Considering Mandarin

L

ldreefer

Hey Guys,

I am thinking about getting a Mandarin Dragonette. I know about them and I know the details on keeping them. I just wanted to get some of you guys' opinions on if you think it would be ok for me to get one or not.

My tank is 4 months old and all of the rock and sand that is in it came from my dad's tank that was about 10 years old, and it is covered in pods. At night they crawl all over the rock work and during the day when you look in the sump, you can see them all over the rock and sand. They also have completely covered my chaeto ball that I put in there. They crawl all over the thing.

Also, I don't have any other Blennies or anything that he would be competing with.

What do you guys think?
 
I have a 70 gallon and thought I had enough pods as they were all over the place but the Mandarin I had wiped them out in pretty short order. They can eat a TON of pods in a short period of time. I ended up buying a bottle of pods to fatten it up until adopting it out so that it would not end up starving.
 
You will need to make sure you are producing enough to feed him as they do eat a lot. They eat all day long and if you have a fuge that has plenty in there you should be ok as long as they keep reproducing and being feed so they have food to eat(the pods that is will need to be feed so they reproduce)
 
Yeah they're all over the glass, sand, chaeto and rocks in my fuge. Do you think that sounds ok? How do I make it a favorable environment for the pods? Food, etc... They are definately reproducing. I found a very small Mandarin at DNA. I think that would be a good idea to get a smaller one, maybe he won't eat as much as a larger one and will have time to adapt to the amount of food in the tank.
 
I feed phyto and keep cheato in the fuge and also have a pile or rock rubble for them to hide in. Not sure if it helps or not but they seem to love it. I think you would be ok but as stated earlier make sur eyou watch them as they do eat a lot.
 
Yeah I also have Chaeto and rubble in my fuge. I may get one this weekend and will keep you posted about its health. I think I'm ready for the challenge.
 
One other question Lance(you always seem to have awesome advice). If I wanted to try to get a pair, would that be ok to get two or do you think they wouldn't survive due to lack of food? I would really love to try to breed these little guys.
 
Just like with adding any new fish you are changing the bio load and the system will need time to react. Your pod population will have the same effect. Once you put something in there that is eating them they will decline and it will take a little bit to balance out. I wouldn't recommend adding 2 at the same time unless the tank was really large. 100+ at least

Mitch
 
I have had one for 6 months or so he is in a tank that has no coral and only has fresh water lighting I feed him brine and mysis, everyone says they are hard to keep but I have had no problems with mine maybe im just lucky, what a beautiful fish they are good luck
 
I got mine at DNA today and he's already my favorite. He's awesome! He went right to eating as soon as I got him in. I will post some pics of him when I can.
 
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