mandarin dragonete in a new tank

areze · #1 09/10/2005, 08:28 PM

yes or no. he was a beautiful fish. I have an ample supply of pods crawling all over the glass. Id kind of like them to get off the glass lol. so I thought maybe a youngish mandarin dragonette would be good for that purpose. I read in some places that he is only for an established tank, but my glass is literally covered in pods.

hes reef safe, he doesnt get too large as to slaughter a DSB right?

right now I have a 75 gallon, it is 1 month cycled, pending perfect water conditions tomarrow after todays water change I plan to pick him up. he will be the first and only fish;

basicly Im looking for any reason hes not a good fit into a reef tank. any details I should know about them to not get it. will he limit me in some huge way in the future.

the tank will become 180gallons within 4 months; and the 75 will be the sump. not positive how I want to go with it, but I do enjoy the look of tangs, lion fish, and other reef safe but maybe a bit aggressive? kinds of fish. will this guy be ok with that; or is he too peaceful?

clownfish4 · #2 09/10/2005, 09:01 PM

Don't buy him yet. First of all they should not be added for 6 months at the bare minimum. As well, many argue that a 75g is not sufficient. I would wait until your 180 is matured.

areze · #3 09/10/2005, 11:41 PM

oh ok; figured 75 was ok; but fair enough.

any good suggestions for colorful interesting personality fish that would be good in a new tank?

kind of tricky cause with the 180 in the future I dont want to get small fish that will be lost in the large tank.

would just get the 180 now, but need some time to free up the space for it. the tanks so sad all alone though.

Oblivionis · #4 09/11/2005, 01:13 AM

My first fish was a Lawnmower Blenny. Not the most colorful fish but has lots of personality. All they eat is algee so make sure you have enough of it if you decide to get one.

areze · #5 09/11/2005, 08:43 AM

we were looking at one of them; your right, not the most colorful fish; I guess he's kind of a staple in any tank to keep it in check?

areze · #6 09/11/2005, 02:31 PM

well they couldnt get the blenny out of the tank; they had him in the coral display tank; and though he is technically for sale; no one can get anything out of the tank.

so I talked to the manager about what would be a good fit; and he suggested a foxface rabbit fish. said it would eat some algea including hair algea, and he was hardy and would get somewhat big to not be lost in a 180g tank.

so wrapped him up and acclimating him now. hes small for now; maybe 2-3". looks a bit miffed right now; but I think he'll be happy. hell he's got 75 gallons all to himself.

guess Ill order a blenny in about 2 or 3 weeks

tsquad · #7 09/11/2005, 06:29 PM

Good job on the Foxface. They are great fish, I've got one myself in my 135. However, I wouldn't get the LMB. More often than not, once they eat all the algae, they'll starve. They are very picky eaters. Some will not touch algae, and only eat meaty foods. Some will only eat algae, and not touch meaty foods. That kind of thing. I'd invest in a better fish, maybe a pair of clowns?

CrazyLionfish · #8 09/11/2005, 06:31 PM

I'd say don't get the LMB, I think your foxface will eat all the algae fast leaving none for the LMB. I just got a LMB and my tank is full of algae, hes already eating my hair algae, this cup algae, and this leafy algae. I'll be trying mysis shrimp tonight, see if he goes for it, if not he can just keep on eating the algae!

areze · #9 09/11/2005, 06:47 PM

well I did the drip method; and then added him to the tank; but right when he got into the bag he lost all his color; spines went up and hes been hiding in the tank since.

I have the light off; I know there was 0 ammonia and nitrite a few ppm of nitrate, maybe 4 or 5. salinity around 1.023. that ok that hes mostly white and black now?

at the store he was active, bright yellow with defined colors and all. just hoping he'll be ok.

CrazyLionfish · #10 09/11/2005, 06:52 PM

Just normal stress color I think, just give him a while to get settled in.

tsquad · #11 09/11/2005, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by areze
well I did the drip method; and then added him to the tank; but right when he got into the bag he lost all his color; spines went up and hes been hiding in the tank since.

I have the light off; I know there was 0 ammonia and nitrite a few ppm of nitrate, maybe 4 or 5. salinity around 1.023. that ok that hes mostly white and black now?

at the store he was active, bright yellow with defined colors and all. just hoping he'll be ok.

