Anyone successfully keeping a mandarin and sand-sifting goby in a 55

mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
I have had a psychedelic mandarin in a 55 gallon tank for about 2 years with no problem. That being said, he has been the same size the entire 2 years. Take that as you will.
It only eats live pods and won't touch anything else. If I had more fish I'm sure that he would starve. The only other fish I have in the tank is a yellowtailed damsel that has an underformed lower jaw, and is thus incapable of catching pods.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Originally Posted by candycane
Hikari MarineS works pretty well. My mandarin is like a vacum. Maybe yours is depressed? Do you talk to him regularly? Yeah I only have like 25 DAYS of experience. Every one that I have was a slow eater at first, and then they gobble. Maybe yours is Mentally Retarded, have you taken him to a vet?
Nope, my mandrin is the normal one. He doesn't have a cave, he doesn't eat pellets or worms, and he doesn't have a swollen head, he is a NORMAL mandrin.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
They are all normal Mandarins, calm down. Just when they get to be MUCH more mature, their head usually outgrows their body by a large margin. Whens the last time you tried to feed your mandarin live Tubifex worms? OK then. Also your mandarin cruises a lot. They are "rock hoppers" they all do that. Thing is that they have specific areas that they resort to more frequently. If you look at this area, you should notice a small crevice.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Originally Posted by candycane
They are all normal Mandarins, calm down. Just when they get to be MUCH more mature, their head usually outgrows their body by a large margin. Whens the last time you tried to feed your mandarin live Tubifex worms? OK then. Also your mandarin cruises a lot. They are "rock hoppers" they all do that. Thing is that they have specific areas that they resort to more frequently. If you look at this area, you should notice a small crevice.
Sorry have a real problem with your posts. Some neebie who is dieing to get a mandrin, but thanks to us with experience and knowledge of these beautiful fish decide not to buy one because they do not have a suitable tank to house them, will read this thread and go out and get one and throw pellets in and polute their tanks with blood worms (yes, I have fed my fish live blood worms until I learned they can up your nitrates.) These fish are NOT for beginners and imo, small tanks. I have practically stood on my head screaming DO NO GET A MANDRIN if you have an unestablished tank without a fuge and little LR. And here you come telling them its ok to keep them, and they will believe you cause they want to.
I don't need to calm down
I am fine, just ticked off some cause you don't agree with me
 
fat clown

fat clown

New Member
not trying to disagree with the above poster but i had a mandarin in a 20 gal tank for over a year and was doing great and eating anything that i put into the tank (pellets, live brine, frozen blood worms/mysis). I had over 20 lbs of LR in the tank and 3 blue-green chromis with it and around 5 different shrimp.
The only time that fish did not eat was when I could not get into my office to feed the tank after a hurricane blew the roof off of the building and the local police closed the building for a month and there was nothing I could do. I miss that fish.
 
fat clown

fat clown

New Member
please dont think I am saying to go out and get one and think it will eat anything. I got lucky real lucky but it can happen.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Originally Posted by fat clown
please dont think I am saying to go out and get one and think it will eat anything. I got lucky real lucky but it can happen.
Yeah, you were real lucky but for every success story i bet there are a hundred failures. Myself included yrs ago. Is the one success worth the hundred that die? IMO no!
Sorry you lost your mandrin, quite an unusual fish, you must have been devastated
 
fat clown

fat clown

New Member
I lost my office and the tank, I was upset over the tank really more then the office. When the town finally let me go back into the building I almost died from the smell from the tank it was the nastiest thing I had to do in a very long time and I wish it on no one. I got another tank I really want another mandarin one but I am going to wait till this tank is ready and my friends tank is ready for my sailfin to move in.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
If you feed just a small amount and do regular water changes (weekly) the nitrates will be much lower if barely there. So I guess I can see your point of view there. However I do 25% weekly water changes, so that does not effect me. One of the reason that I do water changes so much, is BECAUSE I spot feed. So to me it is no big deal. Cynarinas, Acans, Tubistreas, etc.
I have seen 100's of mandarins take to tubifex (black) worms. So I am merely pointing out that MAY be an alternative to feeding the fish. However if someone is not going to keep up with the nutrient effects, then don't do it.
That better?
 
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