Can I get a mandarin?

Lionfish Lair · Dec 30, 2015

It's hard and I honestly can't say how hard it is for someone to do for the first time. We all have strong points and converting things to frozen is mine.

Reef kid · Dec 30, 2015

I know it will be a challenge. I just think it is one I am willing to take on, a mandarin is one fish I absolutely love and if that is what it took to keep one it would be worth it to me. Thanks everyone for all the helpful responses! It means a lot.

srb51 · Dec 31, 2015

I have a mandarin and a leopard wrasse in the same tank with a few other wrasses and they are all doing great.

Reef kid · Dec 31, 2015

srb51 said:
I have a mandarin and a leopard wrasse in the same tank with a few other wrasses and they are all doing great.

How big is your tank? Also how long has it been running?

saltyfilmfolks · Dec 31, 2015

Reef kid said:
I know it will be a challenge. I just think it is one I am willing to take on, a mandarin is one fish I absolutely love and if that is what it took to keep one it would be worth it to me. Thanks everyone for all the helpful responses! It means a lot.

Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Like stuff I heard in my head.
Melev Walked me throu it the best. Paul B is a genius. Google them + mandarin..

Happy Reefing.

srb51 · Dec 31, 2015

225g 72x30x24 around 3 years but I've had both of these guys in around the 1st year mark of the tank

ReeferBob · Dec 31, 2015

saltyfilmfolks said:
My first Mandarin lived 3years doing this with frozen. Chiller crashed and dumped the tank. I reseed my tank every month or so
depending on what the fuge looks like. I have scooters and pipes too. My male is totally fat and happy and eats just about anything. They are starting to like live worms.
Paul B and Melevs both have good info.
It is a challenging fish yes. Not for the novice. Yes. You need an established tank. Yes.
But get the facts.
Most that say you can't keep a mandarin haven't or can't.
Others can. And do.

Sorry but your facts are not correct. Healthy Mandarins eat 10,000+ pods per day. Those little $15 bottles of pods contain at most 500 pods. So if you are buying those you are wasting your money. They are for initially seeding your tank, not for maintaining a healthy pod population.

I am happy for you that you have had success with your Mandarin. For every person like you, there are 20 that fail. In most cases, Mandarins live a year or two getting thinner and thinner and eventually die of starvation. I haven't owned a Mandarin but I did have a Scooter Blenny that suffered the same fate.

NanaReefer · Dec 31, 2015

Mandarin's are NOT finicky! They are specific eaters. I'll never understand why anyone would try and change a fishes eating habits just so they can keep them. Even ORA finally figured this out.

Reef kid · Dec 31, 2015

ReeferBob said:
Sorry but your facts are not correct. Healthy Mandarins eat 10,000+ pods per day. Those little $15 bottles of pods contain at most 500 pods. So if you are buying those you are wasting your money. They are for initially seeding your tank, not for maintaining a healthy pod population.

I am happy for you that you have had success with your Mandarin. For every person like you, there are 20 that fail. In most cases, Mandarins live a year or two getting thinner and thinner and eventually die of starvation. I haven't owned a Mandarin but I did have a Scooter Blenny that suffered the same fate.

I have a scooter blennie right now who is very dark in coloration and very fat. He was one of my first fish. This was a very unnecessary paragraph. Also, 10,000 pods a day doesn't sound right. If you have never owned a mandarin, let the people who have, and have done this successfully state their opinions instead of attacking them.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 31, 2015

ReeferBob said:
Sorry but your facts are not correct.

Just so I stay on track, which facts were we contesting?

NanaReefer said:
Mandarin's are NOT finicky! They are specific eaters.

Can you please elaborate what you mean by specific eater?

Reef kid · Dec 31, 2015

So, upon watching my tank for ten minutes this morning, I noticed my Leapord wrasse pecking at where I feed sheets of Nori every day. So I added a new sheet and to my amazement every fish besides my scooter blennie started eating it. My lawnmower blennie even played tug of war with my yellow tang and won. So from this I gained part of the reason my Leapord wrasse is doing so well is because he has nori that he can nibble on all day instead of Copepods.... Mind blown

Thunt4jr · Dec 31, 2015

Reef kid said:
Never thought about that. The only Lfs here who Carey's mandarins has always said I should just get more pods and have patience.

Now that's a good recommendation there!

Reef kid · Dec 31, 2015

Thunt4jr said:
Now that's a good recommendation there!

Haha, yeah, I knew it was the truth especially since that was like a month ago. I was just saying that because when I asked about ones that eat frozen/prepared they said that all mandarins eat are copepods.

Thunt4jr · Dec 31, 2015

not always, mine eats frozen as well. I have a pair in my tank. One of them took me 3 days to get him eat frozen, the other one took me a week. My sump is full of chateo and pods. I also uses reef bugs! I don't buy pods, I only bought chateo with tons of pods that came with it.

Reef kid · Dec 31, 2015

Thunt4jr said:
not always, mine eats frozen as well. I have a pair in my tank. One of them took me 3 days to get him eat frozen, the other one took me a week. My sump is full of chateo and pods. I also uses reef bugs! I don't buy pods, I only bought chateo with tons of pods that came with it.

Do you think a horizontal ats would help much with pods? I know I have a fair amount. Before I upgrade to a 75 gallon my glass would be covered in them on my 37 gal.

TheWhiteFord · Dec 31, 2015

TheWhiteFord · Dec 31, 2015

Reef kid said:
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.

(I am only 15, teen reef geeks rule!) I would not suggest adding a mandarin because they are VERY hard to wean onto frozen foods, and in the time it takes to get him on frozen he will probably wipe out yours pods because you already have two fish feeding on them.

ReeferBob · Dec 31, 2015

Reef kid said:
I have a scooter blennie right now who is very dark in coloration and very fat. He was one of my first fish. This was a very unnecessary paragraph. Also, 10,000 pods a day doesn't sound right. If you have never owned a mandarin, let the people who have, and have done this successfully state their opinions instead of attacking them.

Lighten up Francis I didn't mean to hurt your feelings and wasn't attacking anyone. Look up how much Mandarins eat I have seen estimates up to 20k pods/day.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 31, 2015

But what facts weren't correct in the statement @ReeferBob? I'm not certain what the disagreement is about.

saltyfilmfolks · Dec 31, 2015

Reef kid said:
So, upon watching my tank for ten minutes this morning, I noticed my Leapord wrasse pecking at where I feed sheets of Nori every day. So I added a new sheet and to my amazement every fish besides my scooter blennie started eating it. My lawnmower blennie even played tug of war with my yellow tang and won. So from this I gained part of the reason my Leapord wrasse is doing so well is because he has nori that he can nibble on all day instead of Copepods.... Mind blown

yea. fish eat a lot more than what we think they do. And what "they" say they do. also there's a certain amount of environmental stimulus with new foods. sometimes fish will play with it go nuts and then a week later never be interested again. until months later sometimes.