Can I get a Mandarin? Please! Oh Please?

Going on 3 weeks now that I've had *Dilly* She's an ORA CB Target Mandarin. Talk about stress? Wow! She is different that is for sure Yet by far my favorite!
She's loves Hikari blood worms. But can only take them whole. Anything smaller and she misses when she strikes. But she'll eat 3-4 in one sitting As for pods? Well I've seeded my tank and fuge with 3-4 types, they are everywhere! I've yet to see her strike or peck at the rock or substrate I'm thinking the instinct is slow in coming since she's a CB and raised on prepared. She does show the hunting behavior though.
She's not lost any weight thus far. Is very active and gets along great with all.

 

IMO one cant report success with this fish in a nano, unless they've successfully kept the fish fat for more than a year. I would say no to a mandarin in a tank that size, regardless of it being from ORA or not.

 

With all means yes, one should always have a heavy population of pods even if it is an ORA mandarin

 

I agree. I would not get a mandarin for a 29G. The only way I would "consider" it is if you had a nice and established refugium. However, even then I would still be worried.

 

You really need to know specifically what kind of pods. "little white bugs crawling". Not all zooplankton are created equal.

Hitch Hiking Copepods, Isopods and Amphipods

Keeping a Mandarin healthy long term is not as easy as it seems. More than a few weeks of research should be done.

My opinion is to wait.

 

Some more helpful information and experiences.
Live Copepods!, Feed Your Fish!
http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish/dragonets/spotted-mandarin/
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19669607

 

I tried it in the same size tank and maybe a few more pounds of rocks the pods in my tank were gone in no time and I was buying bottles of pods at $20.00 a shot to pump into the tank. The mandarin is an eating machine, they never stop and will lose weight quickly in a tank that can't provide them constant pods. I did get it to eat frozen food but the manual target feedings and training the fish make it so much more work than anything else I've dealt with.

The main thing I will recommend if you decide to try it is to put a rubble pile in your tank so that whatever pods do exist have a chance to try to reproduce.

I would not recommend it at all until you have a larger, older tank with a ton of live rock. Good luck, if you decide to try it let us know how you're doing.

It's a big undertaking because you have the odds stacked against you based on the tank you're putting it into.

 

i would say yes with extream caution i have a 20 long that is about 17-18 months old and ive had my manderin since about thhe second month so ive had it for little over a year and he/she is doing very well and is fat and happy but i did transplant a couple of the rocks and a good bit of sand and water from another to kickstart the tank so it matured a good bit faster then it would have without my help but since your tank is close to a year old already and you have been doing your research id say go for it heres a video of mine if ya wanna check it out 95db9ef9.mp4 video by brijesh0789 - Photobucket

 

nice looking Mandarin

 

If you really want to keep a mandarin, and you are devoted to keeping a mandarin, and dont mind the work, or the money you may spend on pods.... i say go for it. Ive heard alot of people say dont get one, it will just die. But the truth is, LFSs and wholesalers dont put the time in and take care of them either, so even if it does die, it probably has a better chance with a hobbyist that WANTS to take care of it. There is a VERY skinny one at my local LFS, and i think about grabbing him everytime im in there, just to try to save him. If hes still there when i go next week, i may scoop him up and se what i can do with him. Good luck if you decide to try it.