I did it....I bought a Mandarin Goby

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7564092#post7564092 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kenny77
None of those are the reason why they survive. I add the mandarin first. I didn't even have a fuge. I didn't even knew that they only will eat pods. but he survive the first year. AFter a couple of month I start looking at him and I notice that teh pod population in the tank was big enough that he didn't even look for them. they were eevry were. BTW never supplement pods. any way afetr that I desided to get a pair of scooter blenny. AND I had a fuge just to keep the pods population stable. the tank had a rubber bed in the back of the tank were most of the fishes wont be able to get there, so pods were reproducing fast there, in the fuge the pods population was big but the pods population wasn't that big since the mysis shimps and ghost shrimp population was so big, that almost one year after I left Orlando and the tank is still running with my dad's care, most of the tank depend on the pods and shrimp population, since I feed the tank only twice a week when I was there, and now my dad only feeds the tank ones a week. Mandarin and Scooter blenny health status? mandarin is almos 3" with a big bubble belly and the pair of scooter blenny one is 2" the female is 1.5" with a bubble belly.

The trick is having good quality rock, wish quality should be messure in porosity(spell*) rather than pound. 75# of solid or bad rock wont have more surface area than a 15# of LR tha is so big but still is a 15# rock. also pods prefare to reproduce in dim light areas rather than fuge wish many people have them 24/7 with a light. that why I always use rubber pile and I try to cover them so pods can reproduce there with out disturbance. Like every one here will prefare to

Any way, just to get it clear, Im not flaming you. I know you are just trying to tell that keeping a mandarin in a small tank is very hard unless people are willing to give them the right contion so pods can reproduce

I agree 100% with you. I know your not flaming me. Thanks for sharing your information. I just learned a lot. :)
 
Yeah, I think I am getting a Madarin soon now. Within the next week. lol.

What I am going to do is ask the store to feed their mandarins. If one eats, I will get that one. If none eat, I will get the fattest one and hope for success. I learned a lot on this thread. But I still hold my opinion to some degree.
 
well here is the lil' guy (sorry the pic is a bit blurry, i couldnt use a tripod to get the angel)

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and the home he lives in:

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Hey Daaaan, good job and good luck man, eager for updates. I would suggest you throw on a modded HOB filter as a fuge btw, it cheap and easy and certainly would help a little.
 
My second chamber in the back is a DIY fuge (with LR rubble and chaeto) and a DIY light that turns on when the main lights are off, and off when the main lights are on to keep everything stable.....literally 100's of pods in the fuge itself, no fish has access to them to eat them, so they multiply like crazy back there.....
 
for what it's worth, me and my mother both have had mandarins, hers in a 30 breeder with very little in the way of LR, hers died within 3 months (from some fungal infection) probably due to the lack of food source. Mine was kept in a 29g with 60lbs of LR, no refug, and he thrived. I moved him into a 55g during my last tank upgrade, I stocked 2 bottles of aquapods, and ever since my tank is flourishing with pods and no matter how much the mandarin seems to eat, he hasn't made even the slightest dent in the pod population. Your mandarin will do better in a smaller tank if you make sure you don't have a large population of pod eating critters.
 
He looks really thin in that pic... If he's eating brine try to feed him a few times a day for a while till he beefs up alittle ... or get a bottle of pods, maybe he does not like the kind in your tank.
 
goodluck. it's extremely difficult, but you may luck out =) goodluck!!

For me I'm only going to add one mandarin to a 100g display 210 total water volume system, and I'm still afraid he/she'll starve =X
 
Just live brine shrimp....i see him snaking on pods all threw the night when i spy on him....im gonna try and introduce him to some diff frozen foods soon...but i am gonna put them in a fine mesh net because if i dont my cardinal and percs will eat it way befor ehe even sees it hit the water.
 
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