with the whole shebang!

 

[Sh0velman]

Thanks for the link as well. It seems as though more people have had success with a similar set up as mine. As well as those who still swear by 75g per mandarin

 

[guarda]

Since you work in a pet shop, I would skip the fuge, hob, sump, etc and just setup your rockwork with a corner or hole and swap a ball of pod filled chaeto from your store with yours every other week.