Mandarin Goby

legoalie31

legoalie31

Member
I have a 29 Gallon tank with a 10 gal refuge, and I currently have a 1.5" hippo tang in qt and a black clown and purple firefish in the tank. I have looked around my tank at night and there is so many copepods. I have had my live rock for oh, lets say 4 or 5 years, but it has been transferred from a 80 gal to a 20 to a 30. I'll put some pics up of the sheer quantity of copepods. And also if I see the amount of them start to dwindle, my lfs has tiggerpods or 3 tanks they solely use to breed copepods. Do you think a mandarin would do fine in my set up?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legoalie31 http:///t/392809/mandarin-goby#post_3490360
I have a 29 Gallon tank with a 10 gal refuge, and I currently have a 1.5" hippo tang in qt and a black clown and purple firefish in the tank. I have looked around my tank at night and there is so many copepods. I have had my live rock for oh, lets say 4 or 5 years, but it has been transferred from a 80 gal to a 20 to a 30. I'll put some pics up of the sheer quantity of copepods. And also if I see the amount of them start to dwindle, my lfs has tiggerpods or 3 tanks they solely use to breed copepods. Do you think a mandarin would do fine in my set up?
Hi,
The answer is yes to your question on the mandarin, but where do you intend to put the Hippo tang? It doesn't matter how small the tang is right now, it's going to get big. To remove the tang you will have to remove every rock in the tank. Hippos can lay flat, and they will hide in the rocks and move from one to the other below it as you dismantle the tank.
The 29g nor the 80g is suited for the tang.
 
legoalie31

legoalie31

Member
My lfs told me they would take him back when he got too big. And I just caught the Tang a few weeks ago to put him in quarantine for ich. So I don't think I'll have a problem doing it again when he's a little bigger.
 
legoalie31

legoalie31

Member
Also would the mandarin do OK with a clown goby? I thought mine died cuz I didn't see him for seriously three our four weeks. Guess where I just found him? Chilling in my refugium! Happy day I hate killing fish
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legoalie31 http:///t/392809/mandarin-goby#post_3490371
My lfs told me they would take him back when he got too big. And I just caught the Tang a few weeks ago to put him in quarantine for ich. So I don't think I'll have a problem doing it again when he's a little bigger.
Hi,
If you have any fish in the DT, as soon as you reintroduce the tang...it will get infected with ich again. You will have to remove all fish from your DT and let it stay fishless for 6 to 8 weeks to be rid of the parasite. Tangs are stressed super easy, and so if you have the ich parasite...they will get it everytime. Healthy fish can resist the parasite, but a new fish or a hippo, or powder blue tang are so easy stressed that they get it... and by shear numbers the ich can kill the healthy fish as well.
So you have a problem, and should not add any new fish until you take care of it. The reef safe medicines don't work, and it is very hard on the inverts. The empty fishless tank is the best way to clear the system. NEVER, EVER dose the display tank with copper based meds. Even if you do use copper on a sick fish in the hospital tank...as soon as you put it back into the DT, it will get infected again.
Oh and to answer your question on the mandarin...I had a sleeper goby kill my mandarin, so I don't think they are compatable because they both stay on the bottom and they fight for food and territory.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
At first glance I'd say yes, your system will be Mandarin safe as long as you are diligent about watching the pod population. You also have a good chance of weaning the fish onto frozen in a small tank like that.
I second, third, and fourth the opinion about that tang. In no way will a blue tang live long in a tiny 29g tank....I'm sorry, but it just won't. And if you took the fish OUT of the tank because of ich....then it's just going to get it again when you put him back. I'm sorry, I know it's hard to hear, but this is a fish that DOES NOT belong in a tank this size.
 
jonw59

jonw59

Member
so Ive been wanting to add a mandarian for a while now. Ive had my 30 gallon tank up for about 4 months now, the rock I started with has been cultured for over 2 years and now my tank is crawling with what I believe to be copepods and amphipods. by crawling I mean I see them when I first turn on the lights, they are all over the sand and rock. do you think I am able to get one? have you had to add any more copepods to your tank or do they appear to be populating themselves enough to keep up with your mandarian?
 
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