Mandarins in a 50

[Haggisman14]

Hey everybody. I currently have a 50 gallon reeftank, and have had a mandarin for about a 1.5 years and he's been fat and happy since i bought him. Now here's my ? I've checked my fuge and see plenty of pods in there. My male has recently been flashing his dorsal like crazy when he sees himself in the tank.

I was wondering if a 50 is large enough to house him and a female mandarin as well. I wouldn't want one of them to starve, so if i can't get a female i won't, but figured i'd ask if you think it's doable. Thanks.

Marc

 

[Haggisman14]

any ideas here?

 

[Sk8r]

What other fish do you have?

 

[Haggisman14]

Other tankmate are...
1 yellow tang - 3.5"
1 female maroon clown 3.5"
1 male maroon clown 2"
1 male mandarin
1 yellow tailed blue devil damsel

 

[Sk8r]

None of those (but the mandarin) are copepod rivals, not exclusively so. So you might keep ahead of the game, in copepod production.

 

[Tyrosinase]

It's a gamble. Introducing a new mandarin may deplete your pod population.

 

[stykthyn]

you can always grow your own pods and add them to your tank.
on a side note, how do your 2 clowns and the damsel avoid killing each other?

 

[Haggisman14]

The Damsel/clown pair is interesting. My female clown is a pretty big bad a$$, however she never bothers me when i'm in the tank (while doing a water change...i've heard of people having their maroons drawing blood!). I originally had a lawnmower blenny that just up and died one day and wanted to replace him with another fish. I went through to flasher wrasses which the female killed...and was @ a loss for what to add next. I always loved the color or the yellow tailed blue devil, and heard that they could be bad asses...i figured what better to go along w/my maroon! On the whole they keep their distance. Sometimes the damsel will chase the male maroon around, and then the female maroon will chase the damsel. All in all it's a no blow relationship.

Marc

 

[plaz]

I wouldn't do it. I got a male and female that the LFS "paired" and I am now trying to nurse the female back to health. They were going into a 180 with 65 gallon refugium. I had them in a QT with 30 lbs of live rock and a 20 gallon attached refugium with lots of pods. I didn't realize it, but he was stressing her out and not allowing her to eat. He is fine and is now in the big tank, she was almost dead in 3 weeks! The pods in the QT were almost wiped out in that time. I'm sure her state is partly because of the treatment before I got her - but I still feel really bad, so I recommend trying to "pair" him in a 50 (males are really aggressive if they think they are competing for food). He is probably fighting with his reflection (they extend the dorsal for that too).

I've had the female in QT refugium alone for 2 weeks feeding selcon soaked brine and have been pushing all the pods I can catch/rocks I can move her way. I'm still not sure if she is going to pull through.

 

[stykthyn]

I didn't realize it, but he was stressing her out and not allowing her to eat. He is fine and is now in the big tank, she was almost dead in 3 weeks!

I think you may have gotten 2 females, there is no way a mature female will allow a male to treat her like this. If anything the male should be the one nursing back to health. The only other thing I can think of is that the female was ill and the male took this as an opportunity to assert dominance as the new female. either way your "male" is more than likely a female now

sorry didnt mean to hijack

 

[adamsky27]

Do the scooters have the same eating habits as mandarins? If so, I had a scooter in a 12 gallon eclipse for over 7 months before I put him in my current tank. I'm pretty sure that I could add a mandarin with no problems...

 

[stykthyn]

disregard my previous post I replied to the wrong thread