Mixing Mandarin Species

[blanden.adam]

So, I am currently keeping an ORA male spotted mandarin in my 29 gallon aquarium. He's been there for 6 months and has been doing great -- eating a variety of foods, putting on weight, growing, and overall just being a fat and happy mandarin. Soon I will be upgrading to a 75 gallon aquarium, and I definitely will be getting him a female companion so I can observe their cool mating dance (also from ORA).

My question is, since ORA started releasing Green mandarins, is it possible to mix mandarin species, (ie one pair of Synchiropus picturatus and one pair of Synchiropus splendidus) provided they are all eating prepared foods in a 75 gallon tank or a tank of any other volume? I know males will fight to the death if they are of the same species, but don't know if that extends to other members of the genus. Thanks for the help!

 

[savemyreef]

My opinion is it would be risky doing that many pod eaters in a 75G. Even though they are eating prepared foods they need to eat all day. I worry abou them losing weight unless you are there to feed like 4+ times day. I have seen different species doing well together in tanks of 150G+ with lots of rock. Just my 2¢

 

[that guy]

Seems like it would be difficult. If it were to work at all you should get them all as juveniles and introduce them at the same time. Not sure how old your male or how large he is but try to get a green mandarin about the same size. Odds are against you though. I have a male spotted that eats mysis in my 38g and mandarins that do this are few and far between. Even ORA dragonets aren't guarenteed to eat mysis. I just noticed this was my 100th post

 

[o2manyfish]

I have a green, red and target without any issues. But I think you are going to have issues supporting the diet of multiples even in a 75g tank.

Dave B

 

[Ostara]

I think it can depend upon the individual fish as well. I have seen lots of people keep green and spotted mandarins together without issues. When I tried it, my tiny spotted mandarin that was a third the size of the green and added second became quite aggressive towards the green. He harassed him enough that I had to move him to another tank. As with most mixes that have the potential for aggression, I'd say just make sure you have a back up plan for one of them.

 

[SantaMonica]

Maybe they are like chromis and get more aggressive with less food.

Lots of periphyton on the rocks seems to be key... that's where the pods grow, especially underneath.

 

[blanden.adam]

I think after feedback here and on my local reef forum, I think I'm just going to stay with the pair of target mandarins. But, for those of you who are interested, here is my boy, Avagadro the Mandarin Fish. Isn't he a handsome fish who looks like he needs a partner?

 

[MandarinFan]

Handsome looking mandarin you have there, adam!

 

[that guy]

At one point I wanted to get a female to go with my male spotted but I didn't for 2 reasons.
1. Apparently in smaller tanks the male will continuously pester the female and not leave her alone. I've always wanted to try it though.
2. I couldn't find a female spotted dragonet. Green mandarins are much more popular than spotted so at least in my area finding a spotted in general is hard

 

[blanden.adam]

Handsome looking mandarin you have there, adam!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy him considering your username :lmao:

At one point I wanted to get a female to go with my male spotted but I didn't for 2 reasons.
1. Apparently in smaller tanks the male will continuously pester the female and not leave her alone. I've always wanted to try it though.
2. I couldn't find a female spotted dragonet. Green mandarins are much more popular than spotted so at least in my area finding a spotted in general is hard

Yeah, I wouldn't introduce the partner until the move to the 75, totally with ya there. With regard to finding one, my LFS is actually really awesome with finding and special ordering really high quality fish. All of their fish are ORA or Quality Marine (We are really spoiled). If anyone can find me one, they can :thumbsup:

 

[that guy]

Since were on the topic of mandarins, what is your feeding scheduel like for Avagadro?

 

[blanden.adam]

Twice a day with frozen food pipetted down to the rock he is on. He will accept Nutramar Ova, Hikari Bloodworms, Cyclop-eeze, and PE Mysis Shrimp. Feeding him the mysis is my favorite because often he will even swim out into the water column and pluck them right out without me having to pipette . Other than that, he is constantly hunting for pods throughout the day, so he gets to constantly snack as well.

 

[that guy]

Funny. That is almost exactly the same thing I do. I havent tried any other foods with mine other than mysis. Honestly I don't even know where he comes from. The store had him labeled as wild caught but he ate mysis immediatly as soon as I brought him home, which makes me think he was mislabled.