Mandarin goby in nano!!!

[redboy]

So far he's doing excellent in a 10g reef (copods alive!)!!I've been waiting to rock a psychedelic in my reef. A couple of months ago I noticed groups of copods(sp?) cruising the live rock. I kept watching and they were multiplying. After a couple of months of checking the copods, I thought about getting a mandarin. I picked one up and brought him home. Will he consume "all" of the copods? Bio-load? I'm still a little concerned if he will thrive or not!? Any suggestions would rock! Oh ya, Matt, I have yet checked the parameters of the Catalina sea H2O I've been using. Crazy busy. I will get back to you on that!

[RAVEN]

The guy at your LFS should be shot for selling you that mandarin goby without asking you what size tank you were putting it in. *Its gonna die of starvation in that tank. *Mandarins need a minimum of a 90g well established reef tank, at least a year old, with at least 100lbs of live rock and well established copepod population. *Take it back and do the fish a favor. *Sorry to be so blunt, but I hate to see an animal die a needless death. *The copepod's in your tank will be quickly consumed and its the rare mandarin that will eat and be sustained on prepared foods.

[Olyoxenfree]

Yes unless you the madarin dragonet is trained on frozen foods he will quickly consume all the copepods in such a small tank and starve. Sorry man!

[Bruce]

thats why i love my little scooter dragonets, they jump on my hand and eat some brine shrimp

[OoNickoC]

[quote author=RAVEN link=board=Fish;num=1108695951;start=0#1 date=02/17/05 at 23:05:01]The guy at your LFS should be shot for selling you that mandarin goby without asking you what size tank you were putting it in. *Its gonna die of starvation in that tank. *Mandarins need a minimum of a 90g well established reef tank, at least a year old, with at least 100lbs of live rock and well established copepod population. *Take it back and do the fish a favor. *Sorry to be so blunt, but I hate to see an animal die a needless death. *The copepod's in your tank will be quickly consumed and its the rare mandarin that will eat and be sustained on prepared foods.[/quote]

You really should give opinions rather than orders.....i had a mandarin for almost a year in my cube...then moved it to the cube at work where its been for very well over a year. he just went into the reef flat this week. Your way off base. Ive specialized in nanos for about 3-4 years....i hate to see someone be scared from a cool fish someone who doesnt keep nanos. I've been groin an Imperator angel in one of my cubes for over 5 months....with lots of inverts...both of which (being in a reef and such a small one) would definatley be bashed by most.....Eagle, a year old tank is usually needed.....but just watch your pod count...if it stays up dont worry....even if it does try and wean him onto brine....its not as hard as people crack it up to be. Sorry for getting bent, bottom line a 12 gallon is sufficient if proper care is given....I cant stress it enough to try and get it on brine...i use a pipette or turkey baster and squirt a bit on his rocks.

[Birdlady]

Is the brine a transitional food? Get it on that and then to something else? Asking cause brines are not that nutritional are they?

Raven, I think part of problems in this hobby is no hard and fast rules. Just guidelines. The LFS guy should not be shot, the customer is responsible for care of creatures bought and should be somewhat informed on their purchases.

IF there are enough pods, and/or IF Eagle can get that guy on prepared foods, it should be fine. But it is sometimes a crap shoot with those guys. Some come in half starved to begin with...which is half the battle, getting a good specimen.

[Bruce]

usually its not but i let em soak in some nice yummy nutri juice w00t

[redboy]

I see a lot of different opinions on mandarins. I worked at my LFS for a while, so I have watched them (scooters and mandarins) at work and are familair with them!!! But have moved on to a different job since my class hours are different. No need to jump to conclusion of ignorance. So many "say" that mandarins need this and that etc., however, with the information I've read, and knowledge I got out of working at the LFS I wanted to give it a shot. If I see that the pods are in short supply I'll take him back. Experimenting (very wisely) with this hobby of reef keeping is how the hobby got so advanced now. I am very carefull with what I put in my reef, and if people saw how fish are treated in a large scale operation they would be devestated! I might of jumped the gun, but the copeod count is extremely high. Birdlady......thank you for the info......Sea...I think you know about "trying" a fish out and can tell if there is any complication, so then it could be taken back. I'll keep you guys posted on his behaivor. Peace out...Eagle

[RAVEN]

Hey I didn't mean there were no exceptions, *but my experience with mandarins dates back 30 years Sea Spender, probably before you were born, and I didnt say it couldnt be done. *But I know of too many people that have tried to keep them in 30g-75g reef tanks only to have them die. *Even one of my LFS won't sell them to you if you dont have the proper sized well established reef tanks. *I kept a mandarin alive for a few years eating assorted frozen foods in my old 30g reef tank and it was a real pain making sure he ate. *I also have kept them alive in a fish only tank without live rock many years ago when I first started in this hobby.
I'm SORRY I didn't mean to offend any one or seem like a know it all. *I guess I came off too strong, but I care about all life and don't like to see animals die from our mistakes or a LFS only out to make a sale. It is a privilage and responsibility to be able to care for any kind of animal. I was just expressing my opinion from my experiences, isn't that what this forums all about.

So again, *I apologize for being too opinionated.

[redboy]

No worries mate.