CedzAquAddictio
New member
For the fish's sake, I'd give it away, or sell it to someone with a larger tank that has a self-sustaining pod population instead of sending it back to the LFS. It's unfortunate that the LFS didn't look out for the fish's or your best interest, and will probably sell it to another person without adequate information...
Here's the thing... To make a mandarin thrive, you will need a reproductive pod population, and fish that will not deplete the population faster than they can produce. unfortunately, unless you have a MUCH larger sump or refugium that will be a safe haven for pods to reproduce, your tank simply doesn't have enough LR or hiding spaces in which pods can reproduce before being consumed. A mandarin will literally pick over every square inch of LR in your tank in a matter of hours, and pretty much run through a VERY large amount of pods in a day...
I have a pod producing sump/refugium, but still add pods a couple of times a month. May be overkill, but if I don't see pod molts floating around in the water stream a few times a day, I consider my population to be low...
Best of luck...
Here's the thing... To make a mandarin thrive, you will need a reproductive pod population, and fish that will not deplete the population faster than they can produce. unfortunately, unless you have a MUCH larger sump or refugium that will be a safe haven for pods to reproduce, your tank simply doesn't have enough LR or hiding spaces in which pods can reproduce before being consumed. A mandarin will literally pick over every square inch of LR in your tank in a matter of hours, and pretty much run through a VERY large amount of pods in a day...
I have a pod producing sump/refugium, but still add pods a couple of times a month. May be overkill, but if I don't see pod molts floating around in the water stream a few times a day, I consider my population to be low...
Best of luck...
