What's the real deal with mandarins?

[Dimitrios555]

Anyone successfully kept them in a nano reef?


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[MCCOOL]

There is a great mandarin primer floating around here.

They need a constant supply of copepods to survive. It's almost impossible to maintain the necessary pod population in a nano. you could supplement with live pods often, but that gets pricey. I have one that eats frozen mysis shrimp, but even then I need to maintain a healthy pod population to keep it happy.

They are best left to experienced hobbiests with large, mature tanks in my opinion.

[Dimitrios555]

Originally Posted by MCCOOL

There is a great mandarin primer floating around here.

They need a constant supply of copepods to survive. It's almost impossible to maintain the necessary pod population in a nano. you could supplement with live pods often, but that gets pricey. I have one that eats frozen mysis shrimp, but even then I need to maintain a healthy pod population to keep it happy.

They are best left to experienced hobbiests with large, mature tanks in my opinion.

How pricey? How pricey are live pods? How often?


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[MCCOOL]

I buy Poseidon's Feast from Amazon. Its like $40 for 3000 pods. I'm not sure how many my mandarin eats a day, but it's surely in the hundreds.

[ThRoewer]

If you know what you are doing you can keep mandarins in smaller tanks.
You should definitely start out with small specimen.
Next you should get them used to frozen food. Brine shrimp are a good start and generally easy, but ultimately you want to get them to eat frozen Mysis.
You will still need to make sure to have enough pods in the tank (a refugium is mandatory) - frozen food will ever only be an addition.

[Greentree]

Finding a healthy specimen is imperative. Try New Wave Aquaria for carefully acclimated mandarins. Let them know you have a nano and you really need one eating frozen - they'll come through for you


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[booyaa138]

Not to hi jack this thread but I have a question about Mandarins.
How do you QT them?
Or do you just put them in your display tank?

[mike61289]

Originally Posted by Dimitrios555

I hear you and thank you. I'm just thinking like a year from now....


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I think the opposite in all honesty. The more questions you ask, the more you want to learn. What you're doing is a perfect way of figuring out how to keep a mandarin.

A nano tank will be small for it. It does need lots of pods to feed on regularly and rarely learns to eat anything else. My mandarin was eating frozen mysis at the lfs and refuses to go near it in my tank.

The key to keeping one is selection and having a stable amount of pods available. You'll want to choose the fattest individual you can find. I personally prefer to start with younger individuals (small) because they obviously need less food than an adult. If you can find one already eating frozen foods, you're likely safe to take it home.

If you have a refugium attached to your tank wothbsome plants, even better! It'll be breeding grounds for the pods.

Mandarins are the only fish that I never quarantined. I believe it's better to add it to the display right away so that it has a chance to pick at pods, which it wouldn't be doing in my quarantine given its setup.

[ThRoewer]

I think first we need to define what actual tank size we are talking about (for a Naso a 1000 gallon tank feels like a nano, while a Lolita goby can get lost in a 10 gallon).
I would not put a mandarin in anything smaller than a 20 gallon tank. Not because of pod supply but to give the fish some space for moving around. And if you keep a pair you should also have a minimum height of the tank as they will need some upward room for their spawning dance. A foot of water column over ground level is the bare minimum.

Quarantineing mandarins is tricky business and generally leads to loss of the fish unless you have a reef tank as QT.
IME it's best if the mandarins are the first or among the fish to go into the tank.
I would also recommend someone new to these fish to go with tank bred (available from Biota these days). Yes, they are 4 to 5 times the price of a wild caught, but they are highly likely to be disease free and used to readily available foods.

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[booyaa138]

thanks guys for the tips on QT. I'm thinking about getting one but I want to make sure it can survive in my tank. I have a 125 gallon with about a 10 to15 gallon fuge. Tanks been up and running for almost 2 years

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by booyaa138

thanks guys for the tips on QT. I'm thinking about getting one but I want to make sure it can survive in my tank. I have a 125 gallon with about a 10 to15 gallon fuge. Tanks been up and running for almost 2 years

125 gallon should be enough for a pair, especially if you start out with smaller individuals. Just make sure that the male is at least a third larger (in length) than the female - females can get pretty aggressive towards males that don't meet their "standards" (yes, Fish can be just like humans).

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[brett_schn]

Try to find one at your lfs that eats mysis or other frozen prepared food


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[booyaa138]

Thanks for the info.I'm going to check around and see if any LFS have them or can get them.

[FinnCole]

This is my grandparents tank they kept a Mandarin in it for a few years

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[scooter31707]

IMO, if you can find one eating pods and prepared food, you may have a good chance to keep one alive in a nano.

[BrianD]

There is zero chance I would keep a mandarin in a nano.

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

125 gallon should be enough for a pair, especially if you start out with smaller individuals. Just make sure that the male is at least a third larger (in length) than the female - females can get pretty aggressive towards males that don't meet their "standards" (yes, Fish can be just like humans).

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Male can lost the spike in capture and shipping and will look identical for female. If you pt a Larger male, and smaller "female" and have fighting, then you got two males with one spike broken off.

I cannot stress what ThRoewer said enough. Female will not tolerate males that are smaller, or sicker (thinner and weaker) than her.