DEAD MAndarin mystery

introduced him into the 55 gallon aquarium yesterday(with plenty of live rock) he got *****ed around by of my other fish. Dwarf lion followed him for an hour, 3 clown tossed him around and my goby bit him 3 times, with little energy and my vortech blowing full power poor thing got stuck in my urchins long spines. i took him out, he was still breathing, put him into my sump with live rock low flow and lots of tiny critters to feed on but he lived for another day before dying this morning. why is this thing so hard to keep? what did i do wrong? lol

RIP Man

 

Was it emaciated when you bought it? If not, could be the stress from all the bullying that did the fish in. Could have been poisoned by the urchin as well.

 

I believe one problem was the incompatability of the livestock you have. Mandarins are very peaceful, while lions and as you found out clown are more aggressive. It could also have been starving from the lfs and not had the energy to fight or hide.

 

he didnt starve thats for sure, as u can see in the pics he's got a fat belly. he wasnt poisoned, because if he was he would have died on teh spot, ive got stung b4 and it was reallllyyy painful my finger swollen 3 times its size. i believe it was stress related. i got all this hard core fish....im having an epiphany...i want docile fish.. seahorses, pipefish, mndarins

 

poor little fish

 

lol you have about a thousand times more body mass then him, and more advanced organs. trust me something doesnt have to kill you to kill a fish.

i would not buy another one. it would be like you living with gorillas yea your about the same size, but a gorilla would literally rip you limb from limb

 

this isnt my first mistake i lost many fish the same way..fire fish as an example.

 

If you want all those fish you need another tank or get rid of some. Most of those fish are a little aggressive for a new addition of a mandarin. He should of been your first buy. You should put small non aggressive fish in first and then add others after. Its an ego thing. Its a dog eat dog world.

 

i had a dwarf lionfish and am just now realizing that i want small peaceful things too. like seahorses. im getting my tank started soon.