Do not get a mandarin if...
- Thread starter Sk8r
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It's very risky to add a mate later: the resident mandy may kill that one. These fish are incredibly oblivious to others' territories and never fight---except if another mandy comes into their territory and if, I suspect, the resident does not feel the food is abundant enough. In nature, it would probably simply drive the intruder off. In a tank, no such retreat is possible.
You can't. The good news is they are like a mass of jell-o if healthy: their slime coat is so thick that, if healthy, they almost never get ich unless the tank is an ich farm. This is one fish that (a) I am very careful where I buy and (b) you just take your chances and determine if you're willing to run the risk. Some people who have special reason to fear ich jury-rig a mandy feeder device, but keeping a rock-hopping obligate pod eater in a glass box for 72 days with a feeder going is not easy on the owner, though as long as there are pods, the mandy will probably be oblivious to all else. I confess I fall in the 'take your chances and buy a healthy fish' column, and have never had ich come into the tank with one. They'll live for many years if you do it right. Is the risk worth it? You have to answer that for yourself.
SandyB
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I work hard to keep my copepods up. ( I bought my dragonette before I found this thread) But it still makes me happy to see my little guy chomp down on some Mysis.
My general guideline for a minimum is a total of 75 gallons of tank plus refugium with no copepod competitors. And to some of the points earlier in the thread:
+ ORA mandarins are problematic at best
+ All mandarins will eat frozen mysis if they can get it, but they are poor competitors for it
+ Mandarins eat constantly because of their metabolism so the tales of keeping them in a small tank by feeding frozen and feeding constantly may work but adult brine shrimp may not be nutritious enough long term unless it is gut loaded
+ Introducing a second mandarin into a tank, even if a different sex than the resident one, may or may not work (especially in a medium sized or small tank)
+ ORA mandarins are problematic at best
+ All mandarins will eat frozen mysis if they can get it, but they are poor competitors for it
+ Mandarins eat constantly because of their metabolism so the tales of keeping them in a small tank by feeding frozen and feeding constantly may work but adult brine shrimp may not be nutritious enough long term unless it is gut loaded
+ Introducing a second mandarin into a tank, even if a different sex than the resident one, may or may not work (especially in a medium sized or small tank)
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tennesseebob
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Yeah, I'm watching my pod pop grow, I think I'll give a Mandy a shot in 4 months or so...I hope lol, have enough pods that I can see them on the sand now, not just glass and rocks lol
scootshoot
New member
There are far more nutritious foods out there for Mandy's but in the wild due to their feeding habits aren't going to be able to catch anything but pods.
Look at this tank full of Mandy's feeding, no chance they survive if you drop one of these in a community tank like say a coral beauty, the competition would gobble it all up, hah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZEGItO4zZU
Look at this tank full of Mandy's feeding, no chance they survive if you drop one of these in a community tank like say a coral beauty, the competition would gobble it all up, hah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZEGItO4zZU
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