Should I try a mandarin?

[Ashwinclement]

My tank is more than two years old, its 80 gallon, stocked full with coral and thriving. My tank setup is all hang on back, so don't have a refugium. I am wondering if should try a mandarin, maybe a small one from Biota. I see pods in the glass all the time. Since I don't have a refugium, I am wondering if the pod population can sustain itself after the introduction of the mandarin. Maybe a small one from Biota, wont make a huge dent to the population quick, so it might be okay? I also have a melanurus wrasse

Another question is, biota mandarins are very small? will they be okay adding them to an established tank with 10 fish in it. I know they have a stinky slime coat which stave off predators, will that ensure they wont be susceptible to stress from initial aggression?

A photo of my tank

 

[Uncle99]

Go with wild caught.
As long as he/she is the ONLY pod eater in the tank, your fine.
They can and will jump.
I like very much what I see….yup your ready.
Males have a tall spine on the dorsal, usually larger, larger is good.

 

[john92708]

yeah the Biota one comes super tiny but they eat pellets too. I would keep them in a breeder box at the beginning but should be fine in your setup. I currently have a pair in a 14 AIO since Dec 2021 mainly eating pellets but they also eat pods and frozen.

 

[DanTheReefer]

Go with wild caught.
As long as he/she is the ONLY pod eater in the tank, your fine.
They can and will jump.
I like very much what I see….yup your ready.
Males have a tall spine on the dorsal, usually larger, larger is good.

Agree that system is ready for one. Wondering motivation for wild caught advice. I’d think that the pod population dent would be less if he had a captive bred that is pellet trained (I know ORA claims theirs eat pellets, not sure about Biota).

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Gorgeous tank!

I can’t give you much suggestion on Mandarins but I implore you to go with captive bred. Don’t take a fragile fish with a high mortality rate out of the ocean if you don’t have to. Wether we like it or not, supplies will eventually run out and additional import bans will come into place. Captive breeding is the future.

 

[Tired]

BIOTA ones should be much less likely to have a disease, in addition to eating prepared foods. On a less practical note, I'm of the opinion that mandarins shouldn't be wild-collected, since so many of them are going to wind up dying.

More rock, phyto dosing, and/or a ball of chaeto somewhere wouldn't go amiss, but an 80 gal should support a captive-bred mandarin pretty well.

 

[SamsReef]

I have a biota one (green mandarin)and wild caught(spotted mandarin). The biota mandarin came super tiny and it took 2 yrs to grow to a visible size but it does eat mysis.

the wild caught is a spotted mandarin which is hardier than the green mandarin. It is big, fat and beautiful.

in the past, wild green mandarin perished after a while even in a mature tank.

Sam

 

[Glenner’sreef]

So my personal opinion is that pods will and can out produce your mandarins crazy appetite!!! Especially with your established pod population you have say 100,000 pods today. Tomorrow you’ll have 101,000 etc. mandarins eat 300 a day, they’ll never catch up. I have a spawning pair of mandarins. Going on 3 plus years now. They have no social life, they just eat constantly and rest at night. The other fish typically don’t find any interest in being aggressive towards mandarins at all. Good luck!

 

[Tired]

The pods outproducing the mandarin requires an established pod population, a steady supply of food, safe places for them to reproduce, and enough space for them to occupy and multiply to that 100,000 mark in the first place. A 400gal tank will definitely produce enough pods, a 5gal tank never will.

 

[Uncle99]

Agree that system is ready for one. Wondering motivation for wild caught advice. I’d think that the pod population dent would be less if he had a captive bred that is pellet trained (I know ORA claims theirs eat pellets, not sure about Biota).

The captive were just to freaking small for me, real slow growing fish so these 1/2” things seem to stay small, forever.
The wild IMM, know how to hunt, the mandarin is a hunter and an expert in that field, in my experience, way more resilient.
A good size wild will start in the 2” range, and could care less about anybody in your tank.
This is the spotted type.

 

[Tchung23]

Captive bred ftw!!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

So my personal opinion is that pods will and can out produce your mandarins crazy appetite!!! Especially with your established pod population you have say 100,000 pods today. Tomorrow you’ll have 101,000 etc. mandarins eat 300 a day, they’ll never catch up. I have a spawning pair of mandarins. Going on 3 plus years now. They have no social life, they just eat constantly and rest at night. The other fish typically don’t find any interest in being aggressive towards mandarins at all. Good luck!

