Mandarin Goby

[pa reef pig]

Would you say it would be ok to put a Mandarin in a 75 gal tank with 90-100 lbs live rock. I have a refugium with alot of critters in it, underneath the tank. Just wondering if it is better to have the good pod population or if its ok to buy the cute little guy. Im sure he will do his best to wipe out the pods.. Will he have enough to eat over the long run?

 

[bang guy]

Sounds like the perfect home Go for it!

 

[pa reef pig]

Cool! thanks for the vote of confidence Guy. I'll try one out.

 

[striker]

Sounds fine. I have had one for 3 months now in my 29 gallon. 70lbs of lr and 4inch ls keep my population high and my mandarin happy. Once and a while he'll pick at live and frozen brine.

 

[ananda]

One important question: what other fish do you have in the tank?? IF there aren't any other fish that will eat up the 'pods, then you should be okay. You should probably consider getting a 'pod package every so often to make sure the mandarin will have enough food.

 

[saltyrich]

I agree with all of the above. You may also want to bump up your dsb an inch or so with ls. This will supplement the pod pop. A sixline wrasse will effect your pod population if you have one. They however, can readily be weened of pods and will take prepared food. I'd bump up yopu ls and do it.

 

[wrassecal]

GO for it! If I had that setup my mandarin would be in heaven and I wouldn't be going to such great lengths to import pods for him! But the little guy is worth it.

 

[saltyrich]

Sorry. I wrote "yopu" in my post! I meant that I'd bump up your ls depth an inch or so.

 

[pa reef pig]

Im getting him tomorrow. I let you know how he does. Also do they eat live brine?

 

[bang guy]

Some will eat live brine but unfortunately live brine don't have much going for them nutritionally.
The primary food for Dragonettes is a critter called an Ostracode. Followed by copepods, 'pod larvae and mysid shrimp. I've seen them gulp down frozen food but it's fairly uncommon.

 

[pa reef pig]

So pods are more nutritious?

 

[lnarobbins]

i've had my mandarin for over a year now. I started out with only 25lbs of lr in my 90g tank now I have about 70lbs or so. I'm going to add another 50lbs or so and add a female mandarin for him and see what happens
good luck
they are a great fish
Alan

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by PA reef pig
So pods are more nutritious?
Yup. i think of Brine Shrimp as grocery bags... they are only as nutritious as what you put in them. Most Adult BS that you buy are pink... this indicates that they are starving and have almost no nutritional value. You can soak them in Selcon of feed them phytoplankton and they will be useful. IMO if you don't enrich them they have no value other than as a treat.
Newly hatched BS have a nutritious yolk for about 12 hours after hatching. After 12 hours you will need to feed them something nutritious or there's no point in feeding them to your fish (or fry).

 

[pa reef pig]

Guy, I just bought a cup of brine. Can I just add a few caps of DT's to the brine? Will they actually eat that and become like little fish vitamins?! cool!

 

[joe's reefer]

it should be perfect and they will occasionally give ur pods a break and eat some brine or mysid shrimp

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by PA reef pig
Guy, I just bought a cup of brine. Can I just add a few caps of DT's to the brine? Will they actually eat that and become like little fish vitamins?! cool!
Brine Shrimp are indescriminate filter feeders. They will eat anything that's the right size (very wide range of sizes), yeast, DT's, dried eggs, Selcon, dust, whatever.