mandarin!

I have one in my 220 and have noticed it go fat and thin. they need food and your tank is way to small to keep one. your asking it to starve in that tank. its just to small to have the food supply it needs. I have had one that ate frozen foods and it still died. they are a hard fish your tank is just to small.

 

Pods are EXPENSIVE to supplement. Like, $8 a bag type prices....

 

If your looking for a easy way it won't happen.

 

ok so with the ORA releasing the tank bred mandarins (just read the article) do you think it would be possible to have one in an 8 gallon full of pods ( i can always buy some whenever)

 

sorry im so persistant lol i didnt even see the other posts..... probably forgot to press the "next page" button lol

 

If it's eating frozen, you need to feed a lot, and do water changes constantly. They eat a TON of food.

Let's put it this way: they scrounge the reef for 12 hours a day looking for pods, and get one nearly every 30 seconds.

 

Even if you have a mandarin on frozen food or pellets they wont get the same nutrients as they would from the pods they eat naturally. It would basically just wither away and die. I also think that 8 gallons is pretty much too small for any fish. Mandarins like to cruise around when they are on the search for pods. Unfortunately, they are fish that require alot more water than 8 gallons. Dont do it.

 

re: mandarin

ok thanks everyone now i know not to get a mandarin in anything smaller than a 29 gallon or so lol thanks

 

I can only re-emphazise.... DO NOT get a Mandarin unless your tank is mature ... at least a year.... and NOT for a small tank. It would be a waste of your money!

 

Just to reply to this - 29g is much too small. You would need minimum 50-75g per mandarin, with loads of liverock to supply enough pods to keep it alive. To give you perspective, I have 1 mandarin in my 90g with 140 lb liverock and a refugium, and I farm copepods separately in a 10g tank in my basement in order to constantly replenish my supply. This is a high-maintenance fish!