Keeping A Mandarin

M

Mikii

I've always loved Blue Mandarins. My question would be how hard wouldn't be to keep one? Are they a lot of work? I've heard they are hard to get to eat but some people don't have problems. Just wanted to hear what you guys thought.


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They need a HEALTHY supply of copepods. I don't think a 40b without a big fuge could support one. It would completely wipe out a supply in that size tank in a matter of days.

When keeping a mandarin, you should let your tank age for quite some time I have read (6+ months). That will give time for the pods to reproduce and populate the tank. Even then supplemental pods should be added fairly regularly, every other month.

A target mandarin, which is captive bred, is much easier to get to take prepared foods.
 
First, you need to decide if it would be a wild Mandarin, or an ORA captive bred one. Each have their own issues that make them more difficult to keep than other fish.

It is my understanding that the ORA ones eat pellets, but they are not good at competing with the other fish for the pellet. This means you need to figure out a way to make sure they get some of the food at each feeding.

As for the wild ones, they need a large and thriving pod population. If you have a large mature tank that has an established pod population, you will likely be fine. If you have a small or new tank, you will go broke constantly buying pods for them.
 
Okay. So it sounds like I need to do a little more research and work to keep one. Thanks guys.


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ORA actually bred both but the spotted seem to be a bit faster growing both are expensive compared to wild. I have an ORA spotted i have had him for almost 3yrs. He eats ova...blodworms and sometimes mysis plus he has to b munching on pods. I kept him in a solana but ran into major water quality issues due to trying to feed. Currently i have a 40gal with fuge

He still requires my feeding attention everytime. I develped a ritual of feeding the tankmates and then feeding him what he likes. He is a labor of love. I have thought also about training a wild one but based on my ora one you would have to train in a quarantine tank first away from greedy tankmates
 
I have a wild pair (I've had them 13 months now) and I do have a lot of copepods but I noticed that when I feed my tank "reef chile" they go swimming along grabbing as much as they can. A great fish for sure; all the fish in my tank like them, it's interesting that when one of them is in front of the tank, one of my tangs will hover right over it. Both my purple and naso do the same thing and I've always wondered what they were doing......
 
mine also like when i dose reef chili...but since i only dose chili at night now he doesnt go for it much. he has plenty to eat when it comes to pods. Im thinking of running a cryptic zone for growing pods but not to sure yet
 
I have a wild mandarin for many years now. I have a big aquarium, so he does just fine with the pods. That is all he will eat. I have never bought pods. I lost his mate when I went to my 255, but I think I will get him a new girl friend soon. If you have allot of pods and a big fuge, its a put it in and forget it fish. They swim and eat to their own drum sort of speak.
 
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