Fu Manchu Lion Question
- Thread starter erifish3
- Start date
salt life
Active Member
Originally Posted by erifish3
http:///forum/post/3030826
Can I keep a 3" Fumanchu lion in a 24g nano with a Manadarin Dragon? Is tank too small and will they get along? Thanks in advance.
IMO a 24g is way too small and he will end up eating your mandarin.
http:///forum/post/3030826
Can I keep a 3" Fumanchu lion in a 24g nano with a Manadarin Dragon? Is tank too small and will they get along? Thanks in advance.
IMO a 24g is way too small and he will end up eating your mandarin.
aquaknight
Active Member
Originally Posted by erifish3
http:///forum/post/3030834
Mandarin is about 2" long, will he still end up as lunch?
It's about a 50/50 spilt. They could get along fine for a while or he'll end up as lunch the same day. Either way, as uttered before and will be commented on again, your mandarin is on borrowed time (starving) in a 24gal...
http:///forum/post/3030834
Mandarin is about 2" long, will he still end up as lunch?
It's about a 50/50 spilt. They could get along fine for a while or he'll end up as lunch the same day. Either way, as uttered before and will be commented on again, your mandarin is on borrowed time (starving) in a 24gal...
aquaknight
Active Member
It might seem like it, but generally unfortunately, no. The average adult mandarin eats between 500-1000 pods a today. So figure a 2" sub-adult is somewhere 300/day range. With a typical bottle of pods being around 500 pods, you do the math.
Every situation is unique though. I'm sure if the 24gal was jammed with live rocks, sponges, rubble rock/CC, macro algae, etc, and he was the only pod eater, including shrimp and crabs, there's is certainly that 1-in-1000 outside chance.
Every situation is unique though. I'm sure if the 24gal was jammed with live rocks, sponges, rubble rock/CC, macro algae, etc, and he was the only pod eater, including shrimp and crabs, there's is certainly that 1-in-1000 outside chance.
aquaknight
Active Member
Originally Posted by erifish3
http:///forum/post/3030862
Actually, its just him, 2 anemones, 2 snails, a crab, and the ghost of my clown that passed in a tragic rock slide a while back. The bottles of pods that i buy contain 1500-2000 according to the label.
Alright, substitute 1500 pods for 500 and do the math. That's 5 days of food, the tank would have to have an expendable supply of 2700 pods, keeping enough "breeders" so the population stays intact.
I'm certainly not saying it impossible or that the mandarin will die overnight. It's just something that mandarins shouldn't be in small tank, is constanly drilled into us, something along the lines of "mandarins need 100# of LF minimum" so much, when the next few responses roll in "Dude that's just wrong/you're an idiot/etc" without an explaination, you understand where they're coming from...
http:///forum/post/3030862
Actually, its just him, 2 anemones, 2 snails, a crab, and the ghost of my clown that passed in a tragic rock slide a while back. The bottles of pods that i buy contain 1500-2000 according to the label.
Alright, substitute 1500 pods for 500 and do the math. That's 5 days of food, the tank would have to have an expendable supply of 2700 pods, keeping enough "breeders" so the population stays intact.
I'm certainly not saying it impossible or that the mandarin will die overnight. It's just something that mandarins shouldn't be in small tank, is constanly drilled into us, something along the lines of "mandarins need 100# of LF minimum" so much, when the next few responses roll in "Dude that's just wrong/you're an idiot/etc" without an explaination, you understand where they're coming from...
hlcroghan
Active Member
If you really like your mandarin you could try to train him onto frozen foods. There are a few techniques to use. and they don't always work If you are going to go with anything aggressive in the future though, you prolly will want to take him back as they are pretty easy going fish.
hlcroghan
Active Member
You will need a squirter of some kind to get the food to the bottom of the tank. Mandarins will not chase food into the water column like clowns or angels. They pick it off of the sand and rock. The easiest thing to start with is brine shrimp. Buy the enriched omega brine. Regular brine is not very nutritional. They seem to like it a lot though. remeber this takes some patience.
Turn off the filter and pick a low flow spot in the tank and squeeze some onto the sand bed. You want to try and get the brine to roll along the bottom toward the mandarin. He should look very interested and he may only stare at it the first couple times. Soaking it in garlic helps immensely.
Once he starts going after that, I would add in small mysis. My mandarin eats emerald diet,enriched brine, krill, and mysis. I cut a small chunk of of each of the little frozen squares and mix it all together with coral food. All ofthe fish eat this. I really do not have to feed him the pods anymore but I do still buy some periodically because it is their best source of nutrtion. He is very fat anyway. I do have to feed him by hand everyday so it is a bit more involved. I will prolly be adding some more types of foods in there soon to give them extra variety. i only purchase the pods about every 6 weeks.
Remeber this doesn't always work so don't get frustrated. And good luck!!!
Turn off the filter and pick a low flow spot in the tank and squeeze some onto the sand bed. You want to try and get the brine to roll along the bottom toward the mandarin. He should look very interested and he may only stare at it the first couple times. Soaking it in garlic helps immensely.
Once he starts going after that, I would add in small mysis. My mandarin eats emerald diet,enriched brine, krill, and mysis. I cut a small chunk of of each of the little frozen squares and mix it all together with coral food. All ofthe fish eat this. I really do not have to feed him the pods anymore but I do still buy some periodically because it is their best source of nutrtion. He is very fat anyway. I do have to feed him by hand everyday so it is a bit more involved. I will prolly be adding some more types of foods in there soon to give them extra variety. i only purchase the pods about every 6 weeks.
Remeber this doesn't always work so don't get frustrated. And good luck!!!
fmarini
Member
actually Fu man Chu lions have one of the smaller mouths for a scorpionfish, so I would say that your mandarin is fine-sizewise.
but importantly, mandarins are covered by a noxious slime coat-hence their vivid coloration-its screams i'm toxic. I've seen a number of fish sample mandarins, and immediately spit them back out.
While i wouldnt put a mandarin into your tank due to other considerations, its potentially safe from the Fu manchu.
I wouldn't risk it w/ a larger P volitans lionfish thou
but importantly, mandarins are covered by a noxious slime coat-hence their vivid coloration-its screams i'm toxic. I've seen a number of fish sample mandarins, and immediately spit them back out.
While i wouldnt put a mandarin into your tank due to other considerations, its potentially safe from the Fu manchu.
I wouldn't risk it w/ a larger P volitans lionfish thou
hlcroghan
Active Member
Yes, of course you can PM me......I will be happy to help in any way I can. I have a 29 gallon tank and was always told that I could never have it in my tank. Generally I really agree with that because they don't tend to take very well to prepared foods but if you can get lucky enough to train yours or buy one that is already eating prepared you may have a lot more luck in that arena. They are very beautiful fish and I love my Sparky!!
The lionfish is really a risk.......not only because your tank is too small but because even if he spits your mandarin out, chances are it will die from damage to it. Also the bioload on the tank would be a lot because they are big eaters. I would go with a couple other smaller fish. Maybe a clown or two and a firefish. Unfortunately you are very limited with the amount of fish you can have in a 24......believe me I have the same problem with mine!!
The lionfish is really a risk.......not only because your tank is too small but because even if he spits your mandarin out, chances are it will die from damage to it. Also the bioload on the tank would be a lot because they are big eaters. I would go with a couple other smaller fish. Maybe a clown or two and a firefish. Unfortunately you are very limited with the amount of fish you can have in a 24......believe me I have the same problem with mine!!