green madarin in nano?

[ReefMad1967]

I was thinking of putting a green madarin in my 10 gallon nano. Is this o.k? My rock has been in my tank for about a month and at the stor for about 3 months. It's healthy and has lots of copepods and other stufff growing on it. Will that be enough food for the mandarin? And if it is not can i hand feed him to get used to other food s like flake, and live brine shrimp? Your help will be greatly appreciated. And one more thing will he be compatible with a tomato clown, variuos corals, and anemones?

[steve1s]

Your clown will most likely ignore the mandarin and should not be a concern. The food source on the otherhand will be. Mandarines almost never take to prepared foods or live brie for that matter. In a proper setting with a good size tank and alot of LR this would be a better proposition but in a 10 gal tank the mandarine will quickly descimate the pod population in a few short weeks. :cry:

Cheers
Steve

[nanoman123]

i aggree with steve. but u can still get a blenny of some sort, my favorite is the scooter blenny, wich is also part of the draggonett family. it eats pods but also eats other stuff as well

[Strictly Marine]

scooter blennies will fare much better in the long run then a mandarine. It is also 1/3 of the price.

[steve1s]

Scooters are not much different than mandarines as far as care goes. The chances of them accepting aquarium fed foods wether live or otherwise should not be relied upon or attempeted. If you do not have the appropriate set up to house a species then you should leave them be.

Here is a direct quote from the The Conscientious Reef Aquarist

Whatever other writers have stated, Mandarins almost never accept enough of anything other than live foods that are omnipresent in their system to sustain themselves. A nutrient rich live rock reef tank, read that as one heavily overgrown with algae, with substantial interstitial crustacean and worm life of about 150 gallons will support one individual. All this assuming no aggressive tankmates

>>Here (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mandarins.htm)<< is a direct link: Please re-think the dragonette.

Cheers
Steve

[Florida<3Keys]

Yes, actually you can keep a green mandarin in a nano, but it is a lot of hard work. As you know, a mandarin needs a lot of copepods to survive, in a nano tank, he will obliterate that supply in a matter of days, but there is hope! Make sure you have high quality and well established (six months at the least) live rock and sand. And buy bottles of copepods. You can reproduce them in mason jars and put them in your tank frequently. Also, try to train your mandarin to eat other foods, some will even eat formula 1! Make sure the mandarin you buy is fat and is eating well, or it might be too starved to live even with the proper food sources.
go here: http://joshday.com/mandaringoby.htm to learn more (i am also planning on putting a green mandarin in a 24 gallon nano tank)

[Jamokie01]

Please dont put a mandarin or a scooter blenny in your nano, they will die. Honestly, it is a pain culturing copepods and other live foods, and you should have a good amount of experience and extra room. And never bank on a dragonette accepting prepared foods, as it isnt very likely. If someone stuck a colored ball in front of you and you had no idea what it was, should they expect you to eat it?

[Florida<3Keys]

Actually, it won't die if treated for correctly, and you buy a healthy fish. And yes, it isn't going to take formula one right away, but it is quite possible to get the fish to eat other foods such as roe (the orange fish eggs the put on sushi) cyclopeez, mysis shrimp, and maybe eventually powdered or pellet formula 1 (although powdered is more likely) I have had friends succesfully keep mandarins over six months (usually the starvation point) in nano tanks, and also had friends whos mandarins died in a 200 gallon tank, because no matter how bit your tank is, it still might not have the correct kind of copepods the mandarin needs to survive. Another tip is to put the food in a turkey baster (and new clean one of course) and shoot it right in front of your fish, it seems that if its moving, the mandarin is a lot more likely to eat it. Check out that link I gave you previously for a lot more information. (Including links on were to buy seapods, oceanpods, how to make a mandarin diner, and so on)

[Mike O'Brien]

Florida, have you done this successfully ?

[chessmanmark]

It can be done if you feed the tank tigger pods, but that's an expensive diet to keep a mandarin, and a big commitment. It's much easier in a big tank with plenty of rock. The fish sustains itself in a big tank.

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/copepod/

[Florida<3Keys]

No, I have been keeping freshwater fish for years but have finally decided to start a saltwater tank, but I do have close friends who have. I actually know the owner of Segrest Farms and he is able to obtain very healthy specimens of course, but it seems that if they are starved when you buy them, they will die within a few months. Also, I know it is hard to keep them, so if anyone reading this who is thinking of doing the same, if you arent up to growing copepods, then dont get a mandarin. Also, even though a lot of them are eventually trained to eat prepared foods (but be aware, pretty much none of them will come to you that way) some mandarins will never eat prepared foods. For me, I have already started putting copepods in my water (i already had a lot though due to the live rock and sand) and putting them in mason jars full of saltwater so they can reproduce so when i do get one, which wont be for about 4 more months or more until im sure i can handle one, I will be ready.

[Mike O'Brien]

Or you could just put a 100 gallon refugium on the nano. LOL I alway's wondered if it's still a nano if you do that.

I tried it in a 10 gallon tank. IMO it's too hard to keep enough of them in the tank without a seperate refugium. I would only think about it if I actually witnessed the fish eating prepared food's at the store. The one I had wouldn't even think about it.

[Mike O'Brien]

If you can culture the pod's, that's great. It's alot of work though. You need to culture phyto as well to feed them, and you need to produce them faster then the fish eat's them, wich is constantly all day long.

[Florida<3Keys]

no i have not, but i am close friends with the owner of seagrest farms, and he has done so

note to anyone who wants to do this: if you think it will go on prepared foods, dont get a mandarin, because it might not ever go on prepared foods, its just worth a shot to try to wean him on that if you can

[Florida<3Keys]

ugh why arent my posts showing up before i repost? this forum annoys me :(

[Florida<3Keys]

yeah, i dont think if i had a 10 g nano i would do this, someone told me a 24 isnt even a nano, but im still pretty sure im going to have to feed it additional copepods, right now im just making sure my tank is choc full of them and that reproducing them is going to work for me, if not then i wont get one until i get a big tank, its cool to see them eat the roe though, im definintally going to have to try that if i do get one

[Jamokie01]

Actually, it won't die if treated for correctly, and you buy a healthy fish. And yes, it isn't going to take formula one right away, but it is quite possible to get the fish to eat other foods such as roe (the orange fish eggs the put on sushi) cyclopeez, mysis shrimp, and maybe eventually powdered or pellet formula 1 (although powdered is more likely) I have had friends succesfully keep mandarins over six months (usually the starvation point) in nano tanks, and also had friends whos mandarins died in a 200 gallon tank, because no matter how bit your tank is, it still might not have the correct kind of copepods the mandarin needs to survive. Another tip is to put the food in a turkey baster (and new clean one of course) and shoot it right in front of your fish, it seems that if its moving, the mandarin is a lot more likely to eat it. Check out that link I gave you previously for a lot more information. (Including links on were to buy seapods, oceanpods, how to make a mandarin diner, and so on)

I dont think you understand how unlikely it is that they will eat prepared foods, frozen is a possibility, but pellets or powders dont even register to them as something to eat. And even if you do manage to get it to eat frozen foods, you have to feed alot, because they have very little nutritional value. This is why mandarins swim around and eat all day long. And keeping a mandarin for over 6 months is not a success, it is a success if the mandarin dies of old age.