Chances of seeing it?

The max size of the mandarin goby is 4"... what do you think the chances are to see it in a 75g tank with lots of live rock? I haven't pruchased it yet because I don't want to buy it and rarely see it... :-/

 

Well according to your sig your tank is new. A Mandarin isn't a good choice yet. I think you will see it without a problem but they do like to hide. If you want a mandarin I would go buy a couple portions of pods and then wait about 6 months. Most mandarins won't eat prepared foods.

Florida pets sell them and their shipping is reasonable

http://www.floridapets.com/

If you have a fuge put them in there too

 

[quote author=somethingfishy link=board=Fish;num=1099445276;start=0#1 date=11/02/04 at 17:35:10]Well according to your sig your tank is new.  A Mandarin isn't a good choice yet.  I think you will see it without a problem but they do like to hide.  If you want a mandarin I would go buy a couple portions of pods and then wait about 6 months.  Most mandarins won't eat prepared foods.

Florida pets sell them and their shipping is reasonable

http://www.floridapets.com/


They will eat live brine, and can be weaned onto frozen if you have the time and patience. The hard part is getting the brine to the goby, i take a piece of LR covered with nice turf algae and place the brine on the algae with a syringe (turf holds it in place), after it becomes accustom to eating off the turf ill switch it to frozen, after a while you should be able to target feed him or just put frozen on the turf once or twice aweek.....this has been practiced several times by yours truly with a fair sucess rate....but some (less than most) will not ever accept the brine and perish even in nice reefs. adding pods to your system in combo with this method will raise his chances of survival signifigantly. As for seeing him, they "hover" around the LR constantly when healthy, of course a 3" fish that doesnt swim in the water column (the mid-upper) isnt going to be too easy to spot regaurdless of tank size (and those "paisley" patterns are excellent camo). I'ld hold off on that guy until your tank is older.

 

Thanks for all your input and I will wait the 6 months or more until my tank is mature.