mardarin in a 20gal?
 

just wondering if i can have one in my 20.
its been runnin for 3 months. with no problems so far.

35lbs LR
30lbs LS
prism skimmer
AC power filter.
2 false percs
some zoos
ricordeas
one open brain.
i do 25% water change every 2 weeks.
im not runnin a fuge. although i see a bunch of pods runnin around.

b4 i get one. is there anythin i need to know.
feeding? any specialized care?

^ - You won't with a mandarin :)
as long as you find one that eats frozen foods as well you should be okay...bigger is better, i've had friends who've had a pair of mandarins in a 20 for 4 years they even mated....(though not until a 40 gallon sump was added) weird setup...
b4 i get one. is there anythin i need to know. Finding a place where you can buy pods or setup something to raiase them would be a good idea though.

I would advise against trying it. Mandarins usually don't eat prepared foods. They tend to live on things they find on live rock. Therefore it takes a lot of Live Rock to keep a Mandarin fed. You can't put enough lr in a 20 gallon tank to sustain a mandarin. Having said that I am sure some would argue that their Mandarin eats frozen food. I agree that some do, but it is the exception rather rhan the rule.:sad:

You should be fine as long as you can keep your pod count high!!!

Oh please don't. Although there might be the exception a 20g is not going to give you enough pods to keep a Mandarin alive and healthy. Some will accept frozen or prepared food but IMO they still need pods in order to thrive. Without a large refugium where pods can multiply a 20 is just not enough. Do a google search or if you can search RC - there is plenty of information on that site.
I have 2 Mandarin fish in my 230g with a 77g fuge/sump and still worry that there is not enough for them to eat. Neither one of mine eat frozen or prepared food that I have ever observed.

No
your tank is not mature 3 months
your tank is too small 20g
madarins need aquapods to survive and be healthy.
even if it eats brine shrimp it wont be healthy it will slowly wither away.
if you want ur madarin to die/ be unhealthy then you'll keep it in your tank.

sorry to be so frank

Was on Wetwebmedia today and came across a post suggesting 4 sqft of sand with LR cover to generate enough pods to support one.

Wonder size of "Marie" tank, recent post of keeping one for 4 years.

I read in reef keepers anual you need 75 pounds of live rock to succesfully keep a mandrin.Also should have your tank running for at least 7 months.I have about 70 pounds of rock,but my mandrin eats every thing I put in the tank.Most wont eat like this so I would get at least a 50 gallon with lots of rock.Or atleast fill up your 20g and just wait a few more months.

I've had my mandarin in a 75g tank for 4 yrs, packed with as much live rock as I could cram in without the tank looking odd. It took a couple of years before he would eat prepared foods and until he did I worried constantly that he wasn't getting enough to eat. I wouldn't chance it if I were you and definitly not when the tank is only 3 months old

is aquapods a new food? never heard of it befor.:mrgreen:

Seriously though a 40gal tank with close to 80lbs of rock would be the minimum I would concider keeping a mandrin in.

Steve

k i guess it a no then
thanks ppl.

some reads
 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=554
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=551
check out the links could help you with what you want.

I know 4 people with mandarins in tanks less then 50 gallons, 2 with 20 gallons, one with a sump the other with no sump. All have had mandarins for years (same ones) all eat prepared foods (frozen). All were bought specifically because they ate prepared foods. There are always exceptions to everything.
That being said I wouldn't do it :)

Great decision Jason

Ditto that, great decision.

I just got a sub-adult female mandarin 3 weeks and 1 day ago. She is not quite full sized, has about .5-1" till she will be full sized. She is in a 75g tank with about 45lbs of rock in the main tank, and a 23g above tank fuge that has about 30lbs of LR, and a massive amount of grape caulerpa. As some people have seen, I have ALOT of pods in my refugium. I have mysid breeding in there, as well as alot of zooplanktons, which top off all the amphipods and copepods in there. Due to the low amount of flow I have passing through there, and the fact that it is above the tank, it allows the live pods to gently flow down into the main tank below. She spends all day going about the tank picking at the rocks and bottom. She seems to have gained a little bit of weight. I am still concerned about the amount of pods actually in the main tank. I have planned on adding more rock to the tank for quite awhile, I have now decided that I since I found that pods like to hide in PVC piping, I will build a rack of half inch PVC, and add more rock. There will be about 60-65lbs of rock in the tank, and lots of hiding space within the PVC for the pods.

My mandarin has never had any interest in prepared/frozen foods yet.

Due to the fact that I am concerned about pod populations as well as many others with larger tanks, I very much agree with your decision not to get a mandarin for such a small tank. Better safe than never, right?

Cheers,

Chris

Yup, me too. This is my second Mandarin in a tank less than 50 gallons. My last one was a male that I sold to another reefer, and is still doing well. He ate frozen Mysis for sure. The current one is female, and she was quite small, and skinny when I got her. She has fattened up a lot, and is doing well. She is not out very often, so I have no idea what she eats. I still advise against it though.:mrgreen: