Mandarin Goby, easy....

[Jrizzle]

Yesterday i went to a LFS i usually dont go to because the people there are kind of intimidating in a marine biologist sort of way. I was looking for a twenty tall to replace my ten because the heat was becoming an issue, and my biocubes ballast quit working so i had to transfer most of my corals into the ten(now a fifteen) so they would get sufficient lighting. I didnt find the twenty tall but i found a fifteen and im very happy with it. The ten has had no fish in it for over a month now and ive been using it to harvest pods so i could get a mandarin.

Well at this same LFS i found a very small mandarin who to my surprise readily accepted enriched brine right at the store, i couldnt be happier. I know a lot of people say they have trouble with these guys, but mine ate at the store, and has eaten twice since. If anyone lives in the south florida area a place called Marine Scences on S. Federal in boynton is really great. Those people really know there stuff, especially when it comes to proper care of marine life.

 

[ezcompany]

its great you found an eating mandarin. hopefully when he's in your tank you can switch over his diet to something more nutritious. you shouldn't however, advocate that mandarins are "easy" to other nano-reefers as both you and i know that they are not, even if you had a sump exclusively for pod repopulating purposes. people have a hard time keeping them in anything less than 75 gallons typically. good luck with the fish, which one did you get?

 

[edwing206]

that's good to hear that he's eating. i plan on getting a target mandarin soon, seeing how my tank has been up for 2 years.i think it's mature enough.

 

[Rosseau]

I recently bought one also... I watched him for about 2 weeks eating all sorts of stuff at the LFS.


search for a thread on feeding them fish eggs ( from asian food markets ). They seem nutritious and some people have had great luck.

 

[eaglesrx]

wow, you're lucky jrizzle to find a mandarin that accepted enriched brine shrimp.

I tried one in my 24 gallon of 2 years, tons of pods, fuge in the back, and he began looking skinner after a month. I then had to give him away.


My brother's had a mandarin in his 30 gallon long, with a fuge, tons of pods, no problems. However, his fuge is the ideal set up (for supplying pods to the tank) where it's not in the sump.

Good luck!!

 

[Doglover_50]

I'd have to agree, it's not easy, it's luck. My mandarin in my 70g eats the frozen that makes it to the bottom, but I had nothing to do with that--other than luck of buying one that eats frozen.