Check this out! It's a Mandarin Diner! Video, too! Cool!

[Abarnswell]

I recently came across a really cool reef website, and found this page in particular that is very cool. This guy made a "diner" for his Mandarin fish, because she wasn't getting enough food to eat, due to competition in the tank. There's also a video link at the bottom of the page that should not be missed!

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

 

[dragon79]

that's intense. I remember doing a lot of maintenance myself for a mandarin, but for 4 of them...that is too much work!!

This thread should help the guy who has two mandys in his 12 gallon.

 

[hooterhead]

marc has an amazing site. very very informative. his reef is amazing... too bad i've never seen it as i only live 30 minutes or so from him...

 

[EDGRAY]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

very funny dragon79 i knew you were gona say something about it well why not give it a try cause they like frozen food so i should try formula 1 & 2 dont you think and well they are doing ok so far if they dont at least im gonna enjoy them for 2 months and when i see that they are getting pretty bad ill give them to someone with a big aquarium so if anyone knows about someone tell me ill give them for free if they get skinny so they may do better with the one is interested mean while they are ok...

and thx for thinking about me dragon79 ... and you were right about problems when feeding mandarin in a small aquarium im getting alot of brown algie (diatoms) and my nitrate are up so im doing water changes every 3 o 4 days do you think is a bad thing to do so frequently water changes ... well im doing it mean while the nitrate is normal again and then weekly..

please be my guest to helpme solve my diatom problem...

 

[reefman23]

I dont understand what you said about your diatom problem. Is there a shortage of or lots of diatoms. I dont think there is a problem with a LACK of diatoms, but there is with having excessive. If your problem is excessive diatoms, almost all slime algae growth is caused by excessive nutrients, and true algae will also be more difficult to restrict if nutrient levels are too high. The two principal nutrients we need to control are nitrate and phosphate. Both of these are END-PRODUCTS of the FISH and bacterial digestion of FOODS. Obviously, the less food we feed, the fewer nitrates and phosphate will accumulate in the aquarium. In the mini-reef, this means nitrate levels below 10 PPM and phosphate levels below 0.10PPM. (Even these levels are hundreds of times higher than the natural conditions. Paradoxically, the coral reef is actually a nutritional wasteland with an abundance of thriving organisms, thanks to the power of the sun.) We can use phosphate removing pads or resins to help control the phosphate. The pads are used for a 72-hour period to reduce built-up levels, while the resins can be placed in the filter system for long-term control. To control nitrate, we must control the digestion of extra proteins in the water. In saltwater aquariums, we can utilize a protein skimmer to remove the proteins BEFORE they are ingested.


***This info is straight from peteducation.com, great place for brief info to all sorts of reef stuff.***

 

[EDGRAY]

ill check the webpage tomorrow but thx and yes i have alot of diatoms and it might be cause of over feeding so im cuting back and phosphate im not sure if high but in anycase im gonna use a phosphate remover (ill get it later today) and also i cant put a skimmer in my nano cube dx there is no space.. and do you think that like i say up there that im doing water changes every 3 to 4 days to lower the nitrate do you think is bad or too frequently water changes may cause more bad than good... thx for the quick reply and sorry about changing subject...... :sad: sorry

ed

 

[reefman23]

Well, as for the water changes, I think that you HAve to to that beacuse of the biological load on your tank with the fish. Is it only the two mandys in that tank? Where are the clowns? Try chemipure...that stuff replicates a protein skimmer as far as removing proteins from the water.

 

[EDGRAY]

ok the mandys are in the tank such as the pair of ocellaris and the neon goby just like my signature says has the date when i started my tank and what i have in there..... and well in the 1 st part of the filtration in 2 sponges, then the chemi pure and then the other sponge ... in the 2nd part is the ceramic rings (im gonna take them out soon and put live rock) and alot of live rock, and in the 3rd part is the mini jet mn 606 with the heater and more live rock. my temperature is always betwee 79 - 80.6 the most.... if you think i have to move something in the order of my back compartment be my guest and if i should lower the temperature too ... Nitrate 30 Nitrite .25 alkalinity 250 PH 8.0 salinity or gravity 1.022, Phosphate o thats all the info..

 

[reefman23]

So there is five fish in the 12?!? that is like 4 too many, especially for a 5 week old tank. Of course, that is just my opinion.

Jesse

 

[hooterhead]

opinion nothing. that is way too much of a bio load for a 5 week old ,12 gallon tank! you have a reading on nitrItes and really high nitrAtes. are there any corals in the tank? cause they won't last long in water like that. the fish won't either. i'd do a large water change to get those readings down. and i'd get rid of at least 3 of those fish. just what i would do but you can do what you like.

 

[dragon79]

too early in the game, it's too much of a risk. And what is happening to you now, there is no surprise. When your tank is more matured and established, you can go more, as long as you keep up with the water changes.

How do I know? I have two, my 6 gallon and my girlfriends 12. The 12 gallon has 4. (had 3 for the longest, but now 4) From experience I think it maintains itself quite well with 3. If you go 4, do a bigger water change to keep the nitrates in check. (yes I do monitor them)

My personal 6 gallon (the one I pride in the most has 3 small gobies, and 2 clowns) Sound like a lot, but the gobies provide a real small bioload. The main load comes from the two clowns. Originally, though, my 6 just consisted of just the gobies, but because of an impulsive buy at the LFS one day, I bought the pair of juvenile clowns, really really small.

I know that they have grown some, but my goal ultimately is to get them into a bigger tank, as I have had my eyes on tanks like the 20 gallon and some 30 gallon tanks. Because of my tank size I have to do like half the water out of my tank water changes to keep things up to par. (compared to before when I used to just take a quarter of the water out)

So coming from me I say that's a huge responsibility and you know what you are getting yourself into before doing it. What makes things bad in your case is that you are dealing with fish that have a very low survival rate for those mandys.

I'll also say one more thing though, I didn't get any fish other than just 1 fish when i started my tank. It was a clown and it was for my girlfriends tank. It has now hit it's 1 year birthday recently. It stayed the only fish for at least a couple of months, until things stabalized, then I got a second fish for my girlfriend, a bi-color blenny.

I see you want to get everything all at once, but you will learn from other peoples experience and your own failed attempts that it just doesn't work that way. Good luck man, but for now I'd suggest taking the mandys' back for now. Good luck dude.

 

[Anonymous]

cool

 

[Chubosco]

Video is nothing but BAD!!! With nanos, I had no idea that tangs were so aggressive. But now that I think about it, I knew this vegetarian girl that was really aggressive. Kinda miss her. She was just too tripped in her eating habits. She was like neurotic or something.