Manderin in a 12g???

[Evyllchyld]

I was just wondering if anyone has succesfully been able to keep a manderin alive in a 12g??? I know this isn't the correct size for them but i'm sure people have tried and may of been succesful. I went to a LFS today and they had a manderin that was EXTREMELY thin and looked very unhealthy. I felt really bad, its a family run pet store that doesn't know much about SW it seems and 3 have died on them already. I asked them why, and there response was "we can't get them to eat flake food" ... What a surprise... Anyways, I have an INSANE amount of pods in my 12g. So bad in fact that all 4 sides of the tank is covered with big jucy pods. So I figured i'd bring him home.... let him eat all my pods and if I can't keep up with him, then bring him to another LFS that i'm comfortable with (on the tanks with the manderins they say *Special care needed, see associate*) So i've come to trust them and there information. As of right now, I have no intentions of keeping him unless i setup a large enough refugium and I can get the pods to reproduce faster then hes eating them. I have read that it is possible for them to eat prepared foods, like flake and pellets... Anyone have experience?? And do you guys think I did the right thing??? I think it was the right thing since I knew he was just going to starve there.

-Brian

 

[EmasCterE]

I think the mandarin will destroy your pod population in less than a month. Unless you can get him to eat prepared foods, things are going to go south. That said, I have a friend who had a mandarin in a 20T. He was eating flake food and everything was great. Unfortunately, he died during a move.


That is why I believe people should not get fish that eat pods in small tanks. I even stay away from six-lined wrasses for my nanos.

 

[Evyllchyld]

Thats what I figured, but i think a month in a tank where hes eating good is better then being in a tank with a trigger and no food. And I have no problem bringing him to the other fish store so he can goto a good home.

 

[d1hotblaze]

first hand expierence i have had my 24 nc dx for 2 years and frequently add pods and had a population similar to what you are describing......not a wise choice...not unless you want a dead fish

 

[Scottkelly911]

I have a 4 line wrasse and he's been pretty happy for about 4 months. My pod population has definitely diminished, but he decided to eat flake food like a champ so I think the pods are like snacks to hold him over. Also, my Psuedochromis "snacks" on pods until feeding time.

 

[garvondavis14]

NO

 

[Newreeflady]

If you can train it to eat frozen, I don't see why not. If you buy one, make sure it isn't starving (you can tell, look at the belly.) If you have an established tank, you will have about 2 weeks to train it to eat and if you are unsucessful you will have to have a backup plan (i.e. a friend with larger ideal system, possibly someone in your local reef club who could take the mandarin.)

I was able to train mine to eat frozen food in my 65g tank, I don't see why that fish would not have made it in a smaller system as long as it did not have any aggressive eaters in it. Mandarins are not aggressive eaters, so a small tank with agressive eating fish would be the worst possible place for one.) In such a small tank, i'd say you'd pretty much have to limit your fish to just the mandarin and maybe one other small non-aggressive eater. And, like I said, if you can't train the mandarin to eat frozen, you are sol. Do your research first on how to train it, etc, and be prepared to spend time on it and watch closely for a week/two.

*** Edit to add that it is a bad idea to buy mandarins from a store that keeps killing/starving them. If you don't buy, maybe they will stop bringing them in! ***

jmo,
-A

 

[Newreeflady]

** I just read that you did this already. BAD IDEA!! You should not support that store, or at least not be buying mandarin. Are you going to save all of their mandarin? :/

jmo,
-A

 

[Timothy01]

not a good idea to but a mandrain in such a samll tank. i had a nano set up for over 16 months with no fish and a large supplie of pods, they were all over the glass, back, well basicly you could see them all over, my friend brought his mandrain over so we could clear it out. all my pods were vanished from site in 2 weeks. bad part is i havnt seen a pod for 3 months now


If you keep buying a fish from the LFS they will keep stocking it because it's selling