Mandarins and Seahorses

[Cjvolitan]

Hey guys i just finshed listening to the last podcast about sea horses. I was intregued by the idea of houseing mandarins with sea horses in a samller tank i have always loved those little gobies and i like seahorses too the remiond me of little dragons so does any one have any idea of how to set up a tank for these two exciteing and beautiful fish ?
i was thinking a 15 gal tall with two dwarf sea horses and one mandarin and some nice zoo and shrooms for colour?

[Scott]

Welcome to the board Cjvolitan!

I'm sure that between Rob and Dave, you will get your answer about housing both seahourses and mandarins.

[Cjvolitan]

thanks Scott
i love your neon dotty back

[Rob]

Cjvolitan,
personally i would not recommend the mandarin in a tank that small. Mandarins really need a bigger tank to support there feeding needs. when Dave was mentioning his, he was referring to a mature 26 gallon tank with lots of LR. i would recommend a larger tank for you.. and if you do that, you are still going to have to wait about 6-8 months before adding the mandarin in the tank..

as you do research on mandarins, most people will recommend a 75 gallon tank, 100 LBS of live rock and it to be at least a year old before adding a mandarin, so just be careful with this

Mandarins are beautiful, and they have large needs... make sure you do lots of homework on them to fully understand.. Dave was basically mentioning that they should be safe housed with ponies

on a final note.. Mandarins are not gobies, they are actually dragonettes. :)
Dave, anything else you want to add to this?

[Scott]

thanks Scott
i love your neon dotty back

Thanks, I like it too....very interesting watching it in my tank, always examining things to see what it can eat. Goes nuts when a pod shoots into the display from the sump/fuge. I've also seen it digging in my sandbed in the corners of the tank looking for bristleworms.

[JustDavidP]

Hey folks.. Baseball season has started. I was at try outs all day. Sorry for the late post.

Personally, I say it depends on the fish. I, and other do have dragonetts that eat frozen mysid and therefore can be kept in varying conditions. If I had a mandarin that only ate live foods (pods etc.) I'd ensure that it was in a very large tank with lots of live rock and would also replenish pods as often as possible.

If you have a fish that eats frozen foods, that's a different story. More often, fish that eat frozen are showing up in LFS. MAKE SURE IT EATS before you buy it. If not, you'd best take the large, mature tank route. Otherwise, you could keep it under special conditions, to include that it is not outcompeted for food by other fish.

My mandarin boy was literally starving in my 75G reef. He was not getting his share of frozen foods and was not interested in live. Yes, it is not "the norm" for mandarin, but it was the case. This is why I say, "know your pet", regardless of what you "Expect" from them. Immediately after removing "Hendrix" from the reef, and putting him in with the ponies, he began to fatten up and become healthier.

The moral of the story is, just know your fish. Look at them in the LFS for some time and avoid impulse buys. If you know you can take the fish, do it. Otherwise leave it for someone else who is hopefully more experienced.

I used this same thinking when I bought a pipefish. They too are notorious for starving because they'll only take live foods. I watched it eat frozen at the LFS and it has been fat and happy with me ever since.

Dave

[gwen_o_lyn]

Welcome to TR CJ ;)

[Cjvolitan]

Okay thanks alot guys u have all been really helpful

[iglowce]

i had a scooter blenny after one month of setting up my nano 20Gl.. after doing research i knew these dragonettes neeed a lot of care and they need pods to survive. i learned it the hard way.. i love scooter soooooo much though

[JustDavidP]

Again, all dragonettes need to be understood. IF (and this is sometimes a big if) they do take frozen foods, they can be sucessfully kept in most situations. (ie. not with that big ol' snowflake eel ;) ) However, most wild caught dragonettes have a miserable survival rate unless housed in a very mature system chuck full o' pods etc.

Dave