Mandarinfish in a nano?

[FrugalReeferJon]

Has anyone had long term success keeping a Mandarin Dragonet in a nano tank. Most of the literature I’ve read says you need a 30 gallon tank at the minimum but I’m curious to hear if anyone’s successfully kept them in a smaller tank. Or am I making too big a deal about tank size and it’s the amount of pods available that really matters?

 

[Spare time]

It's the amount of copepods that matters.

 

[AZReef13]

Do Captive breed they will eat prepared food, then wild caught. Plus their size would work better, Look at Biota, Plus as Spare time Said Pod, will need to Supplement them as well

 

[Labridaedicted]

Possible? yes. Reccomended? No. You could start a biota captive bred, for sure, but a full grown adult even with supplemental feeding will likely not fare well.

They need to be able to constantly graze cope pods which in a nano (even a mature one) will be depleted quite quickly. You would probably need to have a benthic pod culture with daily additions for long term success.