Scared by my Spotted Mandarin

flaming angel

flaming angel

New Member
I have a large 6" inch spotted mandarin in my 75 gal reef tank. This morning I turned on the actinic lighting and saw him slightly buried in the DSB in the front of the tank - looking almost white. I screamed thinking he had died during the night and called for my daughter so she could get a net and remove him for me. I left the room because I couldn't deal with losing him and my daughter jumped out of bed, came down to the living room and then thought I was totally nuts. He was swimming around the tank perfectly fine.
So, my question is, do mandarins camouflage their color to match the sand at night as a form of protection? Do most fish sleep on the sand? I have never noticed this before because the fish are usually behind the live rock and I can't see them.
Thanks for your input.
 
broncofish

broncofish

Active Member
Yes they do blend in to the sand, scotter blennies actually go blank white at night. As far as it being six inches, do you have a picture? I would love to see a six inch mandarin.:D
 
flaming angel

flaming angel

New Member
I have a digital camera at home - I'm at work now. I'll take one this evening. He has done an unbelievable job in removing planeria from the tank. That's why I couldn't stand the thought of him dying. He's a really cool fish to watch swim around the tank - sort of a gentle giant.
 
broncofish

broncofish

Active Member
Yeah they are the coolest fish, we've got a mandarin in our 46g bowfront, and a scooter in the 29g at my house.
 
melissa v.

melissa v.

Member
That's funny, because last night mine was in the front of the tank and was white and i thought he was dead too. i didn't know that they could chang colors.(just a question are you a blonde,like me?):D
Melissa v.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
broncofish - Wow I haven't heard of Hamster Huey and the Guey Gablooy in a long time. Sure I spelled that wrong.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Flaming Angel - Definatly want to see one of those pics, try and hold a ruller near him if possable, or something we can identify length.
Thomas
 
chinnyr

chinnyr

Member
I've seen the other type of mandarin about that size.The shop I saw them at had about a half dozen big ones in the same(yes way too small for them all)tank.As for the changing color thing....my scooter does this each night and I have played hide and seek with him.Sometimes he will be right in front of me and I still miss him.
 
flaming angel

flaming angel

New Member
Melissa,
Yes, I am blonde and I go a little nuts over the tank. It brings me incredible serenity and incredible anxiety. But I love the tank and I watch it more than the TV.
By the way, I didn't get the picture taken last night, but I will post a picture. I got this mandarin from this amazing LFS. This large mandarin was promised to a restaurant with a good size tank but something happened and they didn't come pick it up. It was at the store for 3 weeks with "sold" next to the name on the tank. The owner knew I was crazy about the fish and finally got tired of waiting and sold it to me for $29.99. He knew I had plenaria and thought this fish would chow down on the stuff in my tank. I can't find one piece of planeria left in the tank although I'm not foolish enough to believe that's it's totally gone. At one point, my tank had a velvet covering of plenaria on the live rock and sand. Finally, I was able to order 6 velvet nudibranches from Anchofish -all but one survived the shipping. The 5 sea slugs cleaned up the sand and some of the live rock but had a hard time with plenaria on the back wall of the tank. They mated like crazy and left a slimey, gooey ball of eggs all over the place. They never hatched but made the tank very messy. They were beautiful to look at and nothing in the tank bothered them. The clown fish once picked up one in her mouth and spit it out. Apparently they have a very bitter taste as a defense mechanism. They lasted about 8 to 10 weeks and all died within 2 weeks of each other. Then I purchased the mandarin and he finished up the job on the plenaria - getting to all the places the nudibrances couldn't get to.
Anyway, I will try to post a picture of this fish. I'm not sure I know how, but I will try tonight.
 
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