Mandarin looking a little thin...

[avel]

I used to have a 40 gallon tall tank with a lot of rock. After 4 years I bought a mandarin and it got fat! So I think a tank that size can support a mandarin, but you need a lot of rock, and some time to let the copepod population reproduce to a sufficient amount.

 

[jorgehiram]

I have a Mandarin on a 35 gallons and is doing well but to prevent a crash in my Pods population I am trying to boost my copepod population with Algaebarn 5280 Pods with OceanMagik Live Phytoplankton. They are expensive take a look at their website and also Amazon for detailed information, I think it makes sense but time will tell.



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[BioNub]

I’m having the same issue with my mandarin looking thin, I made a feeder similar to what you see online where my Mandarin will swim inside a bottle full of freshly hatched live BRINE SHRIMP daily, he’ll eat 1 every 2or 3 seconds so in a day I’m guessing he’ll eat hundreds of these, he seems to love it and spends a lot of time in there just picking at them. Sometimes he’ll get more than 1 from a single “pick”.. However, he doesn’t seem to be gaining weight, could it be that Brine shrimp isn’t nutritious enough for what he needs?

 

[Sk8r]

Brine shrimp aren't enough, nutritionally. Try adding selcon to the shrimp before feeding them to the mandy. What he needs are copepods. You can raise enough of them in a 100 with cheato in sump/fuge IF he has no competition.

 

[Zalick]

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Mandy, too. As such reading up on pods. Several of the articles I have found indicate that the temperature at which they do best goes from pretty darn chilly, (which I don't recall the number, my tank will never get there...) to 82-83 degrees farenheit. This is what worries me, as I don't have or want a chiller, and right now my tank is running between 81-82.

The Mandarin's normal habitat is 82 to 86 degrees year round. Here's a pic I took of one at dusk a few weeks ago in Indonesia. 30' deep and Ocean temp was 86.

 

[Joe0813]

love these fish, but unfortunately with no fuge I will never have the pod population in my 180 to have one

 

[Uncle99]

Mandarins are easy to keep if you have the food.
Copepods mainly plus baby brine nauplii supercharged with phyto and Selcom, and some white worms....they do just fine.