I want a mandarin!
 

Tank info:

45G Light Reef
Couple Mushrooms, Zoas
Pair of Percula Clowns (1 w/ lucky fin)
Yellow-tail Damsel
BiColor Pseudo
Prizm Skimmer / AC110 Converted Refugium

I'd like opinions from some more experienced mandarin owners. I would like to add one to my 45G tank, which has been running for over a year with an AC110 converted to a fuge. I just began adding some easy corals a few months ago and they are doing well. Water quality is excellent, there are never any nitrates. I guess the 65W over the fuge really does a good job as I am pulling large amounts of cheato out regularly.

Anyway, I'd like to add a dragonet to the tank. I know they are difficult to keep without a lot of live food. I know I have a good amount of pods, but I'm not sure if they will be enough to supply a dragonet for a lifetime. I will make sure I dunk the chaeto from both tanks that I will be getting rid of in the tank to try to add some additional pods. However, what if I hatched brine shrimp, say 3-4 times a week, or everyday if necessary. I would feed them a few hours after they hatch so they still have the yokes and are more nutritious. I could soak them with Selco for about an hour before feeding them, too. Would this be a nutritious base for the mandarin to live off of?

Appreciate all responses.

I'd imagine that if you have the pods you should be ok.

I'm in the same boat as you, "wanting to add a mandarin" I just haven't found one that looks healthy, they all look extremely thin.

Many of the mandarins are captured with cyanide; these will not survive. If the mandarin is hunting, and moving about, it is probably going to be ok IF you have enough copepods. Eating prepared foods, contrary to popular opinion, is not going to sustain a mandarin fish nutritionally so don't use that as a criteria for purchase.

Many people are reporting good success with feeding Nutramar Ova (frozen Prawn eggs) to mandarins.

I have one that eats pods, but it also eats everything else...brine, mysis, cyclops, even flake food...
They are great fish but very hit and miss...good luck

How much live rock do you have and how long has the tank been set up. You can also get live pods for your LFS that can help your chance. I have 1 in my 180 with over 300lbs of live rock and he is doing great always on the hunt. I agree do not count on being able to feed him or her yourself that is a battle usually not won. They are very slow food getters and cannot compete with other fish. I did have 1 in my old 90 3 years back that ate mysis, but that was the only one I had that did. I have had 3 over the years. and 2 of them (1 is still going) lived for years. The other didn't make it a week unfortunately disappeared into the rocks : ( I would do your homework and be sure you are set up right, beautiful facinating fishes

Just b/c you can not see pods in your tank does not mean that they are there. I haven't seen a pod in my tank for monkths, but my mandarin is still fat. I've had him almost 7 months when you have the flow going, those tiny suckers are tough to lay eyes on.

What about your fuge, how long has it been set up? Do you see lots of pods in there? And just like blas said, how much live rock do you have, since that's all they do all day is hunt on the rocks.

If your fuge has been running for 6months... go for it. They eat all day though so make sure you have enough pods. I got them in hidden rocks where the maderin cant reach, a fuge, and I even converted my canister into a pod culture now just to be sure! lol.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11471404#post11471404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amyandlars [/i]
[B]Just b/c you can not see pods in your tank does not mean that they are there. I haven't seen a pod in my tank for monkths, but my mandarin is still fat. I've had him almost 7 months when you have the flow going, those tiny suckers are tough to lay eyes on.

What about your fuge, how long has it been set up? Do you see lots of pods in there? And just like blas said, how much live rock do you have, since that's all they do all day is hunt on the rocks. [/B][/QUOTE]

This is only semi-true. I have a 125g with 50x turnover and can see pods EVERYWHERE. The best place to check is in the algae on your glass. I quite often see pods coming out of holes in rocks to grab small bits of flake/food as it floats by. My cleaner shrimp can often be seen chasing them too :P

You have GOOD eyes. Wish mine were that good. But, of course Zaita is right.

You must have tigger pods to be able to see them coming out like that lol.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11474590#post11474590 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hybridgenius [/i]
[B]You must have tigger pods to be able to see them coming out like that lol. [/B][/QUOTE]

Copepods (Harpacticoid) and Amphipods :) Amphipods are quite large, they look like a tiny mantis shrimp :P

Tigger pods are an Harpacticoid, but if you do some research on them they are not often found in marine reef aquariums due to their inability to survive at high temperatures for long periods of time. They recommend against buying these :)

Also remember that a Mandarin hunts by pecking pods from rocks and glass and are less inclined to pull them from the water column. So you should be able to see the pods on your rocks/glass that you expect the fish to eat and not count the ones in the water column (Calanoid copepods).

A sure-fire way to know if you can support a mandarin is to keep an eye on your live-rock and glass. Once a little bit of algae forms on the glass you should see hundreds of little white dots, this is a very positive indicator.

I have 65-75lbs of live rock, and the tank with the refugium has been set up since last september (16 months). I know there are pods, I can see them in the refugium and on the cheato that sometimes makes its way to the main tank. Just not sure if there are enough. I'll keep lurking.

I feed mines tigger pods and my manderin does pretty damn well. So I'm not against others buying it. Mines stay on rock for some reason though.

I have found the bigger ones eat more prepared food then the smaller ones.

Which mandarin fares better for aquaria, green spotted or psychedelic?

I don't think you can say that either species has an aquarium advantage. It does make a difference where they are caught as some areas use cyanide and this means the fish will not live.

What kind of pods are these? I found a lot in my mini-sump and I gussed those sustain my Mandarin.

sorry, forgot the pic:


[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/132191pods.JPG [/IMG]

Those are not the ones the they eat. Unless its is their larval version, they are too big for the mandarin tiny sucker mouth. I am pretty sure the pods we are talking about are the tiny spots you see moving on your glass if you focus on a spot long enough. Barely the size of a grain of sand.

I had my mandarin for about 9 months, but he dissapeared After I added my green clown goby and Sunburst anthias. Now my theory is it wasnt the clown goby that harassed the mandairn, but probably the tomato clown that harassed my anthias (which that particular species happened to be a deep water fish) and it died. I couldnt find, I am sure my ammonia went up, and shortly after the mandarin was gone.

I got him out of my sump in the old tank and this new one, only to lose him because I was too ambitions to think I could keep a deeper water fish in a generic reef tank, as opposed to a tank that would be specialized for deep water conditions.

I will try again in a few months and see what happens.

^ Those are amphipods and yes they eat those too. I just bought a pair for my 90g and I love them. Beautiful graceful pod hunters.;)

added one to reef not long after set up
have over 200# LR and added 'pods' from lfs at time.

would never 'see' the pods anywhere on glass etc
yet my mandarin grew from small juvenile size to the phat adult size that it is today - today nothing is added to this system without first learning all we can about what it is we are interested in first.

in hindsight -
would not have done it like this again even though it proved to be successful.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11481700#post11481700 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nuj244 [/i]
[B]What kind of pods are these? I found a lot in my mini-sump and I gussed those sustain my Mandarin. [/B][/QUOTE]

Amphipods. And yes a mandarin will eat them :)

[QUOTE]Eating prepared foods, contrary to popular opinion, is not going to sustain a mandarin fish nutritionally [/QUOTE]

What are you basing this information off of?

If you have a large amount of live rock and your refuge has been going for a while, I would say go for it. I have a spotted mandrain in my 65 reef and shes fat as heck. Shes always hunting and she also eats prepared food like frozen mysis. I have even see her on more then one occasion eat whole live ghost shrimp. I have a 20 gal refuge with a few rocks and tons of cheto, and about 90lbs of live rock in the tank.