Very normal. They are very timid fish. Mine immediately changed colors and hid in my tank. Try feeding him tomorrow, see if he'll come out. He'll grow into the tank eventually. Soon he'll know who feeds him, and will come to the front of the tank whenever you are there. Mine is very active when I'm there, but when there are other people, he will change colors and hide. It's pretty neat actually, but yeah, give him a few days to get used to his new environment. I'm sure he'll be very happy with 75g to himself. On a side note, you might want to bring that sg up. Most reefs are run at 1.025-1.026.

areze · #12 09/11/2005, 10:29 PM

it was there, but I topped it off and did a water change; it landed a little lower than precisely expected. I left it alone though cause I know the LFS runs theirs somewhere between 1.018 and 1.022 because thats what they reccomend to me. not that I listen to them; but since the tanks all his; no problem catering to him for a little while; Ill make the next water change a little stronger.

I just want him to be all colorful

he looked great in the tank at the store; went to show some people and their like "uhh yeah nice fish..."

but I dont care. they just think Im even stranger than ussual. 40$ for THAT?

TheGrimmReefer · #13 09/12/2005, 01:16 PM

Clownfish4, I don't know who would say a mature (over a year, more like 2) 75 gallon tank with plenty of live rock (at least 130 pounds, more like 150), and a working 'fuge full of various pods and algae wouldn't be able to support 1 mandarin. If you haven't already guessed, those are my specs and I feel pretty confident that my mandarin is going to do fine

. I don't know why some people feel we need to use tang police tactics with mandarins. It isn't a swimming space issue, its a food issue. You could probably keep a mandarin in a 10 gallon tank if you could figure out a way to keep it constantly supplied with pods. And that is assuming that it doesn't take prepared foods. If it does, then pretty much any sized aquarium would do.

But yeah for a newly established tank I wouldn't recommend it, use the 6 month minimum.

Anyway my point is that I have never heard anyone say that a 75 gallon is too small to support ONE mandarin. I'm curious where you got that information from (BTW I'm not trying to be hostile, even if it seems that way, lol).

SVXH6 · #14 09/13/2005, 12:25 AM

i work a LFS and a guy came in who wanted a mandarin i was like ok asked all the usual questions i ask, tank size how long its been up and whatnot,. this guy had a 10 gallon setup for 2 months with like 15 lbs of live rock and precycled water. i told him if he gets it to eat other foods he might be ok but this is sometimes tough to do. he argued with me that this was going to be a substantial food source for a mandarin!!!!!!!!! i was like no way. after about 20min of back and forth i could tell the guy knew absolutely nothing,his gf was angry with him told him he knew nothing and walked away. i reluctantly sold him the mandarin knowing i was sending it to its death. just thought id share the irresponsibility of some people who really dont care about the fish and or corals and there needs, but only what they want.

TheGrimmReefer · #15 09/13/2005, 01:08 AM

I really don't understand people like that, SVXH6. When I first got into the saltwater game, the LFS people were as gods of knowledge to me. I knew that at the very least these people deal with the fish every day and knew more about the in and outs of the game than I knew with 0 experience. Looking back on it, I was given a lot of bad information to be honest. But still, had I tried to do it on my own with NO information things would have been absolutely awful and I would have given up. The only people who would have any reason to walk around like know-it-alls in a LFS are marine biologists, IMO, and even then they would have to be experts on reefs. Geez, it completely confounds me when people that have no knowledge on the subject (and know it) act like they know more than the people who do it for a living.

I mean, saltwater fishkeeping has never had a reputation for being easy, many reef fish are notorious for being sensitive to bad water conditions, as well as being incredibly expensive. Whenever people come to my house (non-reefers) and see the tank, 9 times out of ten the first thing out of their mouth is "man, that must be a bear to keep up with" or "I'd never be able to do something like that" or "that must have cost an arm and a leg." Of course, the 1 person out of ten usually goes something like "OMG, that's gorgeous!"

And I would classify myself as a mediocre reefkeeper at best.

Anyway, sorry for the rant but I've seen this happen and heard these kinds of stories ever since I started this hobby (many more amazing than the one you told, but the overall message is the same) and I have to say it is a phenomenon that I don't expect I'll ever understand.

tsquad · #16 09/13/2005, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheGrimmReefer
I'm curious where you got that information from (BTW I'm not trying to be hostile, even if it seems that way, lol).

I think Calfo wrote an article recommending at least 200lbs of LR for one mandarin, not sure though. I wouldn't go by that rule though. I think that what Calfo meant is that 200lbs is almost definite that the tank's pod population can regenerate itself and be self sufficient.