Mandarin and Rainford

Ok, so, I was wondering if, in a 65 gallon tank, there would be a compatibility problem between a Rainford Goby and a Mandarin? They eat the same stuff, pods, and swim mostly the same way, but have different body shapes. Also, would those 2 together decimate the pod population and eventually starve?

 

They won't fight but how big is your refugium? You're going to want a very large one so pods can breed.

 

It's maybe about a pint lol. It's just some chaeto in the back compartment.

The thing about it is, the tank doesn't have fish in it right now because of an ich battle, so the pod population is booming. They're all over every surface of the tank, which I've never seen before. It also won't have any fish for another 6 weeks, so the pods will have plenty of time to absolutely take over the tank.

I just wonder if this is a sustainably-sized population.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention, my Rainford was getting FAT off of the pod population before, so there were a decent number more than he could handle alone.

 

i had a Clown dotty and mandrin all eating pods for over a year with no supplemental feeding in a 46 gal no fuge. I DID have a couple of handfuls of chaeto in the tank though for them to hide in. I think you would be ok. My rainsford in my nano ate other food too. However, if they both gorge out of the gate you may have to try and train them to eat other food because they can decimate a pod pop like nothing else (well maybe seahorse and pipe fish) Just wait a bit and ORA will have mandrins that eat flake lol

 

Exactly.


I don't think there will be any fighting per say between the 2, but they may fight for food.

 

I'm fairly sure nobody mentioned "Mandarin Gobies" in this thread. It's a concern over fighting because they fill the same niche.


I was actually considering going with an ORA Mandarin because I choose tank-bred whenever possible, I just hope that they start shipping by my time frame of ~2 months. I'd still be worried about the Rainford, though, as it doesn't eat anything other than pods.