Unresolved Help mandarin goby

i bought 29 pounds of established live rock from my lfs 200g reef tank i dont think im gonna be haveing anymore ammonia issues with 1 mandarin goby lol?

 

Good thing the issue I raised wasn't with ammonia levels in your tank, otherwise you'd have a good point.

 

the live rock i bought has allot of organisms on it i mean the rock was in his tank for a year and a half lets me and you not fight ok what do u think i mean if i see him get skinny i will take him back so im just gonna try and see if maybe i can do this

 

Good luck, I hope you have good luck. They are awesome fish.

 

Macabe, I'm sorry you feel blackraven is fighting with you because he is really giving you good advice.
He's saying that if you've recently had ammonia issues, then your bacteria level is not yet up to par. Copepods, Isopods, and amphipods (mandarin food) all feed on this bacteria, along with algae (nanochloropsis, etc...) and detritus. The foundation needed to maintain pod levels is simply not there. Most 3reefers will advise anyone to keep a mandarin in a tank with 100lbs of live rock that has been established for 1 year because this is the foundation required.
Mandarins are beautiful so it's really easy to get lured into buying one before you're ready. The 3reef motto is "go slow, let it grow." take this to heart. It really is the best advice one can be given in this hobby.
I know you said you would take the mandarin back if he gets too skinny. However, this does not change the fact that you rushed into your purchase. Please don't take it personal. We've all been there. We've all seen a beautiful fish we wanted to take home, but we restrained ourselves because we know it's not what's best for our tank or the fish. Sometimes we hold back due to overstocking, sometimes our tanks are too aggressive for the new guy, and sometimes the fish will starve.
I'm glad your buying pods for your mandarin, but IMO this is not sustainable. It's expensive and doesn't allow for the grazing needs day in and day out.
One more thing, fish, like most other animals, have bacteria in their stomachs that digest their food. If your mandarin gets too skinny and you take it back, the stomach bacteria may be dead. So, even when the mandarin eats at the lfs, he may still starve because he cannot digest.

Best Regards,
Jarrett

 

me and him got into a argument a few days ago so what i meant was lets not start are argument again not really fighting and if i can get him out ill take him back im trying to explain to my father that he probly wont live and we need to get him out soon but hes not wanting me to take apart the aqua scape so ill try to net him whene he comes in the open thanks for all ur ugyses advice tho;D soon ill have my own bio cube 29 gallon but the new hqi one:

 

mine always turned white at night and just stays in one spot till i shine the light on him then he would go someplace else just give it time to adjust

 

I had a spotted mandarin and psychedelic mandarin in my 38 gallon bow-front tank a few years back, it was my first real SW tank and it was a giant mistake having 2 of them.

I ended up taking one back to the LFS keeping the psychedelic, and had a 10 gallon pod farm... It was such a PITA to keep that 1 fish fed in my 38... even with the pod farm that was started with 2 bottles of pods.

I ended up falling behind in the feeding schedule because I truly underestimated how much those little bastards eat, and like people say he slowly withered away over the course of a year or so.

They may be in my top 3 favorite fish, but like it has been mentioned I wouldn't attempt it again with anything less that a 125.

 

agreeing with whoever said not trying to be a mr.downer but think of it like this would you want to see that fish die? your are basically asking it to suffer. ik some people probably going to disagree with me but its atleast possible for one speices of dragonet (red scooter blenny psychedelic or mandarin) in a 60? and atleast a year old. its sad because they are so pretty and sold so often and perish so much.

whatever you decide to do, we cant force anything (i dont think anyways lol) but keep the fish in mind