mandarin dragonet

[mykim72]

what would be a sufficient amount of live rock for the mandarin? im not sure how much i really have, id say about 10 decent sized fiji (i think) rocks. i just guessed 20 pounds because it doesnt look like a lot.

i wanted the tang so he could eat the algae, i had a 55 gallon before and a small yellow tang that just ate algae all day long. is 50 too small for a yellow tang? well i really just want the dragonet and clowns, everything else im flexible

 

[Sk8r]

What you need for the mandarin is a 20 gallon refugium with about 20lbs sand, 20 lbs rock rubble and a basketball sized ball of cheatomorpha algae, which supports pods. Then you'll be fine for one, maybe two mandys, but that's a tall order for somebody just starting out.

Wait on the mandy would be my advice, until you have the main tank going and then think about the refugium.

 

[NeveSSL]

Definitely wait.

There are a couple of things you can do to help the pods, too. Specifically, exactly what Sk8r said, and you can also "feed" your pods by dosing phytoplankton. You can find more about it here: http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html

Definitely take your time, though! I've got quite a few pods of all sorts right now personally, but I'm waiting about 3 or 4 more months and I'm not going to get a mandarin until I know there are enough pods and I've got a phytoplankton routine.

Brandon

 

[loosecannon]

Hi Mykim72: First wellcome, and THANK YOU for asking first and buying next! Lots of live rock 1 to 2 lbs. per. gal. . Make place in the rock were the mandy can`t get them. That way thay can`t get wiped out. And than thay can make moor right in the tank. Not every one can get mandys to eat other than live pod`s . Make shore any fish any fish you put in next dosn`t compet with he for the pods, he will lose out ever time.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10570913#post10570913 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
Definitely wait.

There are a couple of things you can do to help the pods, too. Specifically, exactly what Sk8r said, and you can also "feed" your pods by dosing phytoplankton. You can find more about it here: http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html

Definitely take your time, though! I've got quite a few pods of all sorts right now personally, but I'm waiting about 3 or 4 more months and I'm not going to get a mandarin until I know there are enough pods and I've got a phytoplankton routine.

Brandon

this is an excellent link plus I agree 100% that you should dose with phyto---but

in the long run dosing with home made phyto can cause problems with phosphates etc. Plus eventually homemade brews become one or two species of phyto dominated.

My experience with cyano has given me the "opinion" that you should dose with a good quality phyto like DT
I would be more confident in recommending this due to the size of the system being discussed--the monthly expense would be easier to handle.

 

[Saltwaterstart]

Has anyone ever weaned a mandarin onto live brine shrimp?

 

[seapug]

i've never heard of a mandarin that didn't eat live brine with gusto. The problem with brine is that it is the nutritional equivalent of popcorn, so the fish just waste away after a while. The key is providing the high protien & fat diet mandarins need to stay healthy.

 

[Saltwaterstart]

What type of food other than pods would supplement the protein and fats needed.

I'm interested in getting a mandarin for my 29, but I doubt it will happen.

 

[seapug]

Read back through the previous posts on this thread. It's only one page and there's lots of good info.

 

[Saltwaterstart]

I do have some frozen mysis shrimp lying around, but I feed that to my hawk and clowns.

I'm not sure if the mandarin will get enough, because my cleaner shrimp jumps up and gets the largest chunk. He's almost the bully of the tank!

 

[StupidsReef]

I've had two of these wonderful mandarins, Both lived for over a year and then a storm not out our power for seven days and I lost everything. I've rebuilt again bigger this time from a 90g to a 225g. I've been up and running with the new tank for 3 months now. I won't buy another mandarin until I've been running for at least one year. PODs are there main staple food. I've had great success with them eating cyclopeeze this stuff it what I've bought: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12147&N=2004+6120

These fish do nothing but sleep & forage for food. They are wonderful fish but very easily starved in the tank do to not enough food, mainly because folks don't wait for the food to populate. Pods are out mostly at night when the lights are out. They will grow quickly in numbers but a mandarin will wipe them out faster than they can reproduce because they'll eat the eggs of the pods too. You almost have to have a sump or refuge to keep them going fast enough to feed the mandarin. However they will eat the cyclopeeze too you just have to feed them 3 to 4 times a daily + whatever pods they are eating within your tank.

 

[mykim72]

thanks for everyones help! much appreciated, im just going to stare at my live rock for a few more weeks then.

 

[Saltwaterstart]

I might attempt keeping one. They are fairly cheap around my area ($20.99), but I am still going to wait an additional few months.


I remember when I had no fish in my tank, I had an explosion of pod growth, and I could see them crawling from one side of the tank to the other looking for other suitable places to hide.

Does anyone have any tips for weaning these wonderful fish onto cyclopeeze or mysis shrimp?

 

[vid660]

I'm not sure I can be much help, as I'm new at this. I started my first saltwater tank five months ago. I purchased a mandarin for my 2nd fish in my 75g. I didn't know much about them, just loved how they looked. I got lucky and had lots of pods and live rock in my tank already. But that little mandarin decimated the pod population pretty quickly. Determined to keep him, I did alot of reading.

I created a pod breeding ground in my refugium. Once per week, I trade 2-3 pieces of live rock from my display. He has a ball for a day or two eating all the new pods hiding in the small holes in the live rock. After a week, the live rock in the refugium has lots of new pods living in it.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep him long-term, but it's looking better week by week. He was getting skinny about two months after I got him and almost took him back to the LFS. He wouldn't touch any frozen food. So I got another powerhead to increase current and tried frozen plankton. He went nuts! Just kept chasing them around and eating them. Wasn't long after that I got him to eat mysis shrimp, blood worms, and brine shrimp. Now he doesn't look skinny at all. He hunts all day long for pods and usually eats when I feed the other fish frozen foods. I'm not sure if the additional current made it look like the plankton was alive cause it was moving around alot, or it was just coincidence. Either way, he finally started eating frozen foods.

I realize that the frozen food doesn't supply him with all the nutrients he needs, so I still do what I can to keep the pod population at a good level. I found that feeding the refugium live phytoplankton helped alot. Give it a dose and a day or two later there are lots more little pods in there crawling around.

HTH. I am still learning, but really enjoying the switch from FW to SW.

Good luck!