ORA/Captive Bred/Raised Mandarins

[ThRoewer]

Well, the question is, ThRoewer, is the average aquarist on this board able to replicate what you did.

Likely not - I'm currently taking care of my tanks full time and spent a lot of effort to seed my tank with as many critters as possible. Also I have a well trained eye for something being wrong with my fish (which doesn't exclude that I also sometimes miss something).

 

[ca1ore]

Maybe, but above all they require experience.

I would think that's 'implied', since we are talking about an 'expert level' fish .... yes!

 

[ThRoewer]

I would think that's 'implied', since we are talking about an 'expert level' fish .... yes!

Pretty much every reef fish is to some degree expert level, even damsels.

And when it comes to fish like mandarins the only people who may be experts are those who kept them or similar fish (seahorses, pipefish,...) before or have otherwise transferable skills (like breeding fish).

On the other hand, keeping mandarins in a large and mature reef tank that has a large and stable enough pod population doesn't require much specialized skills at all.

 

[Alexraptor]

Not as much "Expert" as requiring "knowledge".

You don't need massive tanks filled to the bursting point with live rock.
What you need, is a proper understanding of their diet and their prey items and the conditions under which they thrive. I achieved success on my first attempt in a tank as small as a 10g by building the tank around the fish rather than adding the fish to the tank so to speak.

First of all, I run my Mandarin tank as a "high nutrient" macroalgae dominated system. I do have plenty of live rock, but by no means have filled the whole tank with excessive amounts of it, theres plenty of "open water". I also use a very fine live sand which is excellent for pods and other critters to burrow in and for my mandarin in turn to hunt in.(love seeing her dip down and see a flurry of sand spraying out of her gills!). And I am also not very religious about removing detritus from the tank, as it is after all a food source for the critters on which mandarins feed.
Also, would like to take the opportunity to debunk the claim that some people around the internet seem to make that wild Mandarins exclusively feed on "copepods". This is incorrect and truth is that Mandarins feed on pretty much any live invertebrates small enough to fit into its mouth, copepods, amphipods, isopods and even small worms.

Now when I started off in my 10 gallon it wasn't quite enough to sustain her, so I fattened her up and kept her going by supplementing with frozen lobster eggs. At first it was twice a day feedings, but over time that number dropped to once a day, and then every other day, and finally after I upgraded to a 25g tank it is now able to sustain her on its own entirely.

Now my mandarin tank is a highly unsuitable enviornment for most SPS corals as by their standards the water is too "dirty", but its an ideal habitat that produces vast riches of living food for Mandarins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ydk7avCyx4

Oh yeah, and no refugium.
http://aquatic.alexraptor.com/?attachment_id=506

 

[snorvich]

In the wild mandarin fish are expected to live between 10 to 15 years (Sale, 2002); the longest I have kept a mating pair is just over five years and various singles topping out at 4-5 years. What is the longest you have heard of one being kept in an aquarium? What sized aquarium?

 

[ca1ore]

Pretty much every reef fish is to some degree expert level, even damsels.

And when it comes to fish like mandarins the only people who may be experts are those who kept them or similar fish (seahorses, pipefish,...) before or have otherwise transferable skills (like breeding fish).

On the other hand, keeping mandarins in a large and mature reef tank that has a large and stable enough pod population doesn't require much specialized skills at all.

I do believe you have completely missed my point ...... and you contradict yourself :lol: