why do so many fish websites say mandarin gobies are difficult

from what i read they just eat cophead which you have to buy and get them to populate the aquarium. does anyone have one or knows more about them?

also, can any define how long it take to have an "established aqaurium"

 

Established depends on the species in which you are keeping. Nems about a year. Cycle 30 days. Full cycle about 1 year. Coral about 2 months. Mandarin min of 6 months. mandarins are hard to keep because they can easily decimate the copepod population in your tank. Some will take prepared foods, but this takes lots of time and lots of work. Unless you get lucky.

 

I really don't like stating specific timelines or when people state them. IMO, after your initial cycle and livestock, it really depends on how well you personally maintain your tank, how often you clean, feed, do maintenance, water changes, bio-load, amount of live rock etc. which really determines when a certain animal will be suitable for your tank, if ever. As far as mandarins go, they do need a lot of live rock to hunt and good pod population. They also need larger tanks IMO, unless you happen to get one that eats prepared foods, so that the pod population has a chance to be in equilibrium with the mandarin. You don't necessarily need to buy pods, most times, they come in as hitchikers with your rock and if you have enough rock, your tank should be able to support a mandarin without the addition of pods. Store bought pods are required if you have multiple fish that will eat pods such as angels, wrasses, other mandarins (including scooter blennies) etc. and not a large enough tank or amount of live rock or if you want to keep a mandarin in a smaller tank.

Many people have them, but keep in mind that they are more difficult to keep mainly due to their feeding requirements. Also, don't keep two males together as they will fight.

 

My tank is almost 2 yrs old (75g DT and 55g sump w/ fuge). I've had a mandarin for about a year now (in my avitar pic). My tank was loaded with pods when I got her, she was nice and fat for about 8 months, but she's starting to loose weight now. The problem is I also have a 6-line wrasse that I can't catch so pretty soon I think I'll be giving the mandarin to an LFS that has a hugh DT. Very nice little fish but not easy to keep fat long term, unless you could get them to eat prepared food.

When is your tank ready? Like someone else mentioned, all depends on your setup...amount of rock, tank size, I would definitely recommend a fuge if you plan to keep a mandarin, no other fish that hunt pods and a healthy pod population to start, in the DT and fuge. In general it takes about a year to get there (+/- a few months)

Mine is in the fuge now to prevent her from starving but I know that will run dry soon.

 

I've had a mandarin in my 30G tank for over 2 months now. He may have gotten a little bigger than when I first got him, but not much. He seems pretty happy.

 

I wouldn't put a mandarin in a tank smaller than a 90 gallon. And in that tank, there needs to be over 100 pounds of live rock. The tank also has to be close to a year old, with no other pod eating fish. THEN you can sustain a mandarin without supplementing anything.

If you want a mandarin in a tank smaller than that, you'll need to supplement additionally pods into the tank or else the mandarin will eventually starve. But supplementing pods isn't just going out and buying some pods, then tossing them into the tank. That can get real expensive real quick. What's needed is a "pod farm", a place for you to breed your own pods and transfer them over to your display tank. I've seen mandarins kept in tanks as small as a 29 by using a pod farm. I've also seen mandarins die in tanks as small as a 29 because they were skinny as a stick with no food. "They eat prepared foods" is total bull sh**, because it doesn't help a mandarin too much. Here's why:

I am extremely against teaching mandarins to eat flake or prepared food. Partly because of the nutritional value, because they do need pods, and they do need the nutrition that only pods can provide, but also because of their eating style. Mandarins are like hummingbirds, they have to be eating 24/7 around the clock. When they hunt pods, they do this just fine. But when you switch them to a prepared food, it doesn't work right. With prepared foods, a mandarin can only eat when the owner feeds it. Which is normally once a day or once every other day. Once every other day is a big step from eating around the clock every day. A mandarin could still starve to death from eating prepared foods on a weird or extended eating schedule, and I don't care how much you feed it at one time, it's still not the same as it eating by itself when it wants to whenever it wants to. And even if you do feed to 5 times a day or something to overcome that obstacle, you still have the nutrition issue. Plain and simple, mandarins were born to eat pods, and that's what they need to eat. Otherwise you're going against nature, and the mandarin could starve within a few months to a few years.

That's why it's hard to keep a mandarin. If you have the proper tank, then it's fine. Or if you have the proper means to continuously add pods to a tank that would otherwise be ill suited to host a mandarin. If you have a small tank with no pods, you're just asking for trouble. Once a mandarin gets a sunken belly and gets very skinny, it's very hard to get them to bounce back to normal.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/im-becoming-pod-farmer-well-kinda-91194.html

 

I would be interested in seeing your research.