LOL sfin52. A mandarin can be properly housed in a tank that size, but you need to ,maintain a massive source of pods. Maybe a sump or refugium?
What is the growth rates on the bubble tips? Like if I get say a 3” do they got the growth rate of like a Oscar? Or can it stay in a 20 or a 30 for a year or 2? An a side question has anyone ever kept shark teeth like 2-3 in there tanks? Or would that be a no go?
Just FYI... lion fish don’t qualify as a peaceful community tank member. They are predators and get fairly large. Eventually, it will eat your clowns and anything else it can catch. I think your tank is too small for a lion. As per stocking...I think most freshwater people say they can keep 1” of full grown fish per gallon of water. In marine tanks, you should stay with about 1” of fish per 3-5 gallons. That does depend on the fish. If you get sedentary fish like a Watchman Goby, you can calculate his size at two inches and not three. The more they move, the more they eat, the more waste they produce, etc. Fish like tangs require long tracts of swimming space. Best if they are kept in a 4’ tank for a smaller species and much longer for a bigger species. Read a lot about fish species. One of the LFSs in my area will often display a fish and tell people it gets 3” when in fact it can grow to 5”. Stay away from predators (lions, groupers, sharks, eels) and keep to smaller more docile species. And...welcome to the reef! Ask any questions you have. Everyone is here to help!
This is what I been using to look at fish. It’s got 500+ saltwater aquarium fish from Nurse sharks to wobbegong.
Mandy's need a lot of pods so a refugium will help a lot. They can eat baby brine shrimp. http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/ @Paul B idea.
An live rock I was thinking half full?? I already have some from a tank I was going to setup but never did. It looks like this in the pic. It’s got pods? It’s red I can’t remembee what it is called but I was gonna mix real live rock with this stuff
Looks good. I used to have some Marco Rock that matured nicely in a couple of tanks I had. This looks similar.
It comes red with dormant spores on it. But that’s a 5 gallon. It’s this stuff https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/l...MItLjTzvCx4AIVnrbACh2asg4EEAQYASABEgJqDvD_BwE