Green Mandarin: Am I Ready?

[Josh Candiotti]

I know Green Mandarin's are an awsome fish, what kind of care do they need, My tank is aobut 5 and half months old and parameters are fine. Only problem I have is Red Slime/Cyano which is gone now. Can I get 1 or do I need to wait?

 

[barnett8]

How many pounds of live rock do you have? I'd say you should have like 75 pounds of live rock to keep a mandarin fish in a 65g. Normally people suggest that you have an established tank for about a year before keeping a mandarin, but because you had cyano issues (meaning that you had elevated levels of nutrients for a little while) I would say that yes you could probably keep one. Good luck.

 

[Josh Candiotti]

I have about 100 lbs. I belive, I forget the eact number but I bought about $1500 worth of live rock at $15.00 a pound so its is about 100.

 

[dcombs44]

Mandarins are fairly hardy fish, but few will eat prepared foods unless trained, which isn't easy IME. They naturally only eat live fauna like copepods which is what makes them difficult to keep in small and/or unestablished systems.

Do you have a refugium? If you don't have a place that is predator free for pods to reproduce and thrive, you will starve out a mandarin in a fairly short amount of time in a tank that size.

I put one in my 55 gallon, but I have a 29 gallon sump/fuge that is full of macro algae and live rock rubble. I seeded the fuge with live copepods as well for good measure. My tank was over 2 years old when I added it.

My recommendation though, is that if you don't have an established fuge, don't do it.

 

[barrettrhoades]

Look in the tank at night with a flashlight. You should see multiple different types of "bugs" crawling around on the live rock and the glass. There should be bigger crustaceans, around 5mm, that are copepods. There should also be smaller ones that are amphipods. If there are plenty of them you should be fine. These are what mandarins eat, so make sure you have a healthy population before adding a mandarin. Sometimes it takes a tank a year to get enough to support a mandarin without depleting the population when you add it. Also what other types of fish do you have? If you have any other fish that eat a lot of copepods, I would not recommend a mandarin.

 

[dcombs44]

The common copepod in reef tanks are actually much smaller than the common amphipod that most people think of. I know there are various species, but......copepods are pretty difficult to see with the naked eye.

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/pods.html

 

[BeanMachine]

WOW, that is some expensive live rock!

 

[dcombs44]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14732812#post14732812 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanMachine
WOW, that is some expensive live rock!

I didn't even think about that when I first read through the thread. That is ridiculously expensive.

Hopefully there wasn't shipping to be paid on top of that.

I don't think I paid over $5/lb for any rock in my tank, and I've got some nice pieces.

 

[Josh Candiotti]

Thank you. As of now I will wait about 6+ months at least from hearing your thoughts. I however still have a problem that I have only 3 fish and I am totally stuck on which is the next. I have a 6 line wrasse, a golden maroon clown, and a firefish goby, any suggestions on a good companion?

 

[becact]

The sixline will compete with the mandarin for pods, so I would say you need to choose between it and the mandarin .

Why not a pair of clowns for your next fish? I know everyone has them, but they're peaceful, fun to watch, and visitors always love them.

 

[dcombs44]

Agreed on the sixline. It will definitely out compete the mandarin.

 

[Josh Candiotti]

I cant get a pair of clowns because you can't mix clowns i thought. Anyway like I said I have a 6 line wrasse, a golden maroon clown, and a firefish goby. What is compatible with these fish and is reef safe?

 

[dcombs44]

Here's a compatibility chart. Use it as a guide, not as gospel.

Search the wreath on the liveaquaria website, and it will tell you whether or not it's reef safe. Again, general rules, that can sometimes be broken.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm

Also, I would probably agree that mixing any clowns with a maroon that's already established in a tank that size may not go well. I'm sure it's been done, but it'd be a crap shoot.

 

[Ian55]

I havw a dwarf lion fish in my 30 gallon mixed that has been great...interesting fish to keep

 

[dcombs44]

wreath

Sorry, just testing what the junk was going on. "FISH" is apparently no longer in the RC dictionary. Funny stuff.