another mandarin thread

Well, I have had it for about a month now and he seemed fine until about two days ago. I noticed he wasnt swimming as much. Just laying around the bottom. This morning I saw that he had passed. I cant figure out what happened. I have lots of pods. I even bought a thing of pods a week. Just to make sure he had food. Guess it was just the luck of the draw.

 

I'm very sorry man, i love mandarins too and i want to have one but they seem a litle of a lottery dont they?

 

how long has your tank been up and running for?

 

About 4 months now. But all my rock came out of a tank and went right into mine. A friend of mine has tried two of them. Neither of them has made it and his tank is like 2years old.

 

I also have always wanted one.. But you need ALOT of liverock, and older tank, well set up, etc..
Just having alot of pods doesn't mean they will do well..
Sorry you lost it, they are beautiful..
How old is your tank, how much liverock..??
Larry



OK I see, 4 months old.. But even at 4 months, it's still a young tank..

 

i had mine in a year old 125 and it did great for more than a year till i sold the setup?

 

I will definitely wait awhile before I try another one.

I was under the impression that all they need is pods to keep them happy.

 

I am not braggin once so ever but heres what i did, my tank only 8 months old and have had a mandarine for 2 goin on 3 months with a tank move from one house to another with same Fish.... I stocked my tank with Pods and used the Blue porus sponge you would use for the Fluval canister filters and put a good size chunk of that in the back center of my tank and semi coverd it with live rock.. Now at night i look and my sponge looks like scene from Joe's Apartment.. I am sure there's other tips and tricks but so far this one has worked for me.. I am so sorry for your loss...


Good luck ...!!

 

Rather than start a new thread, how about I recycle this one?

I'm looking to get a Mandarin down the road, probably wait a few more months before I add one. I've heard from people who added them in very early who have had them survive for 4-5 years, and others who put them in a 5+ year established tank and they die in a week, so I'm not too concerned about tank age as much as equilibrium. I am still slowly stocking cured rock and hardier species of corals and fish, and so far so good, but I want the tank established in it's final state before I add more difficult fish and inverts. I suspect frequent disturbances to the tanks reef structure stresses them more than white sand, clean glass, and lots of pods.

Anyways question time:

I know scooter blennies dine on algae, do they also eat pods? i.e. will the compete for food with the mandrin? For that matter, are they even compatible being congeners and all... ?

Next, I have lost a goby to jumping, do mandarins exhibit similar behavior? Do they jump, period? My goby got out through egg crate so I vow to not have any jumping fish that would require a closed top until I find a way to keep my temps down (unless some generous benefactor wants to give me ~200w of LED lighting).

Anyways, just looking for those bits of specific info on them. Any links or notes are appreciated.

Thanks!

-Doug

 

Sorry dude. Better luck next time (in a few months)

BTW - I see in your sig you have a chocolate chip sea star. Just so you know, these aren't generally considered reef safe.

If it were my thread, I would be a bit annoyed at this. Just a friendly FYI.

Scooters eat pods.