mandarin QT
- Thread starter kfp
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
First and foremost, you are to be congratulated. So many times I hear, "I bought a Mandarin, now what do I do?" Thinking ahead and planning is an important step. In the understanding of what their needs are and putting that against what you are or are not willing to provide is very important. Once you understand what is entailed, then you can make an informed decision about acquiring one.
You need to do some reading. Many of your questions will be answered in other posts. Please read not only this post, but some of the other links within this post:
Pod Eaters
Another good general post:
My Fish Won't Eat
A Mandarin can and does carry Marine Ich, despite some who think they are 'immune' to it. They also carry and can be infected with almost all the 'usual' marine fish diseases. The quarantine process is important not only for diseases, but in the effort to train the fish to eat prepared foods. For the most part, they are above average in 'intelligence' and will catch on very quickly to the 'food tube' for spot feeding.
In a community aquarium, they may be difficult to feed. They eat slowly and don't compete for food like many of the fishes that swim in the upper column. They may require spot feeding, depending upon your other marine life. This is an ongoing effort and requirement that may be needed if you want to keep this fish.
A young one should live several years in captivity and, if you find that yours can't get past 2 years, then you may wish to switch to one of the other fishes. Most slowly starve to death in the sense that they are not getting their proper nutrition. There may be enough (high population) of pods in your aquarium, but that population isn't usually diverse enough to provide this fish with all its needs.
If you have specific questions after reading the above and the links in the above link, please post. We're here to help.
You need to do some reading. Many of your questions will be answered in other posts. Please read not only this post, but some of the other links within this post:
Pod Eaters
Another good general post:
My Fish Won't Eat
A Mandarin can and does carry Marine Ich, despite some who think they are 'immune' to it. They also carry and can be infected with almost all the 'usual' marine fish diseases. The quarantine process is important not only for diseases, but in the effort to train the fish to eat prepared foods. For the most part, they are above average in 'intelligence' and will catch on very quickly to the 'food tube' for spot feeding.
In a community aquarium, they may be difficult to feed. They eat slowly and don't compete for food like many of the fishes that swim in the upper column. They may require spot feeding, depending upon your other marine life. This is an ongoing effort and requirement that may be needed if you want to keep this fish.
A young one should live several years in captivity and, if you find that yours can't get past 2 years, then you may wish to switch to one of the other fishes. Most slowly starve to death in the sense that they are not getting their proper nutrition. There may be enough (high population) of pods in your aquarium, but that population isn't usually diverse enough to provide this fish with all its needs.
If you have specific questions after reading the above and the links in the above link, please post. We're here to help.
Last edited:
russellaqua
Cultured Coral Retailer
Live copepods can be purchased from several places, including a good LFS. Some mandarins will also accept frozen brine shrimp or small mysis. Since it'll be in a QT tank there won't be any competition for food.
russellaqua
Cultured Coral Retailer
Generally, I find if you have a tank with at a bare minimum of 50 pounds of porous rock, and a 2" sand bed, you can sustain 1 mandarin as long as there are no other fish that eat copepods in the tank. Things like six-line wrasses would compete for food. The bigger the tank and the more rock, the better the chances of success are. It all depends on your system. Mandarins will also eat things other than pods. I had one in a tank that had a couple large stomatella snails in it. After I moved the mandarin to another tank I had literally 100 baby stomatella shortly thereafter. The mandarin had been eating the baby snails.
