Mandarin
- Thread starter dmiles11
- Start date
fishesRdelicious
New member
it should be fine, the only reason they usually need a larger tank with live rock is when they are eating live pods. but if he is eating frozen food and looks happy and fat, 5 gallon is fine
supertech3
New member
I wonder how long the mandarin has been in there and if he has survived for more than a couple of months.
My mandarin just died today. I had him for over a year, but I am wondering if he ran out of pods. I have a 125, with over 100lbs of live rock and about another 30lbs of rubble. Sometimes I would see him eat frozen mysis, but lately he looked a little skinnny. All my other fish have been doing fine, and all my paramaters check out okay.
duhfactor
Premium Member
Do you have a refugium? I have had a mandarine in a 75 gal tank for almost 2 years, he loves bloodworms believe it or not, but he has had no problems. I doubt that your tank size would be an issue. I do have a refugium below the tank, but wonder how effective it is anyway. Do you ever feed rotifers in your tank? I do that once a month, or mix my coral food with rotifers once a week.
Damon
Damon, Yes I have a refugium with about 30lbs of rubble and lots of Chaeto. In the tanks that I had before, I had a lot of pods living in the filter media, but in this tank I have not seen any after I got the mandarin.
I will have to try the blood worms and rotifiers next time. Are the blood worms alive or dead? Were do you get the rotifiers at? I had thought about trying to order some pods, but I wonder if they would be alive by the time I received them?
B.
I will have to try the blood worms and rotifiers next time. Are the blood worms alive or dead? Were do you get the rotifiers at? I had thought about trying to order some pods, but I wonder if they would be alive by the time I received them?
B.
Pandora
Premium Member
I am amazed that anyone got a mandarin to eat bloodworms... could never get mine to even touch baby brine shrimp or other offerings (but I have a fuge that is pumping out mysis). Wondering if they'll get malnurished on bloodworms, which come from freshwater sources (& dirty, often polluted ones at that)? FW foods do have a different fat content. I guess it does beat having them in tanks where there's nothing to eat at all.
bngowe
New member
5 gallons isn't too unstable for any marine fish. I have a 5 gallon minibow that is pretty stable. It has been running for about 2 years now. I'm pretty sure there are a few small fish that would be perfect for 5 gallons, like a small goby or something. for a mandarin .. i'm surprised.... unless that 5 gallon has like a 40 gallon sump/ refugium with about 50-60 lbs of live rock total... then it would be fine. then again, the mandarin is able to eat frozen. most mandarins aren't able to survive because of starvation.
duhfactor
Premium Member
The bloodworms are frozen, thus dead. If you have other aggressive eating fish in the tank, I would lure them away from the mandarin by feeding them a little as far away from the mandarine as possible. Then, while the other fish are eating, squirt a bunch of thawed in tank water bloodworms gently but close to the mandarine. Mine will stalk it for a second or three, then suck it in like spaggetti. I get the rotifers at my lfs. It must remain refrigerated, so the wife has to be o.k. with putting the bottle in there, and your 2 yr old reminded that it's not punch!! Ha Ha
! Also, if you get some rotifers, feed your fuge with them ~ 2tbsp every couple of weeks. Oh, and turn your skimmer off for an hour at least after you feed with rotifers. Oh, Oh, consider adding another type of macroalgae to your fuge, My fuge had chaeto alone and few pods, added larger leaf algea, millions of pods...Just ideas, as you know, every system is different.Damon
fishesRdelicious
New member
yep, i dont think it is impossible for them to get it, but they have somekind of slimelayer that makes them extremely resistant to parasites
Vincerama2
Active member
I had a mandarine that didn't last 6 months, despite being in a 58 gallon tank with a (20g) refugium and tons of rock. In fact I could SEE the pods in the tank. He never really ate. Except for the occasional baby brine shrimp. Then one day, he disappeared (literally, either he died and stuff ate him, or he wandered into a rose anemone).
V
V
Agent_Smith
New member
Wow...
Wow...
My mandarin is bulletproof almost :eek2: . I see him every day, even after the incident where he slipped into the sump and got half caught in the return pump! :eek2: . Ive had him for 1.5 years now.
Wow...
My mandarin is bulletproof almost :eek2: . I see him every day, even after the incident where he slipped into the sump and got half caught in the return pump! :eek2: . Ive had him for 1.5 years now.
duhfactor
Premium Member
Re: Wow...
Re: Wow...
Damon
Re: Wow...
Mine was too...Actually, I bought a new clam from my LFS, and it was when I was new to the hobby, so I didn't quarantine it. Something was on that clam (It looked perfectly healthy) that killed every fish in my tank one by one, over the course of a week or so, except the mandarin. My brother in law bought an item from the same place the same day I did, and it did the same thing to his tank. My mandarin was the last fish to croak....it outlasted the others by almost a week. The male green mandarine I have now is 1.5 yrs old.
Damon
I think to keep one fat and happy you have to have 150 lbs of rock min. With no other pod eating fish, the rock must also be 8-10 months old. Or have yourself a large fuge that is nothing more than a pod factory. Just my thoughts, my mandrin just died but that was do to a Maroon clow. Maroon is on the way to the mantis tank
angelsil
New member
Naaaaah.
That's a bit high, imo.
I think the average mandarin can easily live on 50lbs of rock if it's well seasoned (ie not brand new) and if the keeper has a fuge or 'closed' section where pods can breed. Throwing DTs in once or twice a week helps keep the pods going, too. I have 2 mandarins in my 125 and have had them for close to a year. I probably have 200lbs of rock and a small HOB fuge that does add to the pod population, but it's not a 'pod factory' since the stupid baby Banggai we're growing out has decimated the population.
Keeping a mandarin in a 5 gallon tank is cruel. These fish easily get close to 5" long. Micro-tanks are best suited for truly small species. A neon or clown goby and a few inverts would be suitable. Not a mandarin, regardless of what it is eating.
As for bloodworms - every mandarin owner should try these. My female, who is seriously finicky, will come out of hiding to chase these suckers down. She won't eat any other prepared foods that I have seen, but she loves her bloodworms.
