Mandarin - When to get?

The gist is I want a mandarin. I want one want one want one

I know that people consider them "difficult" to keep due to their diet. And that they will not do well in an unestablished tank.

What qualifies as established enough to keep one? We have pods (not sure what kind...what's the difference between a copepod and isopod and whatever other pod these things eat?) everywhere scooting all over our glass, and the setup will be 4 weeks old soon. Been cycled at zero readings for about a week. Just installed a Berlin X2 skimmer today. Only noteworthy inhabitants are 2 Ocellaris clowns, 1 tiger pistol/hi fin red banded goby paired, and a 4" harlequin serpent star, as well as a CUC.

Any guesstimate as to when we could add a fish like this?

 

I would wait until the tank is at least 6 months old or until you find one that will eat frozen food. While it seems as though you have a lot of pods, Mandarins eat an unimaginable amount of them. The best is to find the rare one that eats frozen food. Its tough to be patient, but it will pay off in the long run.

 

What size tank, how much rock, and do you have a fuge?

 

well if Packleaders thread inticed this one, one thing i think we all learn early on is that impulse buying will never pan out how we want it. the truth is your tank is just too young, just because your params have been steady for a week does not mean that wont change. id wait for at least 6 months, probably longer.

 

see if your lfs has any that eat frozen or live worms,i got mine like that and have had him for a long time in a 12 gal and he eats all the time and has tripled in size good luck

 

This (the quote) is a very RARE situation! Don't attempt this fish until you are at least a year into it. Even then you probably won't be successful simply because your tank is too small. But then again, as most newbs do, you probably won't listen anyways.

Every website you research these guys on will tell you that you need over 100lbs of LR to sustain their appetite. You don't have that. Simply put, don't try it without getting a bigger tank......sorry.

 

Brandon pretty much hit it right on the head. Your tank needs to be at least a year old. Very established. And larger. Just to give you an idea, I seeded my 90g with about 3000 pods here about a month ago. In a few more months, I will seed again. The fuge is a December project and that needs to be going in order to have a manderin IMO. Packleader is aquacultering his own pods in a separate area, which is a great idea.

With manderins come great responsibility. I am almost a believer that these should stay in the wild.....but they are soooooo beautiful it is hard for me to succumb to that ideology, and unfortunately for only selfish reasons.

 

Woah so 2 or 3 people are assuming I'm going to go impulse buying like crazy and go buy one. If I was going to do that...I wouldn't have asked about them in the forum. I would have just gone out and bought one.

46 bowfront
20lbs LR 25lbs BR (so in theory in a few months to a year it'll be 45lbs LR)
No fuge as of yet. We're waiting to get all of the rock in the tank seeded and going strong before ditching the biomedia and replacing it with a fuge in the sump.

Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I understand, I can take it.

Soooo I guess I'll just have to be mandarin free until after college or when my mom upgrades to something huge while I'm at college. She has 6' of wallspace to upgrade with.

 

I agree with John - they belong in the wild. It's sad to see so many of these in the stores. Around here lots of them are skinny even sitting in their holding tanks. Most probably die shortly after they're purchased and blamed on water quality. They're beautiful fish, and everyone here's given you good advice on these - wait, get a fuge, and you need a constant supply of pods. Get used to the hobby with easier fish - that's what I'm doing

 

I have read in many places that sometimes they will accept frozen food. Can anyone confirm this? I have never come across anyone that has gotten one to accept frozen food.