Minimum tank size for a Mandarin?

Blazer88

Premium Member
My wife has always been interested in a Mandarin and we made a trip to the LFS last weekend. They had one but said they should only be in tanks a minimum of 120 gallons to have the proper pod population to sustain it since very few take frozen food. How valid of a statement was this? I admire the fact they have the best intentions for the fish but wanted to check the validity of their statement for the minimum tank size. My 65 gallon has plenty of pods in there that I can see but I know my Copperband constantly hunts them down and would compete for food (though he also takes frozen Mysis). Should I wait until I find one that is eating frozen to make sure he would eat once the pods are depleted? Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

-Rick
 
they are right... more importantly than the gallons though is the amount of liverock and whether or not you have a good fuge to sustain pods and if you have other fish that eat pods consistently.
 
75 lbs of rock per mandarin and in a 65, you'd probably want a refugium or many pod piles.

Everyone thinks they have a lot of pods until you throw in a pod hunter, like a dragonet or six-line wrasse.
 
I have a 15 gallon fuge that has Cheato growing in it. I understand that one can quickly wipe out my pod population, would I be ok if I found one that was also eating Mysis?
 
Regardless of if you found one eating mysis or not, the fact remains you have the CB as its primary food competitor. Mandarins always are picking at the rocks for food, just like tangs constantly graze algae.

If you are really set on the mandarin then you will need to remove the CB and wait about 6 months for your pod population to restore itself from the butterfly's grazing. You can help speed that up to by restocking pods in your tank. A larger fuge will also help to stabilize your pods(and tank water:D) too.
 
Buying pods helps initially increase the quantity, but you'd still need to continue adding. I'd say myself a minimum of 100lbs. of live rock in a well established system 1.5 years+ as reef. Also, you need to make sure there are no other pod eating creatures in the tank that will eat the few that are there for it.
 
its no the tank size but the amount of food you can provide --everyone agrees 75lbs of live rock/sand per one fish and a refugium would be even better
 
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