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
Mandarins and Seahorses 
icon under there name and give them Reputation points
ryan 
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