Mandarin - Red, Blue, Green

[mosthated00]

Would Mandarin's of different color's be considered different species?
I want to make a dragonet take, I currently have a HUGE green male mandarin, and a awsome male scooter. They get a long great, dont seem to mind the other at all. My question was if i did get a blue or red mandarin male would it fight with my green one? I plan on getting them females as well. If i cant keep Males of different colors together what about keeping a spotted male mandarin with them??

*side note* I am fully aware of their feeding requirements

 

[falconut]

I don't have any actual experience with multiple Mandarins, but I believe the males will fight. I don't think it matters if they're different colors. Plus, your tank should be pretty big with alot of LR to keep that many.

I've had my male green Mandarin for two years now in my 90 gal. with about 120 lbs. of LR and a 15 gal. refuge. I don't think I'd add another to compete for food. HTH

 

[Zaita]

Hey.

As far as keeping multiple Dragonet's you can as long as they are different species.

You should be fine having:
- Psychedelic Mandarin (Pterosynchiropus splendidus)
- Spotted Mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus)
- Scooter Dragonet (Neosynchiropus ocellatus)
- Red Scooter Dragonet (Synchiropus stellatus)

Generally you cannot keep 2 of the same sex of the same species because they will kill each other. This includes multiple females.

The Psychedelic Mandarin is also known as the "Blue Mandarin", "Green Mandarin" or a combination of both.

To sex a Psychedelic Mandarin or Spotted Mandarin look at the front dorsal fin. The male will have a longer-spike in the front that can extend to the tail of the dragonet. The female doesn't have any.

To sex a Scooter dragonet. Going by memory the front dorsal fin is taller and more square in a male than a female. It would pay to do some more research on this as I am going by what I remember

Everyone is going to say you need to take into consideration the food etc, but you have already stated you are aware so I won't drive it in anymore.

Thats my 0.02c hopefully this is useful for you.


Image Linked from Reefcorner.com. Note the spike on the front indicating that this is a male

Image of my own female.

 

[Ralph ATL]

mandarin

mandarin

I was thinking of getting a Mandarin, but I am worried about feeding. My reef tank is 2 years old, and I have 2 pipefish that do fine. My full list is below. I heard that you can put a 2 inch diameter clear jar with frozen food in it, so he can eat? Any advise?
Ralph

 

[Zaita]

Re: mandarin

Re: mandarin

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10534495#post10534495 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mysterybox
I was thinking of getting a Mandarin, but I am worried about feeding. My reef tank is 2 years old, and I have 2 pipefish that do fine. My full list is below. I heard that you can put a 2 inch diameter clear jar with frozen food in it, so he can eat? Any advise?
Ralph

To my knowledge, Pipefish don't eat Copepods?And the other fish of your list appear to not consume them too, so you should be fine adding a mandarin.

The 2" clear jar with frozen food (aka mandarin diner) is something you can try, but is really a hit or miss. Most mandarins (green/blue) will not accept any form of prepared food. Spotted and Scooter are more likely to accept it.

Your tank does seem rather stocked though, especially with a yellow tang. I'd be concerned your pipefish don't get enough food with the Ylw Tang. Do you feed them specifically or have them in a species tank?


Overall, if you have a 55G established tank with a significant amount of Live Rock to support a pod culture and you have a large amount of pods then you should be fine. Just be aware that the mandarin may consume nothing but pods, and alot of them. If in doubt, I wouldn't risk getting one. You are responsible for the fish's life after all.

 

[finsurgeon]

I added a male green mandarin and a male spotted mandarin at the same time nearly 2 years ago. The green was 30% bigger than the spotted, but after a few weeks the smaller spotted started harassing the green mildly. That cooled off, and both got fat, so a year ago I added a very orange female. The spotted got a little cranky again for awhile, but has again gotten over it. The greens paired up immediately, and since then the color difference between thm has disappearred. I wonder if the diet and surroundings determine the color. I liked the different colors, but I'm pleased that both are beautiful and healthy, and they dance most nights and sleep together. None of my mandarins has ever eaten anything I've put in the tank, and that includes probably every single commercially available fish or invert or coral food, though not in any specific feeder device. I've considered adding a mate for the spotted, but I hate to disturb the harmony.

 

[Zaita]

Hey Fin,
It's nice to see someone taking a good and reasonable approach to having mandarins I don't see you having any issues adding a female spotted into the mix.

The different species should be fine together.

As for the colour changing, this is not something I have heard of or experienced yet unfortunately. I am aware that mandarins will change colour when they sleep. My female is quite often half white in the morning when I turn the tank lights on as she will sleep on the sand bed. But I suspect it would have something to do with environment and lighting, not so much the food source .

My experience with commercial foods is in line with yours. I have tried every different type of food I can find but nothing works. We did have a scooter dragonet who would occasionally accept flake food, but this was very occasionally.

Have you considered trying to raise the fry from your green mandarins?

 

[jnc914]

I had one in my 180 that was alive for 6-7 months. I found that caring for their dietary needs was a full time job. It decimated my pod population within a month and i had to order pods online to supplement. it finally started to eat mysis when one day I couldn't find him. I pulled out some rock and found the crabs working on it. I couldn't imagine having more than one competing for food; however if they are already eating frozen while at the LFS, go for it.

 

[Zaita]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10545328#post10545328 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnc914
I had one in my 180 that was alive for 6-7 months. I found that caring for their dietary needs was a full time job. It decimated my pod population within a month and i had to order pods online to supplement. it finally started to eat mysis when one day I couldn't find him. I pulled out some rock and found the crabs working on it. I couldn't imagine having more than one competing for food; however if they are already eating frozen while at the LFS, go for it.

How new was your tank? A single mandarin should not have been able to decimate the entire pod population of a 180g tank.. let alone so quickly. We have had ours in a 55g tank for 6mnths now and she is fattening up nicely with no added foods/pods.

 

[rssjsb]

Re: Re: mandarin

Re: Re: mandarin

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10537078#post10537078 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zaita
To my knowledge, Pipefish don't eat Copepods?

Actually, it's unusual to find a pipefish that reliably eats anything but pods. There are exceptions, but I wouldn't keep a mandarin, scooter, and most pipefish together in anything but a very large well established tank.

 

[Zaita]

Re: Re: Re: mandarin

Re: Re: Re: mandarin

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10545663#post10545663 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rssjsb
Actually, it's unusual to find a pipefish that reliably eats anything but pods. There are exceptions, but I wouldn't keep a mandarin, scooter, and most pipefish together in anything but a very large well established tank.

Thanks rssjsb, I was unsure about Pipefish and had assumed they'd eat prepared food in the same way as a seahorse.

I'd say No to having a mandarin since the food source isn't going to be enough when spread amongst everyone.

 

[Biggar]

Confirmed- My red scooter will eat frozen small mysis if it flys in front of his face ( ;

 

[snorvich]

Confirmed- My red scooter will eat frozen small mysis if it flys in front of his face ( ;

Which is normal. Why dig out this ancient (2007) thread?