PLEASE tell me im crazy....

[r00onmac]

i have liked mandarin gobies for a while, but figured that it would be more than impossible in a 5 gallon nano for him to survive unless i could get it to eat prepared foods. i recently came across a site that shows how to turn a few ounces of water with pods in it into a 10 gallon pod farm... instantly i was like "yaay i can do that, its easy. and now i can get a mandarin"

i know 2 fish in a 5 gallon is crazy, but i keep up on water changes (20% a week) and have more than enough nassarius to keep up with extra food (ordered 25 and got over 40, prolly gonna sell some to LFS this weekend)

just tell me im crazy and to wait until my clown outgrows my 5 and i HAVE to get a bigger tank... and then get it.

 

[Jennie]

just tell me im crazy and to wait until my clown outgrows my 5 and i HAVE to get a bigger tank... and then get it.

Ok, I'll tell you

Manarins really do need a larger tank. If you are even thinking of upgrading your tank, then now would be the time to work on the "pod farm" and get that all ironed out, make sure it's going to work.

 

[r00onmac]

YES... thats one... a couple more and itll be out of my mind forever... lets get mike or dragon in here to tell me...lol

 

[skipm]

I have to agree, skip the mandarin until you upgrade to a larger tank. Then you'll have to find something else to put in the 5 :mrgreen:

 

[sadielynn]

Well I am not dragon but I will also say skip it :lol:

 

[r00onmac]

lol thatll do Sadielynn... i went today and just spent an hour looking around two LFS... so pretty... they even had a couple of the spotted type rather than the one with just crazy lines all over its body

 

[EDGRAY]

i know your feeling for that kind of fish mandarines... they are really cute and alot of people love them (includint me) and want to keep them but they are really hard to keep but ... SORRY GUYS IM NOT TRYING TO BE INSENSITIVE OR HEARLESS ABOUT WHAT IM GONNA SAY...

if you really want to keep one try one and see for how long it last try zyclopeze (mines were doing fine until my ph drop to 7.5 and all my fish and invertebrates died) and if you have luck you will enjoy him at least 3 months and then you will get over it .... is like wanting to get a new pair of shoes you want then no matter what and when you get them you get over them or at least you satified your need..

is not a good dielemna cause will cost a life of a poor fish but there are alot of mandys or any kind of fish that die everyday in the LFS so why not give then a chance to see something beautiful like your tank full of corals and color and then die like a suite to heaven... but like a experienced reffer

DONT GET THEM OR JUST GET A 30G TANK WAIT A YEAR AND THEN GET ONE so you will be a 100% sure that it will have a nice home and will live a long time and will be happy....

like me i know for sure ill never get another one and i got over them and know im into gobidae... really cute little animals and easy to keep.... i love my green banded goby and coming soon my cherry head goby or some called him red head goby (just waiting for one .. i been looking for one for a month know....(p.s: ill love to get a panda goby but they are really hard to keep and they nip on zoos)

 

[reefman23]

YOU ARE CRAZY!!














There, I said it! But seriously, dont do it. ESPECIALLY if you have a clown in there already...like Nike says, "don't do it"...oh wait, thats "just do it"...wait now I'm confused...

 

[r00onmac]

not doing it.. only fish i would ever add now would be an appropriately sized black ocellaris (or whatever the one is called that starts mostly orange and grows to be black as it matures) to pair with my little ocellaris now... i really want him to have a friend... even if it means upgrading my tank sooner than i want to

 

[skipm]

I think you are making a wise decision. You can start planning the upgrade now, to me part of the fun of the hobby is making plans and changes until things get just the way you want them before spending any money.

 

[dragon79]

Let me stomp on your mandarin dreams and say "big no no!"

lol. I had to start with something catchy, especially when I'm mentioned above and have missed out, hehe.

Basically, Edgray learned from his mistakes, I've tried it as well, only to make him live for 6 months, but it's a real PITA to cater to just one fish.

I am happy with a small fish subsitute and go with gobies. In my 6er, I have three small gobies (cherry head, blue neon, yellow gold goby) and one 4 line wrasse. All is fine and that's what you can get away with in a tank small like ours.

Hope you find a cool subsitute and ditch the mandy idea, unless you of course go with a bigger tank.

 

[NemoNano]

Hi guys,

What is the minimum size of a tank for a mandarin?

My wife wants to get one but I have heard you need 90G plus tank.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[reefman23]

Hi guys,

What is the minimum size of a tank for a mandarin?

My wife wants to get one but I have heard you need 90G plus tank.

Thanks,

Eric

I would say 50 to 60 gallons with plenty of live rock and a refugium for additional copepod production.

 

[skipm]

I was thinking 55 but with a well established pod population- Minimum 6 months but better yet one year old.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

http://melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html

http://melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

 

[mikeguerrero]

I own a 72 gallon reef tank; with about 90 lbs of live rock and 3-4 inch bed of live sand all over my tank, yet I don't have a mandarin for the sole reason that my sixline wrasse would starve him.

My refugium is also increasing my pod population but it's not enough against the my sixline wrasse.

I've seen reefers keep these guys in 125 to 200 gallon reefs and they lower a glass jar with prepared foods, the little guys swim inside and munch and munch while the bigger more aggressive fish look frustrated that they cannot enter the jar.

Mike