Adding a Mandrin?

[d-ster]

I have been giving some thought to adding a mandrin to my reef tank is there anythign I should be aware of that might warrent me not adding this type of fish?

55g 100lb lr 75lb ls
a few soft corals mostly mushrooms
whatchman gobie, purple tang, tomato clown, coral beauty angle, six line wrasse

corall banded shrimp, 60 illyanas snails 6 turbos, and a sand star

I have a mature tank been running for about 5-6 years.

I want to add something but havent been able to nail down what yet. Suggestions would also be welcome.

[lcstorc]

Most Mandarins eat only pods. Occasionally you will find one that can be trained to eat prepared food, but I have read discussions on them not living long on an artificial diet. If you have a lot of pods and preferrably a fuge or are prepared to buy or supplement the pods in your tank they are absolutely gorgeous. I will tell you mine spends most of it's time hidden in the rockwork though.

[Seahorsedreams]

My mandarin is 6 years old and eating frozen. No nutritional issues seen due to the prepared food.

Ours is very outgoing and swims with the other fish at times.

Your tank should be fine.

[Rob]

i agree, while in that tank a fuge would help, one mandarin should be fine without too much worry.. :)

[lcstorc]

Well I am very new to this site and unsure what the rules are for posting links so I will just say do a search on mandarin on WetWebMedia or even a google search. Most consider them a difficult though not impossible fish that need a large pod population to thrive.

[Rob]

Well I am very new to this site and unsure what the rules are for posting links so I will just say do a search on mandarin on WetWebMedia or even a google search. Most consider them a difficult though not impossible fish that need a large pod population to thrive.
feel free to post any links to any sites here, were are about teaching and learning here, nothing else... ;) (ok, we like to haev fun too.. :) )

[lcstorc]

fun is good. :)
As is learning. I learned about mandarins the hard way when my husband fell in love with them and our reef was new. He kept buying them and they kept dying. Finally that is what forced me to research reefing in general. Unfortunately those poor fish paid for my ignorance.
Now I have one that is fat dumb and happy but I pay a lot of attention to it and it's requirements.

Here's just one link to get you going.
MandFdgFAQs (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mandfdgfaqs.htm)

[saxman]

Now I have one that is fat dumb and happy but I pay a lot of attention to it and it's requirements.

i hope you mean the mandarin and not your husband! ;)

with the maturity of your system, and the amount of LR/LS, you should be fine, even if it never takes to prepared foods. just a hint, if you ever get "stuck" for food for it, try enriched live adult artemia or live blackworms (use these sparingly as they die in SW).

[lcstorc]

LOL Well the husband could stand to loose a few pounds and is hopefully happy but the dumb would not refer to him.
Thanks for the suggestion, but with the new fuge I am setting up hopefully it will continue to thrive. I actually only have this one because I was saving him from a brand new setup and knew my system could handle his requirements much better than a new tank. So far so good and he has been there several months.
Thanks for the help and the laugh.

[raermo]

The best advice I got on this fish (I've had two of them for 3 years) is to buy one that is actively hunting at the LFS this is what mandarins do 24/7 if its not hunting/moving around the tank picking at small items do not purchase. Also as with all fish make sure it looks fat, a skinny mandarin is not healthy. Good luck I love this fish I hope you will too.
--Rachel

[Raggamuffin]

My best friend actually HAD to buy one of these guys, his pod population in his tank was so huge that they started eating his corals. I watched it happen, and still don't believe it. There was litterally 100 pods to the inch in that tank, it looked like the rocks were moving....needless to say his is a very happy fish.

[CarmieJo]

I don't have a mandarin but I know that my sixline is an opportunistic pod hunter and always had a fat belly. I would like to have a mandarin and am contemplating adding one. I have had my tank up and running for a year so my pod population is pretty well established but I know that my sixline will compete. I have a corner tank so there is limited space for a fuge. I tried chaeto but it just got blown all apart so I am adding some more LR rubble to the first section of my sump (a converted wet/dry) and will try some more chaeto. If that doesn't work I will go to another macro to give the pods a protected place to live and breed.

[JustDavidP]

Raermo.. you've been a member for a year and we've not seen much of you... Happy New Year to you from another Bostonian...

Carmie..just keep in mind that if you already have "pod snipers" (ie. wrasse etc.) then you need to keep that in mind. One pod hunter is no big deal. Multiple pod hunters may end up crashing the population.

Just my two cents..

D

[d-ster]

I guess that all being said: with my six line, I may not want to add a mandarin, due to feeding competition.

Will have to keep looking for the next fish. Just not sure what would be best to add.

[CarmieJo]

Yeah, I'm still holding off. Too bad I like my sixline so much.:)

[d-ster]

Yeah same here, mines one of my favorites.

[JustDavidP]

My mandarin didn't fare well in my 75G reef tank. Not only was it trying to compete with the wrasss, dottyback and other pod snipers, but it never got its share of prepared foods. The other fish (clowns, banggai, chromis) always stripped the water column of the foods before the slow, easy going, mandarin got a chance to eat.

He's FAT and happy in my seahorse tank though! (26 gallon bow)

Dave

[raermo]

Thanks David, I tend to lurk ... I need to write more;)

[iglowce]

i have one mandarin. my two LFS have fri shipments of live brineshrimp. i recently learned from Rob that i can enriched those live brines. so imma add zoecon and see how it can helps.. my mandarin is constantly hunting and a very cool fish to look at... love it!!!

[Rob]

He's FAT and happy in my seahorse tank though! (26 gallon bow)
Dave i think its important to note that you have a 7 gallon fuge helping out here..
would hate to see someone read this and stink a mandarin in a small tank like that.. ;)



i have one mandarin. my two LFS have fri shipments of live brineshrimp. i recently learned from Rob that i can enriched those live brines. so imma add zoecon and see how it can helps.. my mandarin is constantly hunting and a very cool fish to look at... love it!!!
wow, people really listen to me!!...lol
and i thin i ts selcon your after.. ;)

[d-ster]

I think we all listen to you Rob. Thats why we're here. To hope some of your, and all the other experienced reefers, knowlege would rub off if even just a bit onto the newbies. If I havent said it before this is the most wonderful site I,ve ever been a part of and trust me Ive been involed in quite a few.

Thank you Rob And ALL :)

[JustDavidP]

Rob,

You are correct, I do have multiple refugia, both inline and offline that support this tank. The pods and mysid do feed SOME of the inhabitants. More importantly, the bluestriped pipe fish. The seahorses don't pay much attention to anything smaller than a mysid shrimp. The mandarin eats frozen mysid (yep, snicks the whole thing) and frozen brine. I'm SURE he hunts pods and such from time to time, but I honestly don't think he does as much collateral damage to the populations as the pipe. I also don't think he'd survive without either facet of the feeding program; the frozen or live.

Dave