New Mandarin ?

I was saying that, and also for some macros like chaeto and gracilaria. Caulerpa is one they won't eat, and you need to have something better in the fuge for them to eat.

 

blackraven, If I didnot have much gha would it be o.k. to just feed it the copepods they sell in a bottle? Also I am going to be cycling a new 120 for a few months and want to move the few fish I have and let say the mandarian (if I get one) with the tank not being mature enough but could add copepods in the new tank as well (a whole lot) would that be o.k. or is that a no go. I only want to do it if it is safe for the fish and if I must wait I will.

 

can you explain this in tank fuge thing to me please i got a mandarin coming next week

 

Absolutely not. A mandarin needs an established system for feeding, especially if not trained to frozen. Even then, it's a good idea as you can't build a population of pods with the mandarin around, and pods are an important part of a tank because they eat algae and are food for lots of fish and larger crustacean. You will not have enough pods to feed a mandarin for months after the system is set up.

Seriously, have you considered the cost of pods? You get hundreds in packs for $8. A mandarin can eat those pods in a matter of 2-3 hours. So just imagine putting in 6 packs a day, at 8 bucks a piece, for 4-5 months...

That doesn't even cover the fact that you will never have a substantial pod population if you put in a mandarin before they get established.

 

blackraven thanks for the lesson and will have to wait awhile before I get the little guy or I could keep him in my estalished tank up and keep him in thier. It has been up for 7 months but that probably is still pushing it. I'lll wait, I am in no rush. Saddest thing we (me and the family) have learned is seeing one of these beautiful little fishes perish.

 

You can see when your tank is ready for a mandarin. Pods will be all over the place for a couple weeks, then their population will decline a bit. That's your cue that that part of the ecosystem in your tank is established and good for a mandarin.

 

my take on things is that the 1 year rule applies if you havent added copepods to the tank and your population is soley based on the few that come in on your rocks. think that if you add 20,000 or so copepods whcih might caust u about 50-75$ and wait a month or two you can get a mandarin provided that the tank is above 55 and dont have any other types of fish that will eat copepods

 

and you also dont need GHA to have a succesful copepod population, the copepods eat detritus which is in every tank. I would say the keys to having a good tank for a mandarin would be have atleast a 55g tank lots of rocks have a well established copepod population and a refugium built up wiht some sort of macro algae prefferably chaeto.

 

more information BASED ON MY OPINION -emphasis on that (i have put in a considerable amount of time researching them) check out this thread that i made
http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/information-mandarin-dragonets-81663.html

 

Yeah, the GHA just gives pods a place to live (and a good place to hide from the mandarin, too), and catches detritus for them to eat. I'm fairly sure some species also eat microalgaes like GHA.