New Mandarin

I

installman

New member
I picked up a 2nd Mandarin to cut down on the pods in my frag tank as they seem to irritate any zoas I put in there. He is tiny compared to my other Mandarin in the 180. I guess I didn't realize how much he had grown.

Mandarin food
 
Beautiful fish. Might be one of next purchases as there are some gigantic amphipods in the tank. Is yours eating frozen yet, or just pods?
 
I haven't tried to feed him frozen yet. I drop a few small pellets in there for the engineer goby I am keeping in there until he is big enough to be in the 180 and the mandarin shows no interest in the pellets. I have never seen my other mandarin show any interest in frozen foods, but he has been fat and happy for several years so I am thinking he finds so many pods he doesn't have to try anything else.
 
Nice fish :thumbsup:, the males have the tall spine off the fin next to it's head.

I don't think mandarin's eat amphipods, more like copepods that live among the sand and rocks. I would get a wrasse or anthias for amphipod consumption.
 
aguila88psi said:
Nice fish :thumbsup:, the males have the tall spine off the fin next to it's head.

I don't think mandarin's eat amphipods, more like copepods that live among the sand and rocks. I would get a wrasse or anthias for amphipod consumption.
Click to expand...

Not sure what he is eating, but i see him eating something, whatever it is it is too small for my eyes to see.
 
the females seem to take to flake better then the males. I have no idea why. I had a female that ate flake for 4 years. No I didnt buy her that way. She was in a 29 biocube so you know there was no way there was enough pods for her. I wish I could say I did something special but really it was an accident. I was buying pods but ran out and at the time could not get more. She got thin and I thought I was going to loose her then one day as I was feeding other fish I saw her take some flake, then more and more. She got nice and fat and I never bought pods again.
 
aguila88psi said:
Nice fish :thumbsup:, the males have the tall spine off the fin next to it's head.

I don't think mandarin's eat amphipods, more like copepods that live among the sand and rocks. I would get a wrasse or anthias for amphipod consumption.
Click to expand...

Been thinking about this and my frag tank shares the same sump as the 180 and I never see any pods visible in the 180 (maybe the damsels eat the amphipods) Or maybe there just isn't any gha in there for them to eat because the damsels eat it as soon as it shows up. I looked up the amphipods I saw online and it looks like they are at least the herbivore type which would explain them being in the algae. The pic is enlarged quite a bit these pods are 1/4 inch long at best although I used to find some up to 1/2 inch long when I cleaned the ats screen and always just dumped em back in the tank, they never made it to the bottom without getting eaten by something. I moved my zoa frags into the 180 a while ago and never see any pods on them in there.

Also looks like my other mandarin is a male too?
 
Yep, both are males, don't put them in the same tank or they will kill each other. Although it's a 180 there may be some space but I wouldn't risk it.
 
Comparing the 2 pics the new one's dorsal fin is more "scalloped" if that word fits, maybe because it is a juvenile, but either way I am not taking any chances lol.
 
They are both males, watch for aggression your 180 may be large enough but I've seen aggression in tanks as small as 200 gallons. They may get along until the pod population shrinks just keep an eye on them usually you want one male and a haram of females you could get away with a 1 to 3 ratio male to female if you wanted.
 
Mrcat is right on. Only issue is females are hard to find. Most of them at LFS are males. Not sure why. I personally like females. They are not quite as pretty but like I said in a post before they tend to take flake and other foods better then the males
 
So far the new male is still in the frag tank. He seems to be finding plenty to eat in there probably because there is a constant supply of pods being pumped in from the sump. I doubt I would try moving him into the 180 because if there was an issue I probably wouldn't be able to get him back out alive.
 
Stan, if you wanted to give him a new home I know of a nice RedSea 130 that's being cycled as we speak that would love to have him. :D
 
LiquidCache said:
Stan, if you wanted to give him a new home I know of a nice RedSea 130 that's being cycled as we speak that would love to have him. :D
Click to expand...

Lol he is supposed to be making my frag tank safe for zoas, but I haven't tried to put any zoas back in there yet. Did you modify the rsm yet?
 
I've got some parts on the way, including a pump for that tunze nano skimmer, and collection cup for it that fits down inside the back.
 
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