mandarin
- Thread starter crazywesc
- Start date
You could do a copepod culture, just need a 10 gallon tank a light an airline and some phyto and then you will have a great supply of pods! Another thing is you could try a train the mandarin to eat frozen. It does not always work but it worth a try. I have a mandarin and scooter blenny in my 44gal corner pent and both are eating frozen and are fat and happy!
Most FOWLRs are not suitable as full-blown reefs for many months - unless you are starting completely over. Usually, the NO3 and PO4 have to come down and the rockwork will need lots of time to mature. I don't think that a 45G could support a mandarin, even under idea conditions, for long, but I would wait a while to try it.
BangkokMatt
New member
It makes no odds whether a the tank is FOWLR or a reef. Both will produce pods under the right conditions. As Snorvich stated, a 45g is not going to support a mandarin. Regardless of whether it eats frozen, pellets, cyclopeze etc etc. Its a no go unless you like killing beautiful fish.
"Training a mandarin to eat frozen will NOT keep it alive. That is a myth. These fish are grazers and you are not going to release frozen into the tank 12 hours per day." - Courtesy of Snorvich.
petoonia
HereWeGoAgain...
I agree a 45G isnt the best home for a mandarin. I have one in my 75G. I have a 15G fuge, about 120Lbs of LR in the dispaly, and the tank was up and running for about a year before I added the mandarin. My mandarin is not as fat as I would like him to be. He does eat spirulina enriched brine shrimp, but its still not enough. If he doesnt fatten up in the next few months I might consider finding him a better home.
Dooly
Active member
so is this a no-go for the OP?
I was thinking of asking the same question..
purchasing tigger pods or just regular copepods and throwing them in the display every month or so..
I thought it would be okay as long as there is plenty of established live rock in the tank, even a 45?
I myself have a 46 bow with 65+lbs of rock and 65+ lbs of sand and was thinking of adding the pods to my tank before adding a mandarin and every so often thereafter..
I was thinking of asking the same question..
purchasing tigger pods or just regular copepods and throwing them in the display every month or so..
I thought it would be okay as long as there is plenty of established live rock in the tank, even a 45?
I myself have a 46 bow with 65+lbs of rock and 65+ lbs of sand and was thinking of adding the pods to my tank before adding a mandarin and every so often thereafter..
it's a no go.
Mandarin spend 12+ hours a day hunting and eating, they need alot of pods. The real problem imo is that they are bad at it. they are awful hunters who basically have to be hit in the mouth with food. yes they will decimate a tanks pods , but thats only because they spend 100's of hours a week diligantly hunting. put them in competition with any other fish/ shrimp even snails beat them to food.
Mandarin spend 12+ hours a day hunting and eating, they need alot of pods. The real problem imo is that they are bad at it. they are awful hunters who basically have to be hit in the mouth with food. yes they will decimate a tanks pods , but thats only because they spend 100's of hours a week diligantly hunting. put them in competition with any other fish/ shrimp even snails beat them to food.
I have four of them, two in each of my tanks which are 200 and 350 gallons. Both have a huge amount of live rock, both have 40 gallon refugiums. Optimal, probably not. Functional? Going on three years for each of them. They hunt 12 hours per day minimum and are constantly eating. Two of mine will eat mysis but they are terrible hunters and could never begin to compete with ANY other fish. As I said above, however, teaching them to eat frozen (mysis) will not keep them alive even if they are the ONLY fish in the tank.
ozadars
New member
Frozen food eating mandarins can be kept alive, its not a myth. There are many people keeping them in nano tanks and there MUCH more that starve to death. I dont recommend it but its not possible.
Try this link; http://joshday.com/
And I belive you can keep mandarin in a 45 gal tank if you have enough live rock and enough pods (a refugium and adding pods to the tank long before you introduce the mandarin will help a lot). Some medium sized tanks can have unbelievable supply of pods and some bigger may have not just a couple.
Try this link; http://joshday.com/
And I belive you can keep mandarin in a 45 gal tank if you have enough live rock and enough pods (a refugium and adding pods to the tank long before you introduce the mandarin will help a lot). Some medium sized tanks can have unbelievable supply of pods and some bigger may have not just a couple.
ozadars
New member
I think its more accurate than the posts in this topic including mine as he has photos and a journal of his mandarin in the pages below;
http://joshday.com/mandaringoby.htm
http://joshday.com/mandarinfish.htm
I dont support that site, nor say that the article is scienfic based but it is a myth means its not possible and either you believe in this website or check out posts in this forum or nano-reef.com, you can see it is possible. Actually almost all fish hunt all day long in nature, mandarin is not an exception. Seahorses do hunt as much as mandarins but they can thrieve well with feeding just one time a day. Tangs graze all day long but we just feed them once or twice a day. What we do is fill their stomach so they wont need food for some period. A mysis shrimp should be equal to a couple hundereds of copepods in size, if not tousands.
