Mandarin Waiting Period

fretfreak13

Active Member
I have a 5 month old 29 gallon display tank and two fuges that were seeded just last week. The one fuge is in the sump and is about eight gallons. In it is about 10 lbs of LR, some LS, cheato, and a light. The other is a small HOB fuge that goes right into the tank. Theres LR rubble and a bit of cheato. I'm probably going to seed both of these again on Saturday, mainly because the pods I bought from the LFS looked....dead. lol They were the last bottle of pods they had and they had been there for about two weeks. Something in my gut tells me they weren't the best to buy without having a food source for that long, if not longer, but I did anyways.
How long should I wait to get my Mandarin?
 

jackri

Active Member
If at all possible buy one that is already eating frozen mysis. Unless you perpetually buy pods without it eating frozen mysis I don't see it being self sustaining. It's not a "how long" game per say, but a "my system can now handle it" type of thing which gets put into a generality of time in months. If you get a mandarin keep trying to entice it with frozen mysis and eventually it may start eating them. Also if you have other fish that feed on pods you have another strike against you. I have a six line and a damsel that feed on pods in my 90g and I won't try a mandarin even with a 26g sump and 100lbs of live rock.
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
I've never seen my damsel go after pods. I'm going to seed again, like I said, and maybe buy one around my birthday in January I guess then...
 

dragonzim

Active Member
I dont think its possible to have enough rock in a 29 to have a self sustaining Pod population so you're going to have to seed the tank every week or so since mandarins will eat continuously as long as there is a food supply and slowly starve to death if there isnt'
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
Even if I have TWO fuges? There are a lot of people on this site who keep mandarins in nanos, and so far from me being a member on SWF I havn't had anyone tell me it was impossible to keep one in my tank. They said I needed a fuge. I got two.
 

nuro

Member
its not just having a fuge that matters its the population of pods you can cultivate/sustain in the fuge.
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
I know, that was why I was aksing about the waiting period. How can I even know how many pods I have in my fuge? I thought they were microscopic.
 

spiderwoman

Active Member
You can see some of them with a n.a.k.e.d eye.
I wouldn't try a mandarin in my 75g tank and it's nearly 2 years old, let alone in my 34g RSM nano that is over a year old. The amount of pods a mandarin eats in a day is amazing and they can and will starve fast.
There's always somebody in the hobby that manages to keep livestock alive that nobody else can, that is more of an exception than norm.
I know you really want one and want someone to tell you that you'll be fine. The odds are against you, sorry to say that.
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
I'm just somewhat floored because in my whole time being a member here I've always had people only say I'd need a fuge (which is why I went out and made two) and that it's very possible to keep one in my tank. Nothing against you guys or the information that you're giving me, I'm just hoping that someone else who has told me that I can keep one will chime in and say something. =(
 

nuro

Member
i have kept a small female in my 55 for well over a year. i have a small hob fuge and a wetdry/fuge with lr in it. in total i have well over 200lbs of lr in the system and a DSB, that being said i BARELY have enough pods to keep her healthy. shes not over fed, and shes far from skinny but i just wanted to present this as an example you. you could try with your set up, but i would certainly wait until the pod population has leveld off... i say this becuase you can seed the crap out of it now, but a)the pods would starve and b)as soon as you add a mandarin the population is going straight downhill
*reread this and it sounded a little naggy, wasnt trying to come off that way.
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
You don't sound naggy. I asked a question, you guys are answering it. No big.
The pods would starve? o_O How does that work? I thought that was what the cheato was for, for them to eat? And the light was to help the cheato grow?
 

nuro

Member
you have to look at the whole system as a little ecosystem, anytime you introduce new element something is going to change. if you have a young tank and throw a huge amount of pods in there youre goign to have some die before the tank finds the right balance... you can absolutely grow a huge population over time. look at soem of the tips on culturing pods and phyto, if youre dead set on doing this soon id suggesting starting there.
 

todj2002

Member
i have never purchased pods and my tank is full of them. in my overflow box u can see tons of them. some are big as ladybugs and a little freaky to look at. i dont do anything but feed flakes to my fish and shrimp to my anemone's. i have some chaeto in my sump and it is also full of them. my mandarin is healthy and i have had him for quite a while now. i would say buy some chaeto for ur sump that has pods already in it. good luck.
 

nuro

Member
Originally Posted by TODJ2002
http:///forum/post/3172965
i have never purchased pods and my tank is full of them. in my overflow box u can see tons of them. some are big as ladybugs and a little freaky to look at. i dont do anything but feed flakes to my fish and shrimp to my anemone's. i have some chaeto in my sump and it is also full of them. my mandarin is healthy and i have had him for quite a while now. i would say buy some chaeto for ur sump that has pods already in it. good luck.
how long has your tank been up?
 

todj2002

Member
Originally Posted by nuro
http:///forum/post/3172976
how long has your tank been up?
its been up a long time. been a long hard road for me to get where im at now. lol. anyway i started my tank the same time i joined this forum. oct. 2006.
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
Its not nessicerily that I wanted one soon, just that I knew I"d have money then and from the understanding that I did have I would be able to seed it with the pods now and be good to go. Like I said eariler though, iwas just kinda blown away when people said that I couldn't have one at all. Guess I'll just be waiting a couple years. *sigh*
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
Also, I was thinking that maybe someone should write a thread for the fish discussion board about mandarins and we could ask a mod to sticky it? It seems that EVERY new hobbiest wants one (me as example A) and I see a lot of threads with just constantly repeated info. I'm pretty sure thats how the other sticky threads started, so I think that someone knowledgable should write one. lol
 
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