Clownfishes with a Mandarine

[casualreefer]

great post Carl. i surprisingly have had a female S. spelndidus stay fat and healthy in a 15g tank that i haven't fed at all. I have no explanation for how she is survinving except there must be a huge pod supply in there. getting them on frozen is great though, that should be ur number one goal.

 

[jmsalt1]

Regarding the mandarines, thanks for your posts on them as well. I am not one to purchase first, and then figure out how to care for the animals I have acquired. Hence, the questions regarding comparability / competition with the clowns for food that many would just roll the dice on or assume it is not an issue. My tanks is a 90 gallon reef with a large amount of live rock in the display, a real DSB (4"+), as well as a good amount of live rock in a 29 gallon (soon to be 55 gallon) gravity fed fuge. I have a strong pod population (I use Inland Aquatics among others as needed to boost the population and diversity)and am not purchasing any other fish that are known to compete directly with the mandarine for their preferred food (e.g. basslets, cardinals, wormfishes, etc.) It is a BIG trade off to keep a mandarine IMHO as there are many beautiful fish that you could keep that are more likely to take prepared and frozen food making them all easier to keep but in a tank my size will not be included in a tank with a mandarine because they will compete directly with the mandarine for the pods available to eat in the tank itself.

 

[Kmiec123]

Clowns will eat anything, so I don't really see them picking at pods very often....they just wait for my pellets. and Rod's food. Nina (ladypig) suggested to take a bunch of drinking straws and zip tie them in a bundle, then hide them back behind some rock in your tank. This will give the pods a place to breed without any fish being able to get at them.
Just sharing what I have learned.
Carl

 

[jmsalt1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14709419#post14709419 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmsalt1
Hence, the questions regarding comparability / competition with the clowns for food that many would just roll the dice on or assume it is not an issue.

Just correcting my typo. Comparability should read compatibility.

 

[wld1783]

Avoid Tomato Clowns. The one I have is evil, still looking for a male to calm her down. I hear Clarkies are just bad as well. Not so much for food but aggression. Some are very territorial.

I kept a small mandarine for over two years. It got big and fat...Then it died. Don't know if the pods crashed or it was old age all I know is they are hard to keep.

Bill

 

[jmsalt1]

Thanks for the advice on certain clowns that I may want to avoid in a smaller tank due to aggressive behavior as well as size. I am leaning toward ocellaris. I like their adult size as they don't get too big and I also like their demeanor and appearance. Firebretha, you should be in sales because those pics with the mandarine didn't hurt either. The second one pretty much sealed the deal. Still, need to do some final reading before making a decision but that is where I am leaning.

Bill,

Having seen your tanks in person, it is a bit concerning that you lost a mandarine if tank size is a factor as many mention in keeping one well fed. Maybe it was a pod population crash combined with competition for food but that wouldn't seem logical if it was fat and happy up to the point where you lost it. Interceptor treatment would do a number on pods but don't know if you've ever used it in your display. Regardless, this combined with my own reading and the comments of others does give me pause for concern. I am going to delay that decision until I have the 55 gallon fuge in place and have a chance to see how my pod population responds after that.