I dont support keeping mandarins in tanks without sufficient pod population, but if the mandarin is taking frozen foods it is not a myth to keep him alive even if the pod population in the tank is not very high and examples of this can be found in this or other forums.
http://joshday.com/mandaringoby.htm
http://joshday.com/mandarinfish.htm
I dont support that site, nor say that the article is scienfic based but it is a myth means its not possible and either you believe in this website or check out posts in this forum or nano-reef.com, you can see it is possible. Actually almost all fish hunt all day long in nature, mandarin is not an exception. Seahorses do hunt as much as mandarins but they can thrieve well with feeding just one time a day. Tangs graze all day long but we just feed them once or twice a day. What we do is fill their stomach so they wont need food for some period. A mysis shrimp should be equal to a couple hundereds of copepods in size, if not tousands.
I dont support keeping mandarins in tanks without sufficient pod population, but if the mandarin is taking frozen foods it is not a myth to keep him alive even if the pod population in the tank is not very high and examples of this can be found in this or other forums.
If you are keeping them in your 19 gallon reef tank, post pictures. I believe that sites like that provide a disservice to the average person who will kill mandarins through inappropriate decisions. If you are constantly replenishing copepods via a refugium or its equivalent, sure it can be done. Will any number of average aquarists do that? Almost certainly not. My point is that you cannot put enough frozen food such as mysis into the tank over 12 hours to allow the mandarin a reasonable chance to survive since this fish is a grazer and cannot be fed periodically. If the mandarin has sufficient copepods, it will live. If not, it will not.
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ozadars
New member
Then we probably can not keep pipefish, tangs, foxface, seahorse, dottybacks, gobies, angels, butterflies, anthias, boxfish, cardinals, blennies, filefish or wrasses as these fish also hunt 12 hours a day.
Anyways, I am not trying to convince anyone. I just say that its possible to keep mandarin healthy if he is eating frozen food just like any other fish we keep. Someone who have doubts about that can find lots of threads about this and see that its not an idea but a fact.
Anyways, I am not trying to convince anyone. I just say that its possible to keep mandarin healthy if he is eating frozen food just like any other fish we keep. Someone who have doubts about that can find lots of threads about this and see that its not an idea but a fact.
Most people who have success with mandarins in smaller tanks, or by getting them onto frozen food, are well above average hobbyists.
I have no idea about frozen because none of the 100, or so, average, or above, hobbyists that I personally know have ever gotten one to eat any kind of frozen food beyond brine shrimp. Even the tales of ones that eat mysis take a long time - most would starve in a low-pod tank before they ever got to this point.
If you want to try a mandarin in a converted 45G FOWLR, then that is your choice. Other than the possible disregard for the life, it is only your time and money. Just know that a FOWLR with likely elevated nitrate and phosphate and possibly very little planton and micro orgs will not grow pods very well.
Most advice on here comes free and without an agenda. Once people start wanting either, then you have to evaluate their claims. For just .50 cents a page, I could write a pamphlet on how a seaclone is an awesome skimmer with that mini tornado and stuff.
I have no idea about frozen because none of the 100, or so, average, or above, hobbyists that I personally know have ever gotten one to eat any kind of frozen food beyond brine shrimp. Even the tales of ones that eat mysis take a long time - most would starve in a low-pod tank before they ever got to this point.
If you want to try a mandarin in a converted 45G FOWLR, then that is your choice. Other than the possible disregard for the life, it is only your time and money. Just know that a FOWLR with likely elevated nitrate and phosphate and possibly very little planton and micro orgs will not grow pods very well.
Most advice on here comes free and without an agenda. Once people start wanting either, then you have to evaluate their claims. For just .50 cents a page, I could write a pamphlet on how a seaclone is an awesome skimmer with that mini tornado and stuff.
I don't know anything about mandarins, but this is 100% true. A great deal of saltwater reef fish search for food constantly, that's a well known fact and it is documented in pretty much every piece of literature I have read about saltwater fishes.
If you get a mandarin eating frozen and pellet foods, there is no reason I can think of that it will not survive. Pellet foods and frozen foods are probably more nutritious than pods anyways. Getting a mandarin to regularly eat prepared foods is the problem, not that prepared foods aren't nutritious enough.
My mandarin has doubled in size at least since I got him about 7 months ago and I feel like it was almost within a week that he decimated all copepods in my tank. He loves to eat frozen food and seems very happy and healthy. I say it is very much possible, especiallly if you buy the copepods. I woudl recommend setting up a refugium so they can spawn though.
