To soon for a Mandarin?

[egunman]

I upgraded to a 120 gal with a 55 sump in Sept. I moved all rock from the old tank to the display tank and most of the sand went into the sump. I see tons of copapods and ampapods in my tank at night. Would I be ok to put a mandarin in my tank?

Thanks
Eric

 

[dragoneggs]

Sounds like you have the food requirement. As long as your tank is stable it's probably good to go. I am assuming the rock from old tank went straight from the old to new one? If you have never had one... keep in mind most people slowly starve their mandarins without knowing. There are now ORA mandarins captive bred that can feed on other foods. More expensive and harder to get but something to consider.

 

[egunman]

I have heard lots of people starve their mandarins. That is why I am trying to do it right. Yes the rock came from the old tank, into a bucket of water and directly into the new tank. The new rock had been curing for several months.

I also added a bottle of tiger pods in early october.

 

[JasonD]

I have a mandarin in a 57 gallon tank with very little live rock or pods. The mandarin was the only fish in the tank. I trained it to eat frozen brine shrimp with spirulina. It took about a week of feeding small amounts several times a day before he caught on. He is still a little skinny, but eating frozen food aggressively now. I think it helped that he did not have any competition for the food. Ideally, you would train the fish to eat prepared foods in a quarantine tank.

Here is a link to a similar thread:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57395&highlight=mandarin

 

[Holygral]

I have a mandarin in a 57 gallon tank with very little live rock or pods. The mandarin was the only fish in the tank. I trained it to eat frozen brine shrimp with spirulina. It took about a week of feeding small amounts several times a day before he caught on. He is still a little skinny, but eating frozen food aggressively now. I think it helped that he did not have any competition for the food. Ideally, you would train the fish to eat prepared foods in a quarantine tank.


Not sure how long you have had him but,if he is skinny, then he is not getting the nutrition that he needs. You may be able to keep a mandarin in a 57 with plenty of LR and adding pods on a regular basis. But with very little lR in a 57 gal, his survival is and will be short term. I am sure many will disagree but ask how many have had them for 5 years or more. Also frozen brine shrimp is not a nutritious feeding. Just IMHO

 

[dragoneggs]

My understanding is that the tigger pods don't reproduce in your tank. So you will have to keep feeding them. I bought some "reef pods" (from Barrier Reef) and added to my fuge. They seem to be multiplying. You could add these to your DT and with enough live rock and enough time before getting eaten by the Mandy maybe they will propagate?

 

[egunman]

I was told the tigers would multiply in the tank. I could try the reef pods as well. I could put half in the DT and the other half in the fuge to try to propigate.

 

[dragoneggs]

I was told the tigers would multiply in the tank. I could try the reef pods as well. I could put half in the DT and the other half in the fuge to try to propigate.

Pretty much what I did. Most in the fuge. Still don't see them in the DT but they are all over the glass in the fuge. I am assuming they will make the journey at some point to the DT for their ultimate doom!

 

[leebca]

It seems like many in this forum want to keep a Mandarin, and yet don't want to read the post here that address the problems with keeping one.

egunman, please do this reading:
Pod Eaters

 

[egunman]

Thanks for the link.

 

[dragoneggs]

It seems like many in this forum want to keep a Mandarin, and yet don't want to read the post here that address the problems with keeping one.

egunman, please do this reading:
Pod Eaters

Lee, thank you very much for this link! I have a lot of work to do!

 

[flatteringchild]

I have had my green mandarin for three years and my spot mandarin for a year. Everyone is right about the tigger pods...they do not reproduce in your system like copepods. Interestingly, I accidentally saw both mandarins (in separate tanks) start eating the food that was floating by as I was feeding the other fish. They just started eating it on their own. But to start out, purchase a mandarin that is fat. It sounds like you have a system that is large enough to support the mandarin.

Good luck!