Mandarinfish in 20g?

josvanmeer

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Well if they don’t take well to frozen, are they any harder to train than wild counterparts? As you mentioned it’s more sustainable but also I’ve heard great things about these, specifically from ORA. Worth it to try, IMO.
Yeah they would train just as easily, what I was trying to say is that you pay extra for these mandarin because they claim they don't ship them till they eat frozen food, which in some cases they have proven they don't. Although those are some claims made by others, I have no personal experience in this and truthfully it would not deter me from buying one because it is still more sustainable.
 
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Ive done it! Had that little guy for 3 years. This is what I credit my success :
Started the tank with a 2 in sand bed, a lot of live rock and scaped it so a fish could swim all the way around and thru the rocks. (The more rock surface for the mandrin to pick at, the better.)
a fairly large clean up crew, mostly snails.
I seeded the tank with a variety of pods and let it all cycle/cure/grow for a few months. After the cycle i added some easy corals and fed them weekly . By month 3 i had so many pods I was afraid they would die en masse and crash my tank so I got my mandarin earlier than I thought I should of.
I dont know that there was ever a Time I didnt see that little fatty eating. I kept a close eye on him and he never looked skinny or unhealthy. If i was ever worried about the pods being depleted (honestly I was probably being paranoid but better safe than sorry) I would just order pods online and reseed my tank. Probably did that about once every 2 or 3months .
The one thing i never did though was put another fish in that tank. Those pods were for him and him only. Lol

Im sure others will have different thoughts or experiences but for me (and Little Jerry G) , it worked.
I have 2 clowns,is that Ok?
 

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I agree, a lot of people do say that its not possible to keep them in a 20g. However, I did do it. I have a green spotted manderine in my 29g thriving and is fat and healthy. I don't have a refugium or a sump that they can breed in, its all from my rock. The fish has been there for over 1.5 years.

Edit: mine does eat frozen foods but its rare for it to ever catch any as I dont turn of the flow for it to eat. It tries tho and its funny to watch!
 

ChgoGoodGirl

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I have 2 clowns,is that Ok?
2 clowns in a 20 with a mandarin? Oooof honestly i wouldn't do it just because i wouldn't want any other fish to eat the pods. But that's just my opinion. Ive never done so I couldn't say that it can't be done.
 

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It isn't like any other fish. It doesn't have a stomach. It needs to eat several pods a minute. So the tank needs to produce several pods a minute.

It will be really difficult to be successful in such a small tank. A big tank, or a big fuge with a lot of rock is best, or you could spend a fortune on pods in a bottle.

"it doesnt have a stomach"?
Ive spent the last 30 minutes looking for information on Mandarin fish anatomy and have found nothing that says the are stomach-less (except one forum, on another site where a person said the same thing you did) Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Could you please point me to some type of reference that says a Mandrin fish has no stomach?
 
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Dark_Knightt

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"it doesnt have a stomach"?
Ive spent the last 30 minutes looking for information on Mandarin fish anatomy and have found nothing that says the are stomach-less (except one forum, on another site where a person said the same thing you did) Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Could you please point me to some type of reference that says a Mandrin fish has no stomach?
XDD
 

Uncle99

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They don’t care about clowns,
They don’t seem to care about any fish.
They do care about PODS, and your talking about 500-1000 per day.

So if you seed, first check the ACTUAL count in your bottle, you want to make sure that the actual count is in fact in the thousands and not just dump the bottle. Some sources say 5000 in bottle, Maybe not so many, always check.

Feeding Mandy by the bottle is quite expensive.
Naturally occurring PODS is best, cheapest, most successful for mandys.
Easiest fish to keep, went correct environment is provided, die in months otherwise.
May be some exceptions.....but not likely the rule..
I have not been very lucky with captives, max was always under a year, so I suspect lack of food thing.
30 years keeping them
Below has been in my DT 4 years now, a wild caught and spotted.

020E8EF5-1814-4B46-9E41-0BD400BF6208.jpeg
 
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2 clowns in a 20 with a mandarin? Oooof honestly i wouldn't do it just because i wouldn't want any other fish to eat the pods. But that's just my opinion. Ive never done so I couldn't say that it can't be done.
I keep my clowns well fed at all times so they should be stealign food
 
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Dark_Knightt

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One thing I have against ordering the BIOTA mandarin is that it comes from America, and i live in Canada, you think it would be okay for the little dude?
 

ChgoGoodGirl

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Wait somebody said over populating a tank and scared it can crash. Is that the case with or without a mandarin. I got them swimming every where in my 75 gallon.
I said it. I also said i might have been being paranoid lol. It was one of those things that a lfs employee said could happen. Chances are he was just trying to get me to buy the fish faster than I planned to.
Ive learned since then that sometimes you have to take what people say in this hobby with a grain of salt.
 
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Ive done it! Had that little guy for 3 years. This is what I credit my success :
Started the tank with a 2 in sand bed, a lot of live rock and scaped it so a fish could swim all the way around and thru the rocks. (The more rock surface for the mandrin to pick at, the better.)
a fairly large clean up crew, mostly snails.
I seeded the tank with a variety of pods and let it all cycle/cure/grow for a few months. After the cycle i added some easy corals and fed them weekly . By month 3 i had so many pods I was afraid they would die en masse and crash my tank so I got my mandarin earlier than I thought I should of.
I dont know that there was ever a Time I didnt see that little fatty eating. I kept a close eye on him and he never looked skinny or unhealthy. If i was ever worried about the pods being depleted (honestly I was probably being paranoid but better safe than sorry) I would just order pods online and reseed my tank. Probably did that about once every 2 or 3months .
The one thing i never did though was put another fish in that tank. Those pods were for him and him only. Lol

Im sure others will have different thoughts or experiences but for me (and Little Jerry G) , it worked.
One question; where did you get your mandarin? ORA? BIOTA? Also what website? Cuz I was just reading the reviews on AlgaeBarn and most people said that theirs died really quickly. I need to get on that wont die right away
 
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ChgoGoodGirl

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Honestly I just bought him and a little local fish store. The one I had in the 20 gl that i spoke of on the post, had been there for a couple weeks and looked healthy when I got him. The one I have now I pretty much got the same way. I dont do a lot of online fish or coral purchasing.
Im sure someone here will have some experience on the best place to purchase one if you want to follow the online route.
 
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Dark_Knightt

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Honestly I just bought him and a little local fish store. The one I had in the 20 gl that i spoke of on the post, had been there for a couple weeks and looked healthy when I got him. The one I have now I pretty much got the same way. I dont do a lot of online fish or coral purchasing.
Im sure someone here will have some experience on the best place to purchase one if you want to follow the online route.
Was yours captive bred?
 

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