Thinking about adding a mandarin to the tank

Cobrasvt1999

Cobrasvt1999

Member
Heya all. Im giving some serious thought to adding a mandarin goby to my tank setup, but im still quite hesitant to pull the trigger on it. My tank is only 2 months old as of now, and its a 56 column tank to boot, so it doesn't have much floor space.

That said, whats making me think about adding the mandarin is that I am having a HUGE population explosion of pods in the tank. they are covering much of the glass surface and even free floating through the tank.

copepod.jpg

(picture from melevsreef)
This is the best picture I can find for what I have in the tank

If not a mandarin, then what should I add to keep the pod population down and still be a cool and nifty fish?

Thanks, Lars
 
some wrasses will spend most of the daying hunting pods, and will also eat other things. Where as a mandarin will not they only eat pods. I wouldn't buy a mandarin yet if I was you.
 
I can flat out say with 100% certainty that your tank is not yet established enough to support a mandarin.

You will be having to add pods to keep it alive, I wouldnt consider adding one until your tank matures more.

Pods will come and go in a tank. An explosion of pod growth is just one of the indications your tank is still young. Once it established you will see more consistancy in pod numbers. My tank is almost 1 year old now and I dont think I am ready to support a mandarin even, probably could but dont want to risk it. To beautiful of a fish.

Your pod explosion will subside on it's own, cuc and fish will pick them off
 
SammyL said:
Wait, IMO your tank is not seasonsed enough?
Click to expand...

jminick2 said:
some wrasses will spend most of the daying hunting pods, and will also eat other things. Where as a mandarin will not they only eat pods. I wouldn't buy a mandarin yet if I was you.
Click to expand...

CafeReef said:
I can flat out say with 100% certainty that your tank is not yet established enough to support a mandarin.

You will be having to add pods to keep it alive, I wouldnt consider adding one until your tank matures more.

Pods will come and go in a tank. An explosion of pod growth is just one of the indications your tank is still young. Once it established you will see more consistancy in pod numbers. My tank is almost 1 year old now and I dont think I am ready to support a mandarin even, probably could but dont want to risk it. To beautiful of a fish.

Your pod explosion will subside on it's own, cuc and fish will pick them off
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick replies! This is the direction I was leaning... I suppose I really just needed someone to slap my wrist and tell me no! :lolspin:

sometimes the hardest thing with this hobby seems to be constantly holding the breaks and forcing myself to take it slow and do it right.
 
It is also questionable whether that size tank can ever supply enough pods on its own for a mandarin's long term health without significant effort, absolutely no other pod eating fish in the tank, large refugium, etc. If you want another alternative that will more likely eat prepared foods, look at a leopard wrasse - also very striking. Not an easy fish for several reasons, but easier to feed.
 
Mandarin eat more than pods, white & black worms, lobster roe, brine shrimp and etc. but needless to say you might eventually supplement do to lack of pods.
 
Cobrasvt1999 said:
Thanks for the quick replies! This is the direction I was leaning... I suppose I really just needed someone to slap my wrist and tell me no! :lolspin:

sometimes the hardest thing with this hobby seems to be constantly holding the breaks and forcing myself to take it slow and do it right.
Click to expand...

Like Corey taylor did to kanye? :lolspin: YouTube it. Funny stuff
 
I would not advise one for 2 month old tank. A mandarin can eat and clean out a copepod population very quickly in a young tank. I was actually lucky with my first mandarin as he would sometimes eat brine shrimp, but it wasn't all the time.


Just remember that copepod population in your tank will basically self-regulate. They will reproduce to maximum population density in the tank and then some will die off. The tank can go through several cycles of overpopulation and die off before the population finds a happy place and population.
 
Hey Cobra - honestly, if you really want a Mandarin and want it to thrive long term, I wouldn't go any smaller than a well-established 100 gallon, and still have no other wrasses or competing fish. And think about getting a tank-bred ORA Mandarin before getting one from the wild if this is your first time keeping one.
 
I'd say at least 8 months to a year. Gotta let your tank establish itself and be self sustaining with the pod population.
 
Depends on a lot of things, how your pod population is doing, how stable the tank is, and if you are counting on trying to get it to eat prepared foods or not, and what contingency do you have in place if that doesn't work. It is potentially a very high maintenance fish, so if you are not ready for that, you are not giving it the best chance. If it doesn't eat prepared foods, be ready to culture pods, or buy pods a couple times a month to add to the tank - which gets pricey. The fishes metabolism and morphology is best compared to a hummingbird - which need to eat literally every couple minutes. Mandarins have very small mouths, so are designed to forage and eat constantly all day on very small prey. So, sometimes even several meals of prepared foods a day won't cut it, if they can get enough. Some people are lucky though and do train them, so it is possible - you just have to commit and don't give up.
 
If you are truly coming here for advice, here's mine: Regardless of how long you wait, a mandarin will slowly starve and die in the tank you have. It won't be your fault, beyond the fact that you put the fish in there. You do not have an adequate tank. Neither do I. It's ok. There are so many amazing fish you can buy. Don't kill a mandarin.
 
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