Green Mandarin for 40 breeder?

Reef.Blue

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Hey guys! I was wondering if I could have a green mandarin in my tank. I am new to the hobby and have a 40 breeder. Some people say they are easy to keep and others disagree saying they are very difficult. As a beginner, do you think this fish would be right for me? Thanks!
 
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those who say they are easy to keep have a VERY established tank. those who say they are difficult are struggling to keep a copepod population consistently.
Thank you! I heard you can buy them bottled, but they are expensive. Would I be able to do this?
 

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Thank you! I heard you can buy them bottled, but they are expensive. Would I be able to do this?
personally i cannot justify the additional cost per month just to keep a single fish eating. some people make sure to purchase a mandarin that eats frozen, but those are generally more expensive, of course..
 

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I would say it is not a beginner fish. Those bottles of copepods are expensive and useless, they can finish off that bottle in a weekend. You need a very established system that basically continually reproduces its own pods. Its a horrible thing to watch them starve to death.

Or you can try a captive bred mandarin, some say they will eat prepared foods, I've never tried so I dont know about that.
 

snorklr

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i had a 36 that had pods crawling everywhere...bought a mandarin...it ate nonstop (like a pod every 10 seconds all day long) and in a couple days there were no signs of pods or him eating them...started buying bottled pods kept him alive for a year till a week long hurricane power failure...but at 20 bucks a bottle a week to feed a 20 dollar fish?...and if i dumped them in during the day they swam to the light and just went down the overflow...so i'd get up at midnight, shine a flashlight onto the rocks in a bottom corner and dump them in hoping they would swim down onto the rocks...this was over 10 yrs ago so tank raised ones that ate other stuff really werent out there...and i was running back and forth between 2 states trying to move and didnt have time to try to get him to eat anything else or raise my own brine shrimp ...thats why i was stupid enough to buy him, figured he'd live off the pods in the tank and i wouldnt have to be around to feed him...wrong...MAYBE if i had a sump they could have continued to breed in there without him eating them into extinction...i think if you have a new tank its doubtful there is a sufficient self sustaining population of pods yet and also if you have a new tank you'll have enough other issues to focus on to keep everything happy and growing without throwing a finicky eater into the mix
 
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muzikalmatt

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Unless you can buy one that you have literally witnessed eat something other than pods in the store (either frozen or prepared foods), I would not recommend it.
 

vetteguy53081

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Hey guys! I was wondering if I could have a green mandarin in my tank. I am new to the hobby and have a 40 breeder. Some people say they are easy to keep and others disagree saying they are very difficult. As a beginner, do you think this fish would be right for me? Thanks!
40 breeder is fine and they are not difficult BUT do require both an established tank that is stable and that there is an ample supply of pods to eat and even live baby brine shrimp
 

Ksturg

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IMO A 40 breeder is too small you will never be able to keep up the pod population. The only way it’ll work is if you can get him to eat freshly hatched brine shrimp. I had a 55 gal up for 2 years and added a mandarin lucky I was able to feed him the freshly hatched brine shrimp but I had to do it everyday. They will completely decimate a pod population in that tank.
 

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I love my Mandrin, I also have a ruby red dragonette. He is a beautiful fish. It took me 6 months to get a pod population going. It seems to be self sustaining because he's a fatty.
 
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I would say it is not a beginner fish. Those bottles of copepods are expensive and useless, they can finish off that bottle in a weekend. You need a very established system that basically continually reproduces its own pods. Its a horrible thing to watch them starve to death.

Or you can try a captive bred mandarin, some say they will eat prepared foods, I've never tried so I dont know about that.
Thank you!
 
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Reef.Blue

Reef.Blue

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IMO A 40 breeder is too small you will never be able to keep up the pod population. The only way it’ll work is if you can get him to eat freshly hatched brine shrimp. I had a 55 gal up for 2 years and added a mandarin lucky I was able to feed him the freshly hatched brine shrimp but I had to do it everyday. They will completely decimate a pod population in that tank.
Thank you!
 

Tonycass12

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Sorry thats just how I was perceiving it.
Well let's step back for a moment and if you can help me understand where your at everyone here can help give you a hand on getting where you want to be.

-I've seen you post that you have some clowns in quarantine. Great starter fish for new tanks, they are hardy and pretty forgiving.
-your 40gallon is finishing itc cycle from what I've seen you post. Whats your equipment like? Live rock or dry rock?Plans for lighting skimmer and filtration?
-what are your goals? Where do you want to be in 6months or a year? I see you want to add corals around the 8 month mark and thats great adding things early can result in high mortality and it gets really depressing watching things fade and melt not just because its a lost investment. But what type of corals are you interested in? Soft corals are easy, lps are a little more difficult and demanding and most see sps as the most difficult corals to keep .

I apologize for the way some of my comments may have read on your end. Scattering things about in different posts can make it very difficult to understand where your at or where your going.

As for resources.
Check out liveaquaria.com
- they have tons of fish with a good quick description, minimum tank size, how difficult they may be to keep and what they may or may not be compatible with.

Bulkreefsupply.com
-they have tons of videos where they break down a lot of the things you have asked today and they explain it in a way thats easy to understand.

Asking these questions like you are and excuse the "rapid fire" description will get you answers but the answers you get may not be relevant to where your at right now. I highly suggest you start a build thread and take it one step at a time. When we have the information about your system and goals we can give much better recommendations that are more likely to work for you and make you successful rather then the onslaught of random information about everything under the sun and you having to decipher it all.
 

snorklr

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I love my Mandrin, I also have a ruby red dragonette. He is a beautiful fish. It took me 6 months to get a pod population going. It seems to be self sustaining because he's a fatty.
ok bridgerdean... but how large is your tank? how much rock? sump or not?
 

Bridgerdean

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@snorklr: Great point!

I have a 100 Display, 20 gallon sump, 20 gallon frag, and 15 gallon fuge.

I keep a ton of marine pure 2" cubes and a large chunk of chaeto for POD houses.

So to answer the original post: I would not put a mandrin in a 40.

But plan on an upgrade at some point to get one, because they are amazing.
 

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