I highly agree with this comment. I’ve kept Mandarins successfully and unsuccessfully. The biggest hurdle is getting them trained to eat other foods besides just pods. I’ve learned over the year to use freshly hatched and enriched baby brine shrimp. You accomplish that, you won’t have to stress so much about their wellbeing, getting enough to eat.
Need help deciding on whether or not a fish is right for your tank? Post here and we'll help!
- Thread starter Daniel@R2R
- Start date
- Tagged users None
I highly agree with this comment. I’ve kept Mandarins successfully and unsuccessfully. The biggest hurdle is getting them trained to eat other foods besides just pods. I’ve learned over the year to use freshly hatched and enriched baby brine shrimp. You accomplish that, you won’t have to stress so much about their wellbeing, getting enough to eat.
I was lucky enough, cause it is so rare, to raise a couple of mandarins. They are spawn from my adult male and female. Here’s a pic of them...they’re about 5mos.
I don’t know if I will EVER be able to duplicate this. I bought an egg incubator and made a plegic egg collector and fry was raised on rotifers baby brine and pods of course, but I had to Sieve out the smaller pods and use those. Very time consuming!! But very worth it. I was lucky enough to find the right books to do this, I couldn’t find a lot of support there or information for that matter. I wish they had a section for hobby aquarists/breeders. They should have a college degree course for this stuff. It is conning I think...
tdileo
Valuable Member
I was lucky enough, cause it is so rare, to raise a couple of mandarins. They are spawn from my adult male and female. Here’s a pic of them...they’re about 5mos.
I don’t know if I will EVER be able to duplicate this. I bought an egg incubator and made a plegic egg collector and fry was raised on rotifers baby brine and pods of course, but I had to Sieve out the smaller pods and use those. Very time consuming!! But very worth it. I was lucky enough to find the right books to do this, I couldn’t find a lot of support there or information for that matter. I wish they had a section for hobby aquarists/breeders. They should have a college degree course for this stuff. It is conning I think...
This is actually something I would love to get into. I believe captive bred fish is an enormous step forward for this hobby and I have witnessed what I believe is nesting behavior from my starry blenny multiple times. So now imagine if even we could switch over to captive breeding just maybe 20 of the more popular, readily available fish rather than taking them from the ocean. We could do a lot of good for the reefs of the world, not to mention supplying hobbyists with healthier fish that will do better in captivity and have a lower chance of disease and stress from capture.
Zack K
The Butterfly Guy
l agree captive bred fish and Aquacultured corals and inverts are the future. With more and more regulation being put out their it is almost essential. My Indo Pink Skunk Clowns just spawned for the first time. Pretty neat to be able to say you have spawning Clownfish, and Anemones.
In the midst of cycling my 120g right now. Looking for suggestions for my first fish to put in when my ammonia and nitrites are hitting 0. It will be a reef tank down the road. We are planning on a yellow tank, mandarin(someday), goby of some type. Looking for a fish that will get along in general. Hardy for a freshly cycled tank.
We were thinking a royal gramma possibly?
What about Chromis? Anthias?
We were thinking a royal gramma possibly?
What about Chromis? Anthias?
Zack K
The Butterfly Guy
Chromis are always a good first fish IMO. They work great in a reef. Can be hardy to test the waters for the first time, and don’t have too big of a bio load. They do best in groups (5+). Oh yea, and their CHEAP. <— Incase they do die.
Kamden Uelton
Well-Known Member
i have a 30 gallon tank with 2 Crinoids, various SPS, zoanthids, and a frogspawn i think. I have a Mimic Filefish, Bluestripe Pipefish, and a Hectors goby I am wondering if I can add another bluestripe to form a pair.
Zack K
The Butterfly Guy
5 little Chromis in a 120 gallon tank isn’t anything. They have a small bio load which works good when trying to build up the micro fauna population.
As for the compatibility, yes. They should get along. The can be aggressive but only towards each other. In my experience. l have 3 along with 5 little Pink Skunk Clowns and a Percula Clown in my 55 and they are just fine.
Last edited:
Awesome to hear. I will have to look into a pack of them then. How are Firefish for starter fish?
Also how about a Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol? Do YWG need an established tank to do well or do they eat what I drop in the tank?
Also how about a Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol? Do YWG need an established tank to do well or do they eat what I drop in the tank?
Zack K
The Butterfly Guy
Firefish can be picky. They are shy at first but become more active as they get adjusted. They also like to jump so you need a top.
-Zack, who knows nothing about shrimp combos
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
Maybe a flasher wrasse or grammistes blenny.
Ornamental fish collectors are fishermen. If they can't catch ornamentals they will go to collecting food fish. Ornamental fish collecting is measured by boxes, food fish measured by tons. Also, food fishing pract are recognized as being far worse for the health of reefs than ornamental collecting.
Also, small ornamentals have a huge natural turnover regardless of collection, so ornamental collecting has little sustained impact on populations
All of those choices would work.
In that size tank they will ignore each other.
As long as you get one of the opposite gender it should be fine, if not the established one will kill the new one.
Firefish can be shy without tankmates, but are also timid, so should be added early.
YWG are pretty understanding.
BigJohnny
2500 Club Member
What are the chances that my midas blenny will be aggressive towards a sunburst anthias? I have heard of aggression issues between midas and anthias before but sunburst is kind of a different anthias than the typical ones you would buy.
90g, 2 blue star leopards, 1 helfrichi firefish, 1 midas blenny, 1 copperband, 1 matted firefish.
90g, 2 blue star leopards, 1 helfrichi firefish, 1 midas blenny, 1 copperband, 1 matted firefish.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
It depends on how aggressive the midas blenny is. In most cases it should be fine, but some midas blennies can be particularly aggressive.
Kamden Uelton
Well-Known Member
so i've read that you can sex bluestripe pipefish by checking on their snouts and if the pipefish has little 'bumps' its a male. Is this true?
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
TBH I haven't paid much attention to that. Anytime I have dealt with prs, they have come in together and behaved as a pr.
Hi guys,
I have a simple question for you all. I have been cycling my new tank for a long time and now it finally is ready for livestock. Now the big question is what to add first.
You can see my tank here ( https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/greetings-from-croatia.341772/ ) and only wish for a start is my daughters wish two clowns. Found a pair online in a shop ready to order. But was wondering if i could add few corals too at the same time. So i ask the community to voice their opinion to add some color to the tank. Pls help
Thx
I have a simple question for you all. I have been cycling my new tank for a long time and now it finally is ready for livestock. Now the big question is what to add first.
You can see my tank here ( https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/greetings-from-croatia.341772/ ) and only wish for a start is my daughters wish two clowns. Found a pair online in a shop ready to order. But was wondering if i could add few corals too at the same time. So i ask the community to voice their opinion to add some color to the tank. Pls help
Thx
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
Corals don't add much bioload, so adding a hardy coral when you add your first fish should be fine.
Similar threads
