Can I get a mandarin?

[Reef kid]

So I have a 75 gallon reef with lots of rock, not quite sure how much. I've done my research on Mandarins and know how finicky they are. I am especially cautious because I have a scooter blennie and a very fat leaped wrasse in my tank that seem to love their pods. They are both extremely healthy and happy though. I don't have a very noticeable copepod population, notable one anyways and part of that is because I'm busy watching my extremely large amp hid population. They are everywhere! So what do you guys think? My tank has been running for 6-7 months.

 

[mrsaltwaterguy]

Everything I've read says that you should only have one in a very very established tank. Most of the research says 1 year plus, in addition you say you have two fish that are also eating pods. I've heard that Mandarins can wipe a tank of pods by themselves. I would recommend that you stay away from one unless you have a way to continually add pods to your tank.

 

[tankstudy]

If you have a scooter, I would not add a mandarin. From my own personal experience in a 65 gallon, a scooter will out compete a mandarin and there won't be enough food for the two of them as they grow bigger.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

The one way you could get away with it is if you got a mandarin already known to eat frozen. I had a leopard wrasse, pipefish and a mandarin in a 60g, but they all ate frozen extremely well.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I have everything everybody says not to have in the same tank. My 55 is 11 months old. you have to keep a close eye on the pods and restock every month or so depending on what your tank produces.
Read up on Melev and his mandarin feedings and Also Paul B. A combo of frozen Pods and some live etc. It is a harder fish to raise as it requires paying attention to the system and being very patient for the first couple months.
+1 on all the cautions above. but it can be done.
The wrasse depending on temperament and size may be the only concern.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I think overall, the leopards are pretty docile. Maybe you'd want to set up a "training tank" and convert the mandarin yourself. It's much more of a challenge trying to do it inside the tank. Is this your first tank? Have you been in the hobby 6-7 months yourself? It may not be something you'd want to get into at this point, if you're only starting out...... depends on what challenges you're looking for.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

yes, well said. A challenge.

 

[Reef kid]

This to me is an experiment and a hobby, so teaching a fish to eat frozen food would be awsome. I have had freshwater for over two years but we had to move so I decided I was going to switch to saltwater(I'm only thirteen and fund all my tanks on my own mainly). So how would you go about training it to eat frozen, My leaped wrasse is extremely peaceful. I would be more worried about my Yellow tang. Also my Leapord does eat frozen food.

 

[Reef kid]

This to me is an experiment and a hobby, so teaching a fish to eat frozen food would be awsome. I have had freshwater for over two years but we had to move so I decided I was going to switch to saltwater(I'm only thirteen and fund all my tanks on my own mainly). So how would you go about training it to eat frozen, My leaped wrasse is extremely peaceful. I would be more worried about my Yellow tang. Also my Leapord does eat frozen food.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Read up on Melev and his mandarin feedings and Also Paul B.
the tang is questionable.

 

[Reef kid]

Read up on Melev and his mandarin feedings and Also Paul B.
the tang is questionable.

What do you mean about the tang? Also where do I find those, I am still new to r2r and it functions

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

http://melevsreef.com/node/720
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/
Google is also your friend.
Tang may not be compatible with the mandarin. I honestly dont know. the more fish in a system the higher the food competition.

 

[Ryengoth]

What do you mean about the tang? Also where do I find those, I am still new to r2r and it functions

Tangs can be major ******s to new single additions if they just decide they don't like them. If they go in together they'll sort out their territory fairly quickly or you'll end up removing the tang or the competition. I recovered yellow tangs in my 29G cube with a pair of captive ocellaris who are fairly territorial. The tang would boss around any other fish except that clown pair.

 

[tankstudy]

http://melevsreef.com/node/720
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/
Google is also your friend.
Tang may not be compatible with the mandarin. I honestly dont know. the more fish in a system the higher the food competition.

Tangs are fine with mandarins. I've kept many together. Tangs generally hate things shaped like themselves. They remind me of bettas, put up a mirror and they swing right in to action.

 

[Reef kid]

My tang is still fairly small also, and I've only had him nigh on three weeks to a month.

 

[Reef kid]

Also he swims around with the Leapord wrasse, they follow each other around with zero aggression

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Training a fish to eat frozen can be very taxing on the resources of money and time. You're not too young to handle it, but maybe those resources would be best invested in other aspects of the hobby right now. If you said your parents funded it and they just loved to give you lots of moola, I would say go for it, if it sounded interesting. Give it time and you'll find one that you don't have to train.

 

[Reef kid]

Ok, thanks for all the great replies guys, maybe I can talk to my Lfs and see if they can get one in. Although I was looking at setting up a separate smaller tank anyways. I'm not sure. I'll talk to my Lfs and see what they say.

 

[ReeferBob]

Training to eat frozen is not really a good method for Mandarins and they will usually still die with this method. They are continuous feeders all day long that is how their metabolism works. You also cannot reseed a tank for mandarins, they simply eat too much. On the order of thousands of pods per day. You should pass on it.

 

[Reef kid]

Training to eat frozen is not really a good method for Mandarins and they will usually still die with this method. They are continuous feeders all day long that is how their metabolism works. You also cannot reseed a tank for mandarins, they simply eat too much. On the order of thousands of pods per day. You should pass on it.

What about the link above to melevs reef? If I did something like that they could eat all day if they wanted to?