what do you think about this stock for 30g tank?

[emilie246]

2 ocellaris clownfish, 1 mandrin dragonet (green), 1 flame angelfish, 1 dwarf feather duster (or) pom pom crab instead.
my book says that for my tank i can add 15" of full grown fish, all of these should be 17" assuming they all grow to full size. do you think this is a good mix?
if not tell me what would be.

 

[meowzer]

I don't think a mnadarin would be good for a 30g...they need a LOT of copepods to eat...unless they are trained to eat frozen....but most are not.
WELCOME TO THE SITE

 

[crypt keeper]

mandrin dragonet do well in tabnks with 100+ pounds of live rock. They eat pods. You could set up a fuge and breed pods but they will have to be in the tank everyday. Succes with that fish with out the correct diet is very slim.
Standard 30g or 30 long?

 

[hlcroghan]

Well, the feather duster is not a fish so you don't have to count that in your inches. Honestly that is not a good formula anyway because you have to base it on the activity level of the fish and what they need to survive. As for the mandarin, meowzer is correct. I have one. Mine is in a 29 gallon. It is very difficult to keep one alive. Do a ton of research before you purchase one. There are a ton of easier and better choices out there......Trust me.
Look up some gobies, firefish, blennies......those are all better and easier to care for choices. And most of them are functional and add life to your tank.
The clowns are a very good choice. Especially the ocellaris.
As for inverts like hermits, you are going to need a lot more than that. You will need maybe 4 to 5 different types of snails. You could also keep shrimps of different types and a few hermits. Hermits are notorious snail killers so you may want to limit them a bit. I only have 3, for example, but I have prolly 12 to 15 snails. You don't count them in your bioload because they all help clean the tank.
And......welcome to boards!!!!!

 

[emilie246]

long 30g. i was going to put 45lbs of rock in there. with 30+ lbs of live sand? i thought about the snails and hermit crabs but was a little confused on how many and what they eat and such.

 

[taznut]

as stated, i wouldnt do the mandrin... i have a lawnmower blenny to control my algae and i have fun watching him... blennies are jumpers so cover the tank for awhile until they seem comfortable (mine went carpet surfing in the first couple hours so i used egg create to keep him in for a week now he is fine)...

 

[hlcroghan]

To give you an idea of a stocklist,
in my 29 gallon rectangle.....
pair of false perculas
2 clown gobies
1 lawnmower blenny
1 mandarin dragonet (which everyone talked about already, bad idea for the most part)
This is about the maximum bioload a 29 can take as far as fish are concerned. I could prolly squeeze in another clown goby if I really wanted to because they are the bioload of a snail and super tiny, but no other larger fish. The lawnmower blennies are fantastic for cleaning your tank and there are several other types of blennies and gobies that look different and that have the same cleaning capabilities. Most of them in a small tank cannot be placed together though as they will prolly fight. Even the clown gobies are iffy as they are somewhat territorial. I personally have had no problems with mine though. And they are really cute and outgoing. I like them a lot.

 

[emilie246]

hlcroghan do u have to suppliment your mandrin with copepods? my lfs told me they used to give their fish eggs, like the ones on sushi?

 

[extinct 1ne]

I don't think the Mandarin Dragonet will do well. I would take the Dragonet out and maybe get a Chromis (Mine swims back and forth all day). Is this going to be a reef or no?

 

[volitan1]

When i started out i had a mandarin in a very well established 37 gallon. I had thousands of co-pods. My mandarin ate them all within a month and he started getting real skinny real fast. I had to give him to my buddy until i upgraded to my 90 gallon.

 

[pete159]

a mandarin needs pods, however, they can be trained to eat mysis with a turkey baster if u stop flow during feeding so they can see the food.
there is a big difference between overstocking and over crowding a tank. over stocking means the tank can not handle the bio load of the fish and then you get an ammonia reading.
over crowding means the fish are mad at each other and fight and do not get along with each other.
if you work on your bio filter, you can add many fish, as long as the bio filter can handle it.
I have a 46g tank. I Have, 1 male and 1 female captive bred reidi seahorse. 2 false perc clownfish. 2 PJ cardinals fish. 1 diamond goby, 1 scooter dragonet trained on mysis, 1 yellow wrasse, 1 coral beauty....1 algae blenny....
it sounds like too many fish, but i never get a nitrate reading over .20 NEVER an ammonia reading.
This is because i have lots of filtration that can handle the waste. I'm to tired to type it all in right now, but all fish get along just fine.
So the bottom line is this, if you can train or feed the mandarin then get it, but its not like feeding a dorky chromis flake food.

 

[sepulatian]

Can you train a dog to eat lettuce? Probably, but can he live off of it? Mandarins absolutely MUST have pods in their diet. They will die a slow death without them. A 50 gallon with a fuge can barely keep up with pod reproduction. You will be buying bottles and bottles of pods to keep this fish healthy. Please do not buy one for that sized tank.

 

[sickboy]

Originally Posted by volitan1
http:///forum/post/3059122
When i started out i had a mandarin in a very well established 37 gallon. I had thousands of co-pods. My mandarin ate them all within a month and he started getting real skinny real fast. I had to give him to my buddy until i upgraded to my 90 gallon.
Me too, but I knew I was only gonna have him for a couple months before he went to my buddy's tank.
Don't get a mandarin unless you have LOTS of money to buy pods.

 

[sepulatian]

To be perfectly straight about this, mandarins do best in tanks with 100+lbs of very mature live rock. Even with that you still need a refugium for the pods to breed in. If you do not have these things then you will be spending a whole lot of money on copepods in a bottle while watching your mandarin wither. They eat more that you can imagine. They do best with amphiapods which are not, to my knowledge, available in a bottle. They need natural foods, plain and simple.

 

[hlcroghan]

Definitely listen to what the people on here are telling you. It is very rare to find a mandarin that will eat frozen and the variety of it needed. The eggs you are talking about are ova. They are made by nutramar. They are out of stock until September as far as I know. And yes I do supplement with pods although only about once a month. Luckily mine is nice and healthy and I haven't had any problems thus far. I am constantly stressed though that he will have enough to eat and I hand feed him every single day. I would not recomment one for your tank despite my success.
They are very beautiful though..
Anyway, there are a ton of better choices. Look into a midas blenny. They are beautiful and active.
Sixline wrasses are very active beautiful. They can be aggressive and if you want one, make sure it is the last fish added to the tank.
Bicolor blenny, yellow watchman goby, pixie hawkfish.....there are a ton of choices out there. Is this going to be a reef? That will determine a lot of your choices.