thinking about another fish

Caboose (diamond goby) has been MIA for 5 or 6 days, he either snuck out of the tank somehow or the mysterious clicker got him. either way, i've got his replacement narrowed down to 2.

the first option is a starry blenny. like any bad marine hobbiest, i've got a few little pockets of GHA hanging out in the crevasses of a few rocks, is he just going to demolish this and starve? or would putting a tang clip with some nori keep this guy happy?

my other option is to get stupid with a mandarin. the whole reason i got into the hobby again is because i saw this fish in a LFS and tripped out. it is 9 months later and i have everything but a mandarin. i've got 80+ lbs of LR but no visible pods due to my super fat sixline. if i went the mandarin route, i think i would through him in my 30g for a month or so and try to wean him off live food with live brine to 50/50 live frozen to frozen to mysid shrimp. i've also heard that cyclopeeze and oyster eggs will entice this fish to eat, but who knows. i suck at this hobby and he'll probably have to go back.

does anyone have any views on either, of maybe another good option for a fish?

 

lol my view is to go a little less hard on yourself man. you could take the six line wrasse and put it in the 30 gal while you get the pods back up then ad the madarin. just an idea. i would go the mandarin route if possible just because it sounds like you have th e stuff for one and they are cool.

 

my biggest fear is putting a mandarin in a tank with a competitor. i've got a ton of rubble in back with some chaeto and all kinds of LR but i've just heard a bunch of horror stories and would hate to torture a fish

 

I dont know if I would put a mandarin with a six line unless I knew they were both eating frozen food. JMO, but I would think the competition for pods would be too much for the tank to handle.

 

thought you said you had a spare 30 gal? put the sixline in there and put the madarin in the regular tank.

 

the 30 is just an emergency/QT tank. i wouldn't want that for a permanent solution. whats some peoples views of the starry blenny? they seem to have a bunch of personality, i'm just not sure i have enough algae to keep one happy if it doesnt eat nori or other prepared foods.

 

I can't say anything to the blenny - I have never had one. But I would think it would be the same as others with a very particular diet, like the mandarin....if you can get it to eat other foods, great! If not, it would slowly starve.

 

dang, why must everything i love be so difficult! ... said every single reefer at some point in their career...

 

LOL! I am in the same boat! But as my grandmother used to say "if it was easy.....then everyone would do it"

Others with blennies might have other opinions, so just take mine as .02.

 

it's a much respected two cents.

lol, you're posting on all my threads. we should just exchange phone numbers