Thinking of adding one to my 55 gl tank. I have a yellow tang, coral beauty, clown, flame hawkfish, and 3 engineer gobies. Listed as difficult to keep. Is this because of feeding or what? Would like to hear who has one and what their experience is. I have plenty of rock built up for him to find a home. Just wanted to know why he's categorized as difficult? Thanks :worried:
Green mandarin
- Thread starter manvsfish
- Start date
disc1
-RT * ln(k)
They're categorized as difficult because as a rule they only eat live food. It means that keeping a mandarin doesn't only involve keeping the fish, but also a tremendous population of pods for it to eat. A single mandarin will decimate the pod population in your 55 in a matter of days. Then they typically starve to death. If you've got a really big refugium dedicated to raising pods, you might be able to keep up with the demand, but most people recommend a tank upwards of 125 gallons for mandarins.
Palting
New member
Yup, it's all about the feeding. It is rare to have a green mandarin that eats prepared foods. You will be spending a lot of money perenially replenishing the pods in a 55 gal to support a green mandarin. You'll probably need a 55 gal refugium to go with your 55 gal DT to keep a green mandarin fed with enough live self-replenishing copepods.
seanm001
Member
The above statements are, in my opinion, all true. The reason a mandarin is considered difficult is the food requirement.
I have a 110X with 40 gallon sump, tons of LR, fuge, etc. I specifically designed my rockwork in the DT to create pod havens where they can multiply but the fish can't get to them. It took me about a year to get comfortable enough with the pod population I saw in those areas to add a mandarin. And now she is very happy and gets along great with everybody. I have every confidence she will do just fine in that tank.
That being said, she lived for that prior year alone in a 30-gallon with some LR and a canister filter filled with LR, seeded about every month or so with a canister of pods from my LFS. She gained weight, grew, and did just fine. So her food cost me $20 a month.
Of course, ORA claims that their tank-raised mandarins are all eating prepared foods when shipped from their facility. So, if you buy an ORA tank-raised mandarin, all of the above might not be a concern. But, if you happen to get one that decides not to eat prepared foods after all, then all of the above will apply.
FWIW, I hear the green mandarins are easier to get to eat prepared foods than the blue mandarins.
I have a 110X with 40 gallon sump, tons of LR, fuge, etc. I specifically designed my rockwork in the DT to create pod havens where they can multiply but the fish can't get to them. It took me about a year to get comfortable enough with the pod population I saw in those areas to add a mandarin. And now she is very happy and gets along great with everybody. I have every confidence she will do just fine in that tank.
That being said, she lived for that prior year alone in a 30-gallon with some LR and a canister filter filled with LR, seeded about every month or so with a canister of pods from my LFS. She gained weight, grew, and did just fine. So her food cost me $20 a month.
Of course, ORA claims that their tank-raised mandarins are all eating prepared foods when shipped from their facility. So, if you buy an ORA tank-raised mandarin, all of the above might not be a concern. But, if you happen to get one that decides not to eat prepared foods after all, then all of the above will apply.
FWIW, I hear the green mandarins are easier to get to eat prepared foods than the blue mandarins.
ejanastacio
New member
Gobys are pretty similar to the mandarin and some have great colors also.
disc1
-RT * ln(k)
There are lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of different types of gobies that do different types of things. Some of them are really pretty. I am planning on a green mandarin in the near future and I have almost the exact set-up palting mentioned. I have a 75ga DT with a 20ga fuge and a 40ga pod-fuge. I'm still not quite to the point of feeling comfortable adding the fish. The screw in it is, the plan for the mandarin has reduced my options on other fish. Once you determine reef compatability and whether or not it's giong to starve out the mandarin, the choices get slim. It seems like every fish I find attractive either is not reef safe or will eat pods and out-compete the mandarin.
Lynnmw1208
New member
In my experience, the green mandarin was my first fish in my tank. People gave me a lot of angst about that, but I tried anyway. That being said, I had so many pods in my tank that it looked like it was snowing! I have a big ball of chaeto in the sump and lots of extremely porous pukani rock for the pods to multiply. I also got a sea squirt from the LFS which I trained her to come up for some vitamin enriched live brine at first. Since she was the only fish in the tank, she was a lot easier to feed. She knew what the squirt meant so she comes right up to get food. I then moved on to frozen mysis and she ate it! she's not completely 100% on frozen but she will get there some day.
point is, these fish require demanding attention. I think you could keep one if, again like others have said, you had a lot of chaeto in the sump for the pods to multiply and you can even get this going with some from the store like others have said. Having other fish, might make it a little harder for your to devote your time to the mandarin though. you would have to distract the others with food on one side of the tank and feed the mandarin on the other. I might have been lucky to get a good one, but I tried really really hard with her and now she's fat and happy. better looking even than when I bought her! good luck with whatever you decide.
point is, these fish require demanding attention. I think you could keep one if, again like others have said, you had a lot of chaeto in the sump for the pods to multiply and you can even get this going with some from the store like others have said. Having other fish, might make it a little harder for your to devote your time to the mandarin though. you would have to distract the others with food on one side of the tank and feed the mandarin on the other. I might have been lucky to get a good one, but I tried really really hard with her and now she's fat and happy. better looking even than when I bought her! good luck with whatever you decide.
I'm finding that out myself disc1. Only really one choice. More tanks! Quit think I here my wife coming. She's going to kill me..... Oh yeah I have the engineer gobies. At first I was the only one who liked them but the really make the tank fun. The dive down from top of tank and scape the sand with their belly! Now everybody in the family likes them. Plus their school fish!
likemike99
Member
I have had 2 that have transitioned from live pods and brine shrimp to frozen brine shrimp. A nice alternative could be a sailfin blenny- very interactive fish.
For what it's worth my green mandarin started eating frozen mysis in my 55gal without doing anything special. He also will eat the frozen baby brine. I had too many pods in my tank so I got him to help control the population. I would clean the pods off the glass and an hour later it would be covered again.
Dono
Member
Just out of curiosity, what is your water quality looking like? Big stock list for that size tank eh?
Side note: The ORA Mandarins are hit and miss with live foods still. I've already sadly faced this and had to prepare supplemental pods to keep mine going. I not have a nice fuge with a huge amphipod population and did something similar to what seanm001 did in his tank and created pod building areas in my tank where fish couldnt get to them.
Side note: The ORA Mandarins are hit and miss with live foods still. I've already sadly faced this and had to prepare supplemental pods to keep mine going. I not have a nice fuge with a huge amphipod population and did something similar to what seanm001 did in his tank and created pod building areas in my tank where fish couldnt get to them.
RcToners
New member
Before I bought both of my mandarins I made sure that they ate brine at the fish stores. They both eat live brine. My male that I have had for quite some time will also eat some flake food and a frozen homemade blend of shrimp, squid, octopus, clams, mussels, and fish. I have not tried my frozen blend with my new female yet but within minutes of being in my tank she was eating brine.
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