mandarin fish

[noobofthereef]

How do I know if I'm ready for one? My tank has been set up for about 6 months. I've added pods a few times, but never really had a population explosion. I have a 90g with about 90 lbs or live rock. I can see some pods on the glass, but its not a lot. So when would be a sign of when my tank is ready?

 

[DustyReefer]

I'd say if your tank has been up for six months then your probably ready for a mandarin. A general rule with pods is that you only see a small percentage of the actual population so if you see some, then there are probably A LOT more. I like to know that when I buy a mandarin that it is eating at least something else before I buy it too, and you'd be surprised how many wild caught mandarins adapt to eating prepared foods. I'd go ahead and start looking for a healthy mandarin, and just ask about it before you buy it and try and see if it'll eat something in the store. Also make sure the mandarin looks healthy at the time of purchase and doesn't look malnourished at all.

 

[humaguy]

imo..your tank is not old enough...maybe even too small...there is a great post in here of a rough mathematical formula on how many pods a mandarin needs to eat a day to live a healthy life....and the numbers are extraordinary...forget the op but search mandarins and pod consumption and you should find it..i will look later to try and find it....hopefully somebody in here knows the post i am refencing and will assist...

 

[chamjack]

Here ya go http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1492650&highlight=mandarin+primer

 

[humaguy]

Here ya go http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1492650&highlight=mandarin+primer

lol...I love this place...thanks...was just going to search for it....very cool...wonderful info and a terrific post....thanks again Chamjack!!
TK

 

[humaguy]

only skimmed thru it but didnt find the piece i was thinking about...i could be wrong but seem to remember a formula that hypothesized each mand would need to eat approx 150 pods an hour to be content...

 

[EllieSuz]

Do you have a refugium in your sump with Chaeto and perhaps some rock rubble? It's important for the pods to have someplace away from predators to reproduce. You also need to avoid adding anything that competes with the Mandarin for pods...some of the wrasses come to mind. If you do have a 'fuge, you should be good to go. I kept my Mandarin in quarantine for a few days and fed him Nutramar Ova, which is irresistible to most dragonettes. Once he was eating those with gusto, into the Display he went. He has since also developed a taste for Hikari enriched brine shrimp, but the important thing is that there are sufficient pods for him to survive without target feeding.

 

[ArrowCrab]

If you shine a red light (flashlight with red balloon stretched over works) on the tank at night, you will see tons of pods crawling around when the predators are sleeping. I only have a 34g tank and I see plenty of them on the sand and rocks with a red light. Doesn't scare them or the sleeping fish.

 

[auburngrad]

here is sk8r's blog on mandy keeping

Can I keep a mandarin or scooter?
Posted 03/03/2012 at 11:44 AM by Sk8r

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A mandy should be making a successful 'kill' of a pod every 5 seconds to remain healthy. Keeping one in a well-established 50 with 50 lbs of holey rock, and a mature, year-old 20 gallon fuge with another 20 lbs of rock is very marginal. If you meet those conditions and there is no competition for pods, you can do it with caution.

To run the math, there are 86400 seconds in 24 hours...and given 12 hours of dark when it is not eating (it actually eats before the lights come on...that is 43200 seconds of daylight, divided by 5 (every five seconds)---meaning that a mandy eats about 8640 pods a day, or 720 an hour. Two thousand pods, if fed to it in the required concentration, will be eaten in less than 3 hours. If you have a pair---do the math. You need at least 100 gallons supported by a very large, strong fuge with cheato and live rock.

Note that mandarins and scooters are the one type (dragonets) exempt from quarantine, You take your chances, this once. Their difficult diet makes quarantine a no-go: fortunately their extreme protective slime coat does not allow them to host the ich parasite (unless the fish is sick and/or in bad water conditions [particularly very low alkalinity.]) IE, they can get it, but it is very, very rare. Their slime coat is so thick they feel like a handful of warm Jell-o, and they are frequently believed to have ich---when they have simply gotten some white sand grains stuck to the slime coat.

They have no sense of territoriality toward other species (and will violate territory completely oblivious to the other fish's objections.) They will, however, kill ANY other mandarin that appears if the hunting is not very, very, very good. If you do not start out with a mated pair, don't try to put another mandy in later.

If you have the right tank and are willing to risk the no-quarantine dice roll on a pretty solid bet---they're a very pretty addition to your tank, usually out even before the lights are on, terrorizing the pod population.

 

[humaguy]

here is sk8r's blog on mandy keeping

Can I keep a mandarin or scooter?
Posted 03/03/2012 at 11:44 AM by Sk8r

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A mandy should be making a successful 'kill' of a pod every 5 seconds to remain healthy. Keeping one in a well-established 50 with 50 lbs of holey rock, and a mature, year-old 20 gallon fuge with another 20 lbs of rock is very marginal. If you meet those conditions and there is no competition for pods, you can do it with caution.

To run the math, there are 86400 seconds in 24 hours...and given 12 hours of dark when it is not eating (it actually eats before the lights come on...that is 43200 seconds of daylight, divided by 5 (every five seconds)---meaning that a mandy eats about 8640 pods a day, or 720 an hour. Two thousand pods, if fed to it in the required concentration, will be eaten in less than 3 hours. If you have a pair---do the math. You need at least 100 gallons supported by a very large, strong fuge with cheato and live rock.

Note that mandarins and scooters are the one type (dragonets) exempt from quarantine, You take your chances, this once. Their difficult diet makes quarantine a no-go: fortunately their extreme protective slime coat does not allow them to host the ich parasite (unless the fish is sick and/or in bad water conditions [particularly very low alkalinity.]) IE, they can get it, but it is very, very rare. Their slime coat is so thick they feel like a handful of warm Jell-o, and they are frequently believed to have ich---when they have simply gotten some white sand grains stuck to the slime coat.

They have no sense of territoriality toward other species (and will violate territory completely oblivious to the other fish's objections.) They will, however, kill ANY other mandarin that appears if the hunting is not very, very, very good. If you do not start out with a mated pair, don't try to put another mandy in later.

If you have the right tank and are willing to risk the no-quarantine dice roll on a pretty solid bet---they're a very pretty addition to your tank, usually out even before the lights are on, terrorizing the pod population.

This sounds correct...wow, and alot more per hour than I recollect...thanks for the post...