Just got Mandarin!

I just bought a mandarin today. I planned to add one in the future but saw him at the lfs and felt so sorry for them. I skipped qt and put him straight into my fuge to fatten him up a little. How long should i keep him in the fuge? I dont want to hurt the pod population too much. Its a 30 gallon fuge with rubble and chaeto. I was thinking take him out in a couple days?

 

Not too much more than that. He will crush the pod population. In fact, you may not want him in your sump at all for just that reason. The sump should be a pod nursery. How big and established is the main tank?

 

Main is 100 gallons full of liverock about 2 and half months old. I also have a leopard wrasse. The wrasse eats pods and mysis that i feed. There is a huge pod population in the fuge. The mandarin is on the skinny side, hed prob die within a week at lfs. I figured id let him eat a bit before i throw him in main where pods arnt as abundant. If he eats pods that fast, should i just put him in the main in the morning?

tank pic 3 weeks ago

 

IMO:
I had a fat and happy mandarin in a 30 gal for almost a year with no trouble at all. I supplemented with "arctic-pods" every third day and added live trigger pods monthly. If he's like mine, he'll eat lightly for a few weeks if the 'fuge is visible to the room (they are shy)

 

Your Mandarin will starve within a few days in the refugium due to small volume area and availablilty of food.
Mandarin will starve due to their specialized feeding and need for a mature tank!

 

From what iv read, mandarins dont starve in a few days, more like couple weeks. Iv seen a lfs get a mandarin in and i see that mandarin dead in a couple weeks. I hope your wrong but it is a possibility it will starve. Im going to try to make it eat other food and if I succeed at that then it definately wont starve. If i cant make it eat other foods, i think my tank should have a sufficient amount of pods with a 30gal fuge. I can put an HOB fuge on the tank in addition if necessary. There are people that keep them successfully in tanks half the size of mine with no refugium.

 

In reality, even if it does eat them, prepared foods will not sustain a mandarin. Mandarins are have a metabolism similar to hummingbirds; they have to eat all day, everyday. That will not be fulfilled by our normal feeding routines. Also, keep in mind, that a mandarin starving to death can take up to a year, not just a few weeks.
If your serious about this, consider setting up a system to culture your own pods, it's what I do. Its pretty easy and not involved at all.

 

yes yes, i agree with Pack. The Bucket O' Pods starter kits are now only $49.99 ;D

 

but isnt that what a refugium is for? To culture pods!

Yea your correct, i mean to say atleast a couple weeks. For a fish to live a year, it has to be eating a considerable amount of food. I would think there is another cause.

 

No, a refugium is to break down the wastes of a tank in a natural way . Pods can come with that ;D, but breeding pods specifically in a stand alone system can often be a much more efficient way. If it does work out/you feel confident in the refugium alone, then by all means go for it. I just like having my stand-alone there as an insurance method. There will always be a a whole heck of a lot of pods there if need be, always. Once you get the fish in there and have a few days to onserve it, you will be shocked by how many pods they will consume.