Some newbie-ish questions

Oh, and speaking of the goby....is a mandarin goby actually a "goby"? I've seen it always listed under mandarinfish, but with an additional name indicating it as mandarin goby, but its never listed under gobies....can anyone explain that?

 

That fish looks like a freshwater chiclid to me!!! lol, it's not though, it's probably some sort of angelfish. Is he mean?

Th goby you have probably doesn't eat the sand right? Regular gobies usually pick up the sand in thier mouth and eat the copepods out of it, and the sand gets propelled back out through thier gills. It's very cool to watch. I imagine that your mandarin eats food that you feed them? Just because he has been alive for 8 months that shows he is eating. Is he skinny? Usually people say not to get gobies because they can starve to death.

 

No, the yellow fish is extremely docile! His poor back fins have actually been attacked...I'm guessing by the blue damsel. I'll probably be moving the blue damsel out & put him in the 50 gal with the other "meanies" He (the yellow fish) is really, really tiny, maybe half the size of my clown fish.

I don't think the mandarin eats the sand. I just recently (less than a week ago) switched from gravel to sand. I did notice he had some sand on his head yesterday, but I'm sure that could've just been from hiding out. He does eat the food I put in there, and he doesn't appear to be skinny. Not sure if you can tell much from it, but here's a pic of him...

 

Good for you to be doing research, I'm sure you're gonna be just fine handling your tanks yourself!! I love the mandarin, they are my favorite fish. I took over a three year old 75g about nine months ago, lost two maroon clowns that came with it but by researching frantically here, I did manage to save a sick perc and get rid of hair algae, update things and have a beautiful reef tank now!! Happy reefing!

 

Your mandarin is beautiful! I wish I could have one but my tank is at it's limit! Sounds like you are doing good

 

Oh, and I am pretty sure your "yellow" guy is an angel

 

Awesome another maderin trained to eat easy food to find. I would love to add one of these to my tank but wont risk it with out a huge pod population. Iv seen them listed under dragonets too. Seems nobody knows what they really are.