New Fish

[marie1101]

My new fish should arrive tomorrow. It's the first time I have purchased from the internet. Are there any tricks as how to acclimate them to the aquarium once I get them?
I have the following fish coming:
Mandarin dragonet, Green
Yellow Pygmy Angelfish
2-False Percula
Bubbletip anemone
and a Mecican turbo snail.
Thanks for any recommendations.

 

[bang guy]

There are a couple good ways to acclimate fish. I'll not recommend any thiugh. Follow the instructions from the store so you don't invalidate the guarantee.

 

[florida joe]

I agree with Bang, as a side note mandarins usually arrive in some state of malnutrition so getting them to eat as soon as possible is of the utmost importance. Do you have a good population of pods established in your tank? How much live rock do you have? Do you have a refuge? Is the mandarin tank raised?

 

[marie1101]

Pod?? I have about 60-70 pounds of healthy live rock in a 75 gallon tank. I ordered the mandarin from this website so I am not sure on your other question. I only had 50lbs but when my step daughter got tired of her salt water tank she gave me her live rock. I have been thinking about removing some, but the way we have it arranged there are lots of hidey holes for the current fish. Also, can you have two mandarins together. The website would only let me purchase one, but I really wanted two. They are beautiful fish.

 

[marie1101]

I just researched pods and I am not sure if I have any. I have never added any and not noticed them either. Looks like I will be headed to the LFS after work to purchase a bottle and get them in there tonight! Thank you so much for the information.

 

[florida joe]

I am by no means an expert on keeping mandarin dragonets as I have only had one for less than a month. But if I am one thing it is addicted to research. That being said I will say this. Wild caught mandarins which I believe to be the case in your purchase will eat only live pods when introduced into your tank. While they can be taught in some cases to eat prepared food the proses is long and involved as you have to start with live brine shrimp. IMO as well as many others a large reef tank with abundant liver rock is an absolute in keeping mandarins. The live rock provides the necessary hiding place for the pods to multiply. While pods are not a staple for many fish they do provide a snack for many other fish so keeping the population growing is a thing that must be maintained. Most often than not pods are introduced into a tank via hitchhiking on live rock. Then then multiply if there is not a predator in the tank until the hobbyist has a nice population growing. I would look at you tank at night with the lights off and using a flash light to see if you have pods scurrying around your tank, hopefully you will. If not you will need to seed your tank and IMO you will need more than one bottle of pods. When you get your mandarin put it in a separate container and add some pods to that container to see if the mandarin is eating. They are basically disease resilient but they seem to be susceptible to one thing and that is a form of fin rot so be on the lookout for that. You can in fact have more than one mandarin in your tank as long as they are a male and female do you know how to distinguish between the two? Also the male has to be larger than the female also you have to be concerned with them jumping out of the tank during the mating ritual.

One last thing and do not take this personally. The hobby MUST do their research on needs of any living think thy introduce into their tanks.

 

[marie1101]

You have been very helpful. Believe me after my LFS lied to me and didn't even know what the fish were that he sold me I have started to do research. Which is sad because I am attached to the sweet lips, I call Freckles, but after finding this forum I have learned so much. When you said POD I googled that and found another website that is useful.

 

[jstdv8]

copepod is what he is referring to.
Do you have a sump attached to the tank or just the tank itself?
A sump would absolutely be best for this type of fish. The pods get wiped out really easy in the DT by itself while a sump will give them a safe place to populate.
At this point in the game if the fish is already on its way you are probably going to need to continually feed it copepods for as long as you have it. And when I say feed it I mean add containers of pods to the tank on a regular basis. This could get spendy after a while.
Awesome fish but they are difficult since they only eat that one food source usually.

 

[marie1101]

Yes we have a sump. Now I am confused, the place I googled pods said add them directly to the aquarium, should I put them in the sump instead? It also said they multiply every other day.

 

[florida joe]

When I referred to pods I meant. Amphipods, isopods as well as copepods. As far as were to introduce the pods I would put a least two bottles in the DT and one in the sump if you have LR there . You need IMO to start populating the DT as soon as possible. You can then supplement the DT population with pods grown in the sump. IMO the key is populating your DT via live rock in your DT
Oh and very important, when you introduce the pods to your DT do so at night after the lights are off and your fish have slowed their movement for the night. This gives you pods a chance to reach the recesses of your live rock for protection and multiplication

 

[jstdv8]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marie1101 http:///t/393506/new-fish#post_3501298
Yes we have a sump. Now I am confused, the place I googled pods said add them directly to the aquarium, should I put them in the sump instead? It also said they multiply every other day.
They only multiply if they aren't eaten
What Joe said would be the best way to go. Just make sure you get at least some in your sump to create a food source for them for the future. Also some marco algae in the sump for them to eat and live in is a good idea. The macro will help with nitrates and phosphates too.