Mandarian Fish

[fishy_3]

Hi everyone,
Is the Mandarian fish very hard to keep?? How do you feed them and what types of food they eat???

 

[kelly]

The answer is yes and no. They require live food, and I do not mean brine shrimp. You need to have alot of copepods in you tank for them to eat. If not, they will slowly starve to death.
Other than that they are relatively easy to keep.

 

[josh]

Hi,
Yes they are very hard to keep. The eat ONLY pods off the rocks and sand ect. What size tank do you have and how long has it been up? I would only get one if I had a large tank ( over 120 ) that is very well established as not to deplete the pod population. Yet another critter best left in the ocean. I am sure others will disagree, but that's my .02
Josh
- - - yes and no, I guess that is more precise answer . . easy till they eat all the pods and die and then not so easy guess we posted at the same time.

 

[gabbys125reef]

I have a mandarin in my 125 gallon tank, he consistantly eats off of the rock and sand. He is beautiful and a nice addition but I wouldn't recommend unless you have a well established tank, I would hate to see a fish starve.
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/reeftank125" target="_blank">www.geocities.com/reeftank125</a>

 

[von_rahvin]

i had one in a 55 reef for a long period of time. he now resides in my 135 reef. the trick is to just make sure you have a very well established tank and lots of LR. if you have 5 lbs of LR in a 200 gallon tank then a mandarin dragonette is not going to be able to eat, however if you have 100lbs in a 55 then there will be plenty for the little bugger to munch on.

 

[predator]

I bought one small for my 100 galoon. I have a 175lb oflr and he has been doing fine. He has even been eating some flakes and mysis. But this is from what I gather a rare case. It will take a mature tank to keep one helthy. A refugium would also help out.

 

[fishy_3]

I have 100lbs of lr in my 75 gal. tank. My tank is just 2 weeks old. I think I have to wait until my tank is established.... thanks for all your advice.

 

[daluminum]

I just set up a 20 gallon tank for the sole purpose of growing pods to feed into my 55 with about 70lbs of LR.. So that tells you how fast they can deplete a system.. hopefully my pod tank will be producing before I go and buy the man. in the next few weeks..

 

[wrassecal]

yep Dalumium I'm settin up a 10gal stand alone refugium to breed pods for a mandarin also. what all do you have in your refugium?

 

[richard rendos]

I have mandarins in both my tanks and I guess I am lucky because they are the hardiest fish I have. Mine have plenty of copepods to eat but lately seem to prefer frozen brine shrimp. They love it. I have had one for over 3 years and the other for almost 2 years now. Just recently have they started eating brine though.

 

[reeferkeeper]

I have 2 in my 55, but I do have 145# LR. I have had them both for just over 2 years and they are big and healthy.

 

[taku]

- Do they get along well with each other?
- What is a good estimate of the number of lbs of LR per Mandarin?
- Would a 120 gal/ 120#LR/ 15 gal refugium grow enough pods to feed 2 mandarins and keep them full?

 

[cowfish]

if you get a tank rased one it usally eats frozen brine

 

[wrassecal]

That is the main fish I want and I have a 55 gal. Around 60lbs lr so far, adding about 10lbs lr a month. I'm sure glad to hear that some of you are even keeping 2 and for long lengths of time. A shark told me not to put one in under 100 gal. Do ya'll have a refugium to produce pods for them? How long were you tanks up before you added them?

 

[reeferkeeper]

DAB , no refugium here. I had my tank probably 1 year before I bought my 2 madarins. This is only my experience, I am not necessarily recommending everyone go out and buy mandarins when so many have opinions that would suggest that you dont. If I didnt have them before I started reading post about them, I am sure I would have waited or avoided them.

 

[ren]

I wasn't going to get one due to the picky diet. But one trip to a LFS here and the guy showed me it was eating frozen mysid. So i bought it and its doing fine. Prob a rare case of one eating frozen though. just my mandarian story.