getting another mandarin

It will clean the pods out of that tank in two weeks.
I personally have the added benefit of a good friend who has worked at the lfs I've gone to for 24 years. The death rate of Mandarins he see's in small tanks and even some large one's is outrageous. Eating prepared foods or not. If you do a search here on 3reef of the people who have tried doing this they are always gung hoo about how they are going to reinvent the wheel but in the end you never here from them again. I am not saying its impossible but the chances of success are very slim as it is labor intensive to hand feed a slow moving/eating fish the ammounts necessary to keep it alive. Add other faster eating fish to the tank and this job becomes impossible. This fish has been the subject of slow starving death in captivity for a long time and IMO it should be left in the ocean.

 

Personally I will take the word and experience of ORA over a reefer who's never kept a CB aquacultured Target Mandarin, period.

 

And your a mind reader who knows what other people have kept in there tanks. Multi talented.LOL
I actually have one in my tank right now .Just trying to help.
Good luck to you and your fish.

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/sad-day-my-ora-mandarin-progress-log-92793.html

http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/new-ora-mandarin-127962-7.html

http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/ora-mandarin-95581.html

http://www.3reef.com/forums/fish-food/mandarin-dragonet-feeding-117256-3.html

 

I have always loved the looks of dragonettes but do not think I will be attempting them anytime soon for multiple reasons. However, I understand the concerns vinny has and unlike most posters who only insist they are right without offering any kind of proof, research, experiences, etc he actually linked to some other aquarist failure stories.
With that said, just like you cant trust a success story just because somebody had good luck with something, you cant automatically trust a failure story either.

I do though agree from my own research and not experience that a second mandarin would not be the best idea for a 29gallon tank. I have a 46gallon and I would love to add a mandarin or a pair after it becomes mroe established but am very on the fence with doing so and will prob not add one unless I upgrade to a much larger system

 

I am glad I could help. You bring up another point that is very important. People are much more reluctant to admit when they are wrong or have failed so finding good honest reviews of this fish can be hard and misleading. It is much easier to believe stories of failure because you have to ask yourself why would they lie about killing a fish? Like I stated previously I have alot of first hand and second hand experience with this particular fish. People get very defensive sometimes but really I am just trying to help save them from having to watch this beautiful fish starve to death.
I think what ORA is doing is great(captive raising is always better then taking fish from the ocean) but they are also leading more people to believe they can keep them in tanks that are just not suitable.

 

From your experience Vinny what is the minimum tank size suggested for a mandarin? or does it matter more how much and what quality live rock, tank mates, etc then it is about tank size to successfully keep these fish

 

vinny the guy you have here nanareefer is not up to par on anything don't give him the time of day this is what he has to say on another post


quote Lets hope He saves my lil skinny Mandarin......I'm happy for you!!

saying he hope jesus the fish saves his skinny mandarin he thinks his starving fish is funny don't talk to him

 

It's she not he thank you very much! I think Vinny's can hold his own without your help

 

I would tend to agree here. I have had my mandarin for 6 years now. He's in my 130 gallon aquarium and I am so happy to have this guy I wouldn't want to screw anything up and losing him to starvation in the event of him being outcompeted by his food source. And yes, mine also eats frozen foods but his natural source will almost always be more nutrional than prepared food. Clearly I am being overly cautious but there is a reason these fish have poor survival rates.

In this case OP I wouldn't risk it, if you lose both, you might not get as lucky in finding a mandarin who takes to prepared foods as well.