What size tank are you running?

Let me begin by saying there are exceptions to every rule. According to Fenner my Mandarin should be pushing up daisies. I just checked my records, and I bought him on February 1st of this year. He ( all my fish are male until proven different) was one inch long. Today he is twice that size. He lives happily in my 33 gallon semi cube with two Purple Firefish, and a Yellow Clown Goby. There is X number of pounds of LR. The tank is 18 inches deep. I know he eats Mysis, as I have seen him rise to half the depth of the tank to get some at feeding time. Is he an anomaly :question: , perhaps, but I know for sure I have saved this little guy from certain death had I not gotten him away from my LFS. Not only that but he has brightened my life just watching him. :rolleyes:

Hi Moray Guy, Mandarin fish are difficult fish to keep in captivity in some cases. A mature aquarium with lots of liverocks, livesand, and copepods makes a better chance of survival. They like to roam around the bottom, picking at the liverocks endlessly in search of critters. I consider this is one of the challenging fish to keep, and I highly respect those aquarist who dedicate their time, patience and skill in providing a good environment for them. I agree with the rest of my fellow aquarist, it is not fine, you have been misinformed. Best of luck. Regards Ken l

120 gallons,small chaeto fuge, 100 pounds live rock.

Probably when the tank is older a mandarin could scavenge a livelihood, however I want a healthy plump mandarin and not just one that survives.

I've got live food cultures from my FW fish breeding and I'm hoping mandarins would like live worms.

A mature 120 will provide more than "just surviving". My mandarin (who met with a recent unfortunate demise) was more round than long. She found plenty of food over the years I've had her. If you have a fair (100+) amount of live rock, you should have afat happy mandarin living well on pods.

Bob, of course, you're a little more experienced...

Matt, I really think you should try to get a latin name on your puffers. I know very little about freshwater fish but those do sound like freshwater puffers... I know they are commonly kept in brackish tanks but I'm really not sure they are comfortable in a pure marine tank.

The guys at "My fish Tank" keep the puffers in a all marine tank. They said it would do quite well. I have no clue how to find the latin name for them but I wil try.

Matt

you could call them and ask the name....

I agree. They sound a lot like an African or Indian polka-dot puffer, possibly a figure-8 puffer, all of which can survive in brackish to salt water but are essentially fresh-water fish. Why don't you see if you can find a picture of them from the web? Then we could help identify it for you.

Try these:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/s...39&TopCatId=39

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/s...4&TopCatId=954

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/s...6&TopCatId=836

I've seen those puffers and they are commonly sold as brackish water puffers. I've always thought they were these ones http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...e=nigroviridis which says freshwater/brackish.

Christy :)