Green or Red Mandarin?

[Reefer08]

Which is more colorful? Which is hardier? Whats the minimum tank size for a mandarin?

Thanks

 

[dvmsn]

It makes no difference.

 

[small alien]

What species are you referring to exactly. There's the green or psychedelic mandarin. There's the target mandarin. And then there are the ocellated and starry dragonets. The starry's are red.

It's more about food availability than tank size per se as they don't need a ton of swimming room. You'll either have to have a tank big and mature enough to sustain a pod population or you'll have to find one that will eat or be trained to eat prepared foods. Do a lot of reading first. Good luck.

 

[Ohiomom]

even with prepared food they do much better with a good pod population..what size tank do you have? Hopefully over a 75-90 gallon at minimum.

 

[gatormoto]

i can tell you that i have a 180g and i'm having a hard time keeping any pods in there for it to eat. i've started culturing them and it just eats them as fast as i can get them growing.

 

[snorvich]

A refugium works well.

 

[dvmsn]

You have them in there. A 180 is more than sufficient to maintain one mandarin. Do you have any wrasses that could be competing for food?

 

[t4zalews]

My 65 gallon was running for 2 years before I introduced mine, it's gotten fatter since buying him 6 months ago and I still see pods everywhere.

I think it's more about establishing your tank first.

 

[amore169]

I have a red manadarin in a 90 gallon for at least 3 years, I have a lot of live rock and a refugium.

 

[Guygettnby]

what is everybody talking about a red mandrian? i hevae never seen a red mandrain nor heard about one? is this a new discovery or are we talking about a red scooter blenny?

 

[Chelsey]

I think a red mandarin, at least in the sense that it's being referred to here, is a psychadelic mandarin with more red on its body than green.

 

[BonesCJ]

Red scooter blennys are in fact dragonets just the same as a target or psychedelic mandarin

 

[Reefer08]

Whats everyones opinion on "tiger pods?" Its a bottle of copepods sold at most fish stores.

 

[kaiserkid]

To clarify: A green mandarin and a red mandarin are similar but are 2 different fish. It is not a psychedelic mandarinfish (the psychedelic mandarinfish is another name for the spotted mandarin).

Here are some examples:

Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus)
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1635+551&pcatid=551

Red Mandarin (Pterosynchiropus splendidus var.)
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1635+1723&pcatid=1723

Spotted Mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus)
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1635+554&pcatid=554

All of these mandarins will feed naturally on copepods in the tank. All of them can also adapt over time to eat brine shrimp. They are picky eaters and may not take to prepared foods easily so it is highly advised to make sure that you have enough pods in the tank to keep them from starving. To address the origional posters questions, mandarins do not require really big tanks (30 gallons is plenty), they are equally hardy, and color is personal preference. (Note: Only the males of both the green and red mandarins have the elongated dorsal spines)

 

[iamwhatiam52]

They ARE different. I think the blue is brighter.

Bad pic, but it does show that the pectoral fins of the smaller red mandarin are red, not blue.

 

[scuba guy ron]

I may be wrong but I believe they are one and the same fish only male and female. long fin is male and the short is female from what I thought.

 

[Robka]

Whats everyones opinion on "tiger pods?" Its a bottle of copepods sold at most fish stores.

I tried asking about this product on my thread and have yet to find anyone that has an opinion on the product. You would think they would feed on this?

 

[kaiserkid]

Tiger pods are copepods. It is just a copyrighted brand name. All mandarins will eat them. I have used and still use them.

 

[subielover]

True but tigerpods are a cold-water species that generally do not live long enough in our tanks to start breeding populations. Just wanted to toss that in the mix.

 

[Amoore311]

True but tigerpods are a cold-water species that generally do not live long enough in our tanks to start breeding populations. Just wanted to toss that in the mix.

They live just fine at reef temps. I know more than a handful of people that have cultures of these going, and the temps are in the 75-80 range depending on the person you ask.