Spotted mandarin compatability

[LilGreenPuffer]

Are spotted mandarins compatable with the percula complex? I do understand just how hard these guys are to keep alive, and I'm fully prepared to wait a couple of years to establish a supply of pods, get a refugium, and so on. My LFS got one that's trained to eat live brine shrimp as well, and I'd like to try this one day, but clowns will be the first priority, so I was just wondering if everyone would play nice, given lots of space.

 

[romsoccer12]

tank size?

 

[romsoccer12]

well anything small enough where 2 clowns and a mandarin would fight wouldnt be a big enough home for a mandarin. if you wanted to try to keep one and you waited a year, got a good fuge, and you get a mandarin that eats frozen, i would say the minimum amt of LR for keeping it alive would be 45lbs. Anything less and you would slowly be starving it.

 

[LilGreenPuffer]

Tank size isn't definite at all. It will be based on what I have room for and what I can afford when I have my own home. Given an appropriate environment, then, mandarins and percs will get along?

 

[stumpovrtyme]

Mine do in a 55. Horrible pics on (you tube) same user name.(stumpovrtyme)

 

[Anemone]

Also depends upon whether you are going to have anemones or not, and what type. Several types of anemones are simply too dangerous to mandarins in the smaller confines of a tank - eventually the mandarin wanders into the anemone and becomes a fish dinner.

Kevin

 

[LilGreenPuffer]

Not really planning on it for sure. I might try it years down the road, but I want to try the basic corals to start with - green star polyps, etc. - before trying more difficult inverts.

 

[Mike31154]

I have two green mandarins in my 75 with a pair of Maroon Clowns hosting in a BTA. No problems at all. Mandarins apparently have some sort of coating which is extremely distasteful to any potential fish predator. I also have a Blue Devil Damselfish who is about the nastiest dude to any newcomers and it didn't take too long for him to try and pick on the second tiny mandarin when I added him. Was not able to harm him and eventually things calmed down when the damsel realized what he was dealing with.

Both mandarins have cruised quite close to the BTA but not close enough to get eaten. They appear to have the sense to keep the correct distance. Mama clown doesn't really like it when they're that close either but does nothing due to the apparent repellent nature of their skin.

 

[LilGreenPuffer]

Well, if maroons, won't bother it, then nothing will, I guess!

So, this slime coat prevents ich. What other diseases? Does it help gaurd against bacterial or fungal infections? Besides this and the protection from predators, does it do anything else special?

 

[myreefcentral]

I had mine in a 34g with a pair of picasso clowns & a yellow goby...it got fat from being in my tank, but mine did take frozen brine shrimp & mysis...on occassion it even took Omega One flakes, but most of the time, it scavaged around the rocks for pods...apparently it was finding enough to keep itself fat because I only fed my tank once a day & didn't turn off any pumps at all during feeding...had it for 1 year...moving from an apartment into a house eventually killed it.

 

[rkelman]

I've found Mandarins to be quite compatible with pretty much everything. The clowns ignore them at least in my experience. Also in my experience carpets loooove them

 

[Anemone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15289483#post15289483 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
Also in my experience carpets loooove them

That's what I was getting at.

Kevin

 

[LilGreenPuffer]

*makes note to self: NO INTERIOR CARPETING*

An anemone would be a really careful decision for me. It may not even happen. Do you know which ones are less likely to bother mandarins?

 

[johnnyroastbeef]

My perc ignores the mandarin, in fact all the fish ignore the mandarin. The clown does his best to get all the food, so you might need to target feed the mandarin if he is not strictly eating pods.

 

[seafansar]

I have a scooter blenny (closely related to mandarins) in a 125 with now 3 (one just split) BTA's. It pretty much stays clear of the anemones, probably cause of the maroon clown hosting them. I have seen it swim though the anemone's tentacles once and he didn't get caught. I'm sure as long as the mandarin is healthy, it won't get caught in a BTA.

Mine will also eat frozen food and pellets! If you have the time and set up, it's a very good idea to train the mandarin to eat frozen food or just find one that already eats it. I've gotten two target mandarins to eat frozen, but always had trouble with the green mandarins.

 

[LilGreenPuffer]

What does BTA stand for? I haven't gotten all the acronyms down yet.

 

[Arati]

Bubble Tip Anemone.

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

 

[rkelman]

I think a BTA would be my choice.

 

[rkelman]

GBTA = Green Bubble Tipped Anemone
RBTA = Red Bubble Tipped Anemone

and so on and so on

 

[LilGreenPuffer]

Ah. Merci beaucoup, rkelman.