So let me clarify: I have a 180g tank with a 40g sump and ats. Both mandarins are big and I also have a Copperband Butterfly fish who joins in daily in the “Pod Hunt”! You have an 80g established tank with pods on the glass. I guarantee you, your 50-80 (beautiful) corals could easily be home to thousands of these tiny meals.

 

[Cheezle]

I don't have a wrasse, but I keep a mandarin in my 20 gal long and have zero issues with her. She's fat and happy. I do add a cup or 2 of reef stew every week to keep my pods population as large as possible but yeah.

Also she ate pellets at first but has since stopped, she will only eat live brine and pods now so if you get one that eats pellets then hopefully they don't stop like mine did.

My chubby bullseye

 

[a.ocellaris]

I don't have a wrasse, but I keep a mandarin in my 20 gal long and have zero issues with her. She's fat and happy. I do add a cup or 2 of reef stew every week to keep my pods population as large as possible but yeah.

Also she ate pellets at first but has since stopped, she will only eat live brine and pods now so if you get one that eats pellets then hopefully they don't stop like mine did.

My chubby bullseye

I have a pair in a 28 gallon nanocube eating everything including flake food. I found the target mandarins much hardier than other kinds. 80 gallons is definitely ready.

 

[Ashwinclement]

Thanks for all your comments, its reassuring, i will try a mandarin then

 

[Tired]

I gotta say, it's refreshing to see someone asking about a mandarin who actually has a tank that a mandy should do well in. Not someone hoping they can keep one in a recently set up 20gal.
(Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire! They're gorgeous fish. But they are not good nano fish.)

 

[52728299]

So my personal opinion is that pods will and can out produce your mandarins crazy appetite!!! Especially with your established pod population you have say 100,000 pods today. Tomorrow you’ll have 101,000 etc. mandarins eat 300 a day, they’ll never catch up. I have a spawning pair of mandarins. Going on 3 plus years now. They have no social life, they just eat constantly and rest at night. The other fish typically don’t find any interest in being aggressive towards mandarins at all. Good luck!

Wait is this true? They eat 300 pods a day? Someone had told me recently they basically eat one with every breath and go through like 21,000 a week. I have a biota and it's doubled in size id say in less than 2 months. I feed it frozen baby brine and tiny hatchery pellets idk what it eats lol but I also have been seeding the tank, I'm doing 64oz of pod filled water every 5 days right now. My pod cultures are 2 two and a half gallon tanks and I'm growing my own phyto. Now I feel like I'm overdoing it.. I'm probably easily adding 10,000 pods to the tank every 5 days right now

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Wait is this true? They eat 300 pods a day? Someone had told me recently they basically eat one with every breath and go through like 21,000 a week. I have a biota and it's doubled in size id say in less than 2 months. I feed it frozen baby brine and tiny hatchery pellets idk what it eats lol but I also have been seeding the tank, I'm doing 64oz of pod filled water every 5 days right now. My pod cultures are 2 two and a half gallon tanks and I'm growing my own phyto. Now I feel like I'm overdoing it.. I'm probably easily adding 10,000 pods to the tank every 5 days right now

So let’s do the math here. 21,000 pods a week. That’s 3000 pods a day. Lights are on for 10 hours a day. That’s “Holy Cow”!!! 300 pods an hour. Thats 5 pods per minute. So that’s eating one pods every 12 seconds. I just stopped (honestly) to observe the male mandarin in my tank for a whole minute and he ate 0. Plus there’s a female in the tank with him. Maybe 300 a day is low but 3000 a day for these slow movers seems a bit extreme. Still a great fish!!!

 

[52728299]

So let’s do the math here. 21,000 pods a week. That’s 3000 pods a day. Lights are on for 10 hours a day. That’s “Holy Cow”!!! 300 pods an hour. Thats 5 pods per minute. So that’s eating one pods every 12 seconds. I just stopped (honestly) to observe the male mandarin in my tank for a whole minute and he ate 0. Plus there’s a female in the tank with him. Maybe 300 a day is low but 3000 a day for these slow movers seems a bit extreme. Still a great fish!!!

No that's great, I thought that number seemed high. Glad his needs are being met more than I thought.

 

[Ashwinclement]

Update:
I got a mandarin soon after and its been doing great, looks nice and fat, didn't care to target feed or anything special, its finds it own food. Here is the video of the one I have

https://youtube.com/shorts/KUeQxLEKQTQ