Mandarin dragonet in a 20G

[JustRoy]

Hey!
I know, this topic was and still being discussed about constantly, but I have done some hw since I set up my tank(7 months ago, wow) I know someone personally who raised a mandarin dragonet in a 10g for over a year, with a copepod population outside the tank, and he slowly making him get used to frozen/dry food.
My tank population is a firefish goby, red blacktip fromia, pinchusion urchin, blue coral banned shrimp, and some snails. I plan on bringing some shrimps to the tank in the future(blood or skunk or the sexy shrimp), i have an old HOB filter that is being used as a refuge it has a capacity of one gal and i set up a nice light system with cheato(the lights are working a few hours before and after the main tank lights), aquaclear 30 running, and eheim 2213 is running too.
My copepod population is doing very well, they are all over the tank in the external and in the hob filters.. I also have a 1g tank just for copepods and the population is extremely developed. I’ve been preparing that whole refuge+1g tank 2 months ago, and i hope it should be the right time to bring a mandarin.
So what do you guys think? Should i give it a try? i don't plan on any other fish in the tank, and i also have plenty of corals that grow like nuts.
thanks,
Roy.

 

[MikeandNicole]

We were the same way as we always wanted a mandarin. We got one for our 30g tank over a year ago, and actually kept it in a 5g for a little while to train it over to frozen. Knowing how tough they were, we also had our LFS ordering live copepods just to make sure we had a population. The fish learned to eat frozen and she went into the 30g, we then added a male and he learned to eat frozen. They now eat frozen food, pods, and live black worms and are spawning in our 45 gallon.

I would only recommend this if you have a backup supply of pods and are willing to spend a lot of money if you need to purchase more. If they are not on frozen, a mandarin will plow through the pods in a 20g tank and then begin to starve. It looks like you have done your research, and are well prepped. Just be prepared to stay dedicated to the fish.

Your other option is wait until ORA release more of their tank bred, pellet eating mandarins.

 

[JustRoy]

I thought about making a few piles of rubble and hide some frozen misys assuming that copepods would breed and be around it since the mandarins can memorize areas with food.. Or try to make them used to other foods in a smaller tank.
And I've been waiting for a while for ORA but it'll take longer, and even when they will release it'll cost a lot.
Thanks again,
Roy.