I've got a 90 gallon Macro system that has been running since March, one of the fish on my Have To list is a mandarin, I've seeded the tank with pods and they are everywhere! Current tank mates are 2 mollies, a starry blenny and 2 firefish, If I do not add any other pod eaters besides the mandarin is it likely that I can have a sustainable population without having to supplement?
Keeping Mandarin without having to add extra pods?
- Thread starter BonesCJ
- Start date
Nick_Northern
New member
There is a good chance you'll be okay but only time will tell, you could also begin training it to eat frozen to supplement its diet
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Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk
My Mandy is over a year old. One bottle of pods when I got her, another a few months later and another one just recently after dealing with an algae outbreak. It's a 65gal w/ 20gal sump. Crushed coral substrate & a lot of live rock. Sump has a decent amount of Cheato. Tank mates are 2 clowns, 2 purple firefish, 1 cardinal (had two, but lost 1) and a starry blenny. When doing water changes I siphon into a 5gal bucket then run through a couple sieve's. When changing filter floss or whatever I'm running I dump it in a small bucket with old water and let sit for a while before running that water through a sieve as well. You would be amazed at how many pods have otherwise would have went down the drain. Got my Sieve's here http://seahorsesource.com/?wpsc_product_category=food-related-supplies They were great to deal with. I have a 125 & 250 to catch the pods and a larger one to catch bigger gunk so it doesn't get dumped back in with the pods.
Silly clownfish
New member
I have had my mandarin in my 75g reef with 20 sump (allowing for the sump not being filled to the top and the size of the fuge chamber, the fuge is prbably about 5g of water) for 2 years. I tried to train her to eat frozen while in QT, and while she picked at it a little she was losing too much weight, so I gVe up on that.
She does fine in my tank as-is, but I did make a Paul B type feeder for brine shrimp which I use on occassion. Particularly before vacations as insurance. I also have cultured pods in a couple of pretzel jars to supplement, but evntually those cultures crash, so that is not a steady supplement either. I think she is fine without the feeder or culture, but I like having options to give her some extra food.
Other tankmates are: ocelaris clown, flame hawk, one spot foxface, randall's goby. I also had a flashers and a fairy wrasse in there at different times, but both jumped (I have a full canopy). So no direct competition for pods.
She does fine in my tank as-is, but I did make a Paul B type feeder for brine shrimp which I use on occassion. Particularly before vacations as insurance. I also have cultured pods in a couple of pretzel jars to supplement, but evntually those cultures crash, so that is not a steady supplement either. I think she is fine without the feeder or culture, but I like having options to give her some extra food.
Other tankmates are: ocelaris clown, flame hawk, one spot foxface, randall's goby. I also had a flashers and a fairy wrasse in there at different times, but both jumped (I have a full canopy). So no direct competition for pods.
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
a 90 gallon full of macro with no competition?
sounds like an excellent home for a mandy.
sounds like an excellent home for a mandy.
That kinda is the plan, most of the fish we like are not natural competitors anyways so we're tweaking it as needed to have a fat and happy mandarin
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
for the first few years i had my mandy she was in my 75 gallon. it wasn't a macro tank, and it didn't have a fuge, just a bunch of extra rock in the sump and rock heavy in the display. she did quite well.
a regular reef in a 90 would be a fine home, make it a macro tank and even better.
a regular reef in a 90 would be a fine home, make it a macro tank and even better.
