need help with adopted Mandarin( had no choice!)

R

raysamii

New member
Hi All,
First post here. Own my first 160 gallon tank ( Skimmer, pellet reactor, UV, Refugium, 2 powers heads[ MP40, Maxspeed Gyre], Two Radion XR30W pro , 6 months old; Semi established.

Levels:
PH: 8.2-3
Salinity: 1.024
Alkalinity: 8 dKH
Ammonia, Nitrate: 0
Calcium: do not have equipment to test yet.
A few species of fish and coral that are doing well

Have not seen any algae in the main tank yet; some say this is not good. I do not have enough knowledge to have an opinion "“Any feedback is appreciated.


This is my dilemma; I have to rescue a Mandarinfish; my wife's friend had a single fish small tank with the mandarin in it and it cracked. With my limited 20 minute research, I see that the odds are against me with feeding being the main concern.
I currently have it in my quarantine tank( actual photo attached). I will quarantine for a week and then introduce to the main tank I am not sure if quarantining helps or stresses the Mandarin more!! . Any feedback on trying to keep this guy alive is appreciated.
 

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raysamii said:
Hi All,
First post here. Own my first 160 gallon tank ( Skimmer, pellet reactor, UV, Refugium, 2 powers heads[ MP40, Maxspeed Gyre], Two Radion XR30W pro , 6 months old; Semi established.

Levels:
PH: 8.2-3
Salinity: 1.024
Alkalinity: 8 dKH
Ammonia, Nitrate: 0
Calcium: do not have equipment to test yet.
A few species of fish and coral that are doing well

Have not seen any algae in the main tank yet; some say this is not good. I do not have enough knowledge to have an opinion "“Any feedback is appreciated.


This is my dilemma; I have to rescue a Mandarinfish; my wife's friend had a single fish small tank with the mandarin in it and it cracked. With my limited 20 minute research, I see that the odds are against me with feeding being the main concern.
I currently have it in my quarantine tank( actual photo attached). I will quarantine for a week and then introduce to the main tank. I am not sure if quarantining helps or stresses the Mandarin more!! . Any feedback on trying to keep this guy alive is appreciated.
Click to expand...

I also rescued a mandarin. Do you have any pods growing in your tank? 160 gallons should be plenty to sustain a single mandarin without a refugium.

I would not QT him. In QT he will basically be starving. These animals have to eat constantly throughout the day to maintain they metabolism.


If you have a pod population, he will be fine. If not there are some other things you can do until you get the population up.
 
Quarantine will starve the mandy. It's one fish I don't qt, but they have a slime coat like a hagfish and almost never carry ich. But in your situation you may be able to set up a mini-habitat for it in a qt. You can buy bottled pods, and loose them in the qt; put a rock or two in there for them to cling to and keep a pad between the filter intake and the tank: that may stop them getting sucked into the filter.
 
If she had it in a small tank of its own what/how was she feeding it? Could everything she had fit into the tank you use for QT?

I've also never heard of anyone saying having no algae isn't good. Sounds lucky to me for a new build :)
 
IMO... A 6 month old 160G tank should have sufficient food (pods,etc..) for a mandy..
Drop it in the 160G tank and just watch it over time..
Don't quarantine.. (no food source there)
 
snorvich said:
What other fish in the tank?
Click to expand...

This would be the only caveat I'd have for your statement McGyvr. If the other fish are major pod depleters, the Mandy could still have an issue finding food, even in a 6 month old 160. 6 months is still pretty young, but with enough established rock, even with another pod eater, there should still be enough as long as you have a refugium where they can reproduce.
 
How did you start the 160? With live or dry rock? Have you looked for pods in the tank? The tankmates could be an issue as well, like others have said.

I'd put him in the display. If you can't see copepods in it, you should order some from a site like reefcleaners or see if you can get some from a lfs.
 
that is a skinny, skinny mandy.

i would see about offering supplemental feeding at once. whatever you can get. live white worms, live black worms, freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, frozen foods such as roe, are all good things to try.

large wads of macro algae like chaeto can also be helpful, if you have any local reefers or a local club someone there might be willing to offer some up.

if the fish was in a tank by itself (for how long) i would think that should diminish the risk of introducing it to the display, though i will say great job having a QT tank on hand and ready to go.
 
Flaring Afro said:
How did you start the 160? With live or dry rock? Have you looked for pods in the tank? The tankmates could be an issue as well, like others have said.

I'd put him in the display. If you can't see copepods in it, you should order some from a site like reefcleaners or see if you can get some from a lfs.
Click to expand...



I started with live rock- no visible pods except in the refugium. I will transfer to the main tank immediately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If they're in the refugium I would bet you have them in your display too. If you started with live rock you have an even better chance with the Mandy. Definitely get him into the display as soon as possible. Even hard core quarantiners usually do with a Mandarine.
 
What type of pods did you get? Most stores sell tigger pods which is the little bottle of tiny red pods. I find those almost completely useless.

Algae barn sells bags of tisbe and tigri pods which are much more likely to propagate well in the tank from my experience. The pricing is pretty reasonable and you get a solid starting supply: https://www.algaebarn.com/shop/

I'd order a bag of those while you work on getting the mandy to eat frozen/flake/pellet food.
 
sde1500 said:
might help to seed with a ton of pods from a place like algae barn
Click to expand...

just buy one bag of pods. buying more pods doesn't insure success with cultivating pods. having the right conditions for them to live and reproduce in does. There is enough pods in one bag to seed your tank with, heck most of the time enough comes in on the live rock to seed your tank if conditions are right , but cant hurt to seed with one bag, just dont waste your money and seed with multiple bags
 
I didn't see the pics the first time.

Yes that is one skinny mandarin. Might be skinnier than the one I got.
 
Mine was skinnier when I got her. Shes now nice and fat.

I did not QT her for fear of her starving anymore and the fact everyone told me not to.
 
xCry0x said:
What type of pods did you get? Most stores sell tigger pods which is the little bottle of tiny red pods. I find those almost completely useless.

Algae barn sells bags of tisbe and tigri pods which are much more likely to propagate well in the tank from my experience. The pricing is pretty reasonable and you get a solid starting supply: https://www.algaebarn.com/shop/

I'd order a bag of those while you work on getting the mandy to eat frozen/flake/pellet food.
Click to expand...

do not know- wife picked it up. will post tonight.
 
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