Can I get a Mandarin? Please! Oh Please?

Some of the best and most positive feedback yet! Thank you Hopefully with the success from those of us *trying* more people will see it the same way.

 

Saving LFS fish is not the good deed you think it is. You buy it and they say "yay money!" and import another. If no one bought them, they would not be brought in to starve. You saving it is their successful business transaction. Its a sad reality. I'm not saying these are fish that shouldn't be sold, indeed there are many suitable homes for them.

Mandarins do not need ANY pods to survive. They can thrive on prepared foods.... for as long as 8 years anyway, as that was how long mine lived.

Can it be done? Of course. But it won't be as fun after awhile.... and then it becomes an irritation. Try to avoid unnecessary irritations in this hobby. As the years roll by, it wears on you a little. When I first started, there was nothing I "couldn't do". For life if need be. Then as the years roll by...... Well, things change.

 

Supply and demand.

 

Yup yup.

 

thanks for the info nana btw ur mandarin looks great

 

That tank isn't optimal. But if you can and are willing to culture pods, then yeah all is good. You will need it in addition to pellet feeding.

 

People have been trying to keep this fish for years. Along with my personal experience in keeping them I have the added benefit of a good friend at my local LFS
(15 years) who has seen thousands of these fish killed over the years. This fish is NOT new to the hobby. People think O.K. thousands have failed but I will succeed because I have done research. Well if that were true they wouldn't have bought this fish in the first place. I stopped posting pictures of mine for fear of enticing more people to buy this beautiful fish. I have also seen hundreds of Mandarin in nano threads that do nothing but give others false hope. IMO ORA's captive breeding program has done nothing but cause an even greater number of these fish to slowly starve to death. It can take months for this to happen.I am all for people trying to reinvent the wheel but not at the expense of another animals life.With all this being said if you are like me and care a great deal about your animals why would you even take a chance of having to watch its slow death? If there is ANY question in my mind that I cannot properly care for an animal I don't do it.While it MAY be possible to keep tham in a small tank the ammount of time and effort needed to sustain one is enormous.

 

Everything he said +1

As mentioned before I tried it and went into thinking I would be the one that was different because of blah blah blah blah

It's not a matter of "trying" or what you've researched it's certainly not something for a novice or someone who isn't ready to devote a lot of time and money to one fish.

Having tried it and failed has made me a great opponent of nano mandarins.

 

okay I have no thoughts that I will be any different. I am very aware that I have a very high risk of failing, but I also know that I am willing to try just about everything in my power to have one. If I get one and it doesn't make it(not by lack of trying on my part) then I won't try again, but if I succeed I will have a BA fish in my aqaurium.

 

Then why not get a larger tank with a refugium?