j124689reefer
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- Sep 13, 2026
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- What state or country do you live in
- Florida
I've got a 40 gallon tank, a little under 8 months old. I've been seeding pods since the initial cycle and have a fairly healthy population. I purchased a captive bred mandarin from biota ~3 weeks back and kept him in an acclimation box for the first few days. Problem is, he was small enough to slip out the flow slits, so he's been out in the tank for pretty much 2 weeks now. Didn't think this would be a problem, I mostly was keeping him in the box to spot feed him easily. Unfortunately, my pair of clowns who are 3x his size didn't take kindly to the new tank mate. They've been in there since the end of the cycle and have shared the space peacefully with a pair of cardinals for the whole time I've kept the tank. However, any time the mandarin is not tucked under rock in a hole too small for them to get into, they fly across the tank to nip at him till I come over with the net to run them off. So far I'm seeing some ripping of the fins but nothing too apparent on his body/gills.
I've pretty much accepted at this point that either they have to go to my spare 20 gallon or the mandarin does, I'm wondering if logistics wise it makes more sense to move the mandarin and try to reseed the pods in the 20 gallon (its not cycled so that's also a concern) while spot feeding frozen food, or if it'd be easier to just move the clowns and try to do a fish in cycle? I'm conflicted because the clowns were my first salt water fish and I want them to be a part of the main display but I'm concerned they just won't tolerate any new tank mates and I'd like to add another fish or two if I do end up moving the mandarin.
Open to other suggestions on how to handle this but I've tried rearranging the rockwork, overfeeding, and making more hiding spots for the mandarin and the clowns still always run him down the minute he's in the open.
I've pretty much accepted at this point that either they have to go to my spare 20 gallon or the mandarin does, I'm wondering if logistics wise it makes more sense to move the mandarin and try to reseed the pods in the 20 gallon (its not cycled so that's also a concern) while spot feeding frozen food, or if it'd be easier to just move the clowns and try to do a fish in cycle? I'm conflicted because the clowns were my first salt water fish and I want them to be a part of the main display but I'm concerned they just won't tolerate any new tank mates and I'd like to add another fish or two if I do end up moving the mandarin.
Open to other suggestions on how to handle this but I've tried rearranging the rockwork, overfeeding, and making more hiding spots for the mandarin and the clowns still always run him down the minute he's in the open.
