Lifespan of a green mandarin?

[Mr31415]

What is the typical lifespan in captivity for a green mandarin fish? Assume enough natural food to sustain it.

[m2434]

No very long at all in captivity, occasionally they live.

[Mr31415]

Mine has been eating fine - I have had him for 1.3 years now (Sing Aug last year). He was always fat and healthy. The past couple of days he is breathing more rapidly, and his fins are torn with thick white stuff at the ends. Instead of swimming around and eating pods like usually, he is lying on the substrate.

[BangkokMatt]

They usually starve to death. They are generally petty good with disease and bacteria etc...
Anyway, in the wild they last about 3 - 4 years (I think). In captivity, about 8 months (unless you have a fuge or it eats prepared)

[Mr31415]

I have one mandarin in a 145g tank with a very active refugium and about 180lb of LR. He is quite fat.

[cazreef]

I've had my Mandy for 7 years in a 50g. He is quite fat and happy but my tank is not like most here. I have no skimming and only soft corals. Pods abound which is why he is alive I think the no skimming helps that.

Now, I know that many people will disagree with me but it works for me. I'm not saying that it is right for everyone.

Caz

Edited to add. WOW, I've been a member since 2003 and this is my first post :eek1:

[Blown 346]

I have had mine for 4 years and he is still going strong. As long as the tank is mature( atleast a year old) and has plenty of rock, pods and a healthy fuge a mandarin can live a very long time. I owuld even say over 10 years as long as it stays healthy, marine fish can live for 20/30 years.

[Mr31415]

So mine is either being harassed by my boxer shrimp, carpet anemone or dragon wrasse then?

[Blown 346]

Sounds like he is being picked on, I would look at the wrasse as the first fish.

[cazreef]

My guess would be that a fish is picking on his fins. Is he still fat? Is the wrasse a new addition?

Caz

[Mr31415]

Very fat. Nope all fish and shrimp have been there for more than 1 year.

[davocean]

As long as you have plenty of pods, and little or no competition for those pods they should live a long time.
One thing I did for my mandy pair was to eliminate other gobies that would compete for same food source.

[cazreef]

Do you have a fuge? If you do, perhaps you can put the mandy in there to keep an eye on him. You can transfer him back to the main when he is doing better and then keep an eye out for agression.

[Mr31415]

Yup - there are millions of pods in it. Transferring him is a great idea - I just hope he does not swim over in to the pump.

[cee]

4 years here, but he's an exception to the general rule. He has been conditioned to eat frozen food, even out of the water column. Nothing I did special, he picked that behavior up on his own.

[chrisp074]

I would guess he had a run in with the anemone, this is a fairly common problem in aquariums.

[davocean]

My guess would be the wrasse not liking the competition for same food source.

[laszlo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11361583#post11361583 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cee
4 years here, but he's an exception to the general rule. He has been conditioned to eat frozen food, even out of the water column. Nothing I did special, he picked that behavior up on his own.

Mines been with me for over a year, and is quite fat. He does the same thing when feeding frozen food. He grabs it as it's floating by. He's actually quite smart and goes to a corner of the tank where he knows all those bits of shimp are going to be swirling by.