Fish compatibility w/mandarin
- Thread starter Coffman34
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masonicman
New member
I have a hellian black dotted damsel that completely stress my mandarin to death. I can't catch this damsel, so I just live with him. It's really a pretty fish, but a true hellian.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Re: ??
Re: ??
No, green chromis are not wrasses. They are a shoaling fish, so not a big deal. Some other damsels are more 'rock huggers' though, and tend to be more micropredators than the chromis types. These fish can compete with a Mandarin for food as well. Other examples of fish that will compete because they also put a dent in the pod population are...
Rainfordi and Hector's gobies, sand sifter gobies, neon gobies, clown gobies, Jawfish, 'rock' damsels, pygmy angelfish, grammas and other basslets, assessors, pseudochromis, dottybacks, pipefish, and seahorses, etc. Sure, seahorses and pipefish make great companions for mandarins, but only if your tank is large enough, or your mandarin can be hand-fed. The mandarin tank at the Atlanta Aquarium houses them with predatory leaf-fish and anglers... which wont eat the mandarins because of their own poison I suppose. The 150-200g in Atlanta houses a dozen of them though (at least when I saw them), and they were still starving. Even with a hand-feeding program, Im sure their losses were high. OTOH, their selection of tank-mates was smart. The anglers and leafs eat bigger prey, and in turn provide plenty of pod feeding poop... so they make great companions to Mandarins. As great as pipefish and seahorses are for mandarins to hang out with, when it comes to food, they will starve each other out.
Re: ??
No, green chromis are not wrasses. They are a shoaling fish, so not a big deal. Some other damsels are more 'rock huggers' though, and tend to be more micropredators than the chromis types. These fish can compete with a Mandarin for food as well. Other examples of fish that will compete because they also put a dent in the pod population are...
Rainfordi and Hector's gobies, sand sifter gobies, neon gobies, clown gobies, Jawfish, 'rock' damsels, pygmy angelfish, grammas and other basslets, assessors, pseudochromis, dottybacks, pipefish, and seahorses, etc. Sure, seahorses and pipefish make great companions for mandarins, but only if your tank is large enough, or your mandarin can be hand-fed. The mandarin tank at the Atlanta Aquarium houses them with predatory leaf-fish and anglers... which wont eat the mandarins because of their own poison I suppose. The 150-200g in Atlanta houses a dozen of them though (at least when I saw them), and they were still starving. Even with a hand-feeding program, Im sure their losses were high. OTOH, their selection of tank-mates was smart. The anglers and leafs eat bigger prey, and in turn provide plenty of pod feeding poop... so they make great companions to Mandarins. As great as pipefish and seahorses are for mandarins to hang out with, when it comes to food, they will starve each other out.
Coffman34
New member
Mine has been at the LFS for about 6 or more months. But she was in the back warehouse section where they have all their breeding tanks and other stuff. Its a really big place, not some store front, but a whole warehouse building. They give me great advise. It's called Inland Aquatics, and I know of a bunch of people on here who say they're really good to order from online.
But my mandarin is doing good, eating good, not looking skinny, and she eats cyclopeeze. I know this will not sustain her alone, but I am running two refuges on my system. Unfortunately my macro died, but I have some really really really porous rock in there that I made myself and let cure for around 5 months. Although I can't see the copepods but I do see a ton of amphipods. She pretty much leaves these alone for right now. Will she eat the amphipods if all the copepods are gone. I have a great backup plan in case she does start to eat me out of pods. Inland has offered to let me host her there for as long as I need to. Hopefully that doesn't happen though.
Coffman
But my mandarin is doing good, eating good, not looking skinny, and she eats cyclopeeze. I know this will not sustain her alone, but I am running two refuges on my system. Unfortunately my macro died, but I have some really really really porous rock in there that I made myself and let cure for around 5 months. Although I can't see the copepods but I do see a ton of amphipods. She pretty much leaves these alone for right now. Will she eat the amphipods if all the copepods are gone. I have a great backup plan in case she does start to eat me out of pods. Inland has offered to let me host her there for as long as I need to. Hopefully that doesn't happen though.
Coffman
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