Mandarin - To add or not to add?
 

I want to add a Spotted Mandarin to my tank. 4' - 70G display with approx 30G in sump/fuge.

Current stock

Yellow Tang
Coral Beauty
Sixline Wrasse
2 x Ocellaris Clowns
Tailspot Blenny
Firefish
Neon Goby
Lyretail Anthias (male)


Anyone think this might be an issue?

maybe with the sixline at first i know mine doesnt like my mandarin but it settled down after a week.my six is a terror to new fish lol :)

Thats my biggest concern.... as my sixline is big. I have had him about 3 yrs or so. FAT.

Possibly worried about the tang as well.

I have Tangs (semi-aggressive), Six Line, and Saddle back clowns (females very territorial) that don't even look at my Green Spotted Mandrin. So one vote for you being safe.

my sixline and my mandarin get along extremely well ive even noticed them nose to nose hunting for food, it was the initial introduction that was tough.i added my mandarin during the night when the wrasse was sleeping.

the wrasse bothered my black clowns alot worse to the point where he chased them out of the tank, since the mandarins tend to swim closer to the bed it survived the fight.

within a week they were buddies, the mandarin would slowly explore more real estate .


i think the yellow tang would be fine as mandarins are small and can hide in small places where as tangs cant get in there so well with their barb.and its all about not being seen, if they have a place to hide when tings get violent then they have a better chance of surving the "new guy" hastings :):)


id say go for it patrick, maybe work out a deal with whoever you buy it from that if it gets harassed you can bring it back and try something else?? cheers

But, I have had issues adding other fish. So it's cautionary if you know what I mean.

There is another issue other than compatibility and that is starvation.

There is no way that a small tank such as yours can maintain a pod population to keep the mandarin alive. The six line is already going after the same food.

You can only hope that the mandarin will accept fish food and that is a risky decision to make. Please don't do it.

Now would be a good time to consider upgrading your tank to a 6 footer to accommodate the yellow tang you already have (your tank is far too small for tangs) and when the new tank matures add a mated pair of mandarins.

Good Luck
Wayne

I generally agree with you, but you are so wrong and uninformed on this.

I kept a spotted in a 20g for 2.5 years. No fuge. Only died due to tank crash... Which killed all fish.

I currently have a mandarin in my 20 downstairs. With hob fuge. Since May last year and she is fat and fine.

A 4' - 70 is more than adequate.

I am asking about fish compatibility here. Not your opinions in system size. My tank is fine.

Thanks for your thoughts, but I 100% disagree. As will MANY others.


And no. There is no upgrade coming. Ever.

I'm not going to comment on the size of tank, but I would be concerned about the competition for food. You mandarin in the 20g has no competitors for pods, I'm assuming. With you water volume, I would, at the very least, be supplementing with reef pods regularly (meaning at least ne bottle every 2 months). I have a 125 with a 55 sump/fuge and I put a bottle of pods in at every other month and I still don't see a lot of pods in my system. I have Leopard Wrasses as well as the mandarin, so the pod population is being hammered.

When my tank lights go off..... the pods take over.

I am actually amazed at how many I have. They absolutely cover everything. Its amazing to watch them.

My tank has been set for about a year and a half. My sixline has not been able to deplete the stock at all.

I would stay away from a mandarin now. They are such delicate fish I don't think it would handle the harassment from your sixline.

SCREW YOU JASON!

Just kidding. LOL. Call me biatch. I tried you this morning.

Back at you!!! Your tank is nicer than mine! This means war!!!

For the benefit of those that are considering getting a mandarin I have attached the wetwebmedia site here. Make your own decision.
http://wetwebmedia.com/mandarins.htm

Paddy your post mentions nothing about compatibility. You simply asked for advice on whether you should get one or not.

If you are adding a refuge and cultivating pods for your 70 gallon than food should not be an issue.

I would be concerned that a docile fish like the mandarin will become a victim to aggressive fish like the six line wrasse but I do not have both so can't help you with your decision.

Did my list of current fish throw you off? It seemed apparent to me that
I was asking about the other redidents.

My fuge is as old as the tank itself.

I simply want opinions on stock. I have done extensive reading on mandarins in the past six years and have been successful keeping them in small tanks.

I am no self proclaimed expert by any means, but I know one or two things.

The sixline is my main concern.

Thank you.

75 gallon tank and 55 gallon sump. I also have a yellow tang, 6 line, coral beauty,and a pair of clowns. Had my mandarin for a few months and he is doing just fine. He never got picked on by anyone and he was the last fish I added to my tank.

Had a scooter blenny starve out in a 110g with a 50g sump..... Completion for food was the cause I'm sure

+1

Sorry to hear that, your yellow will eventually outgrow the 70g hopefully when that happens you will re-home it.

Find a mandarin that eats frozen (that you can make sure you get the frozen food to it, before the others eat it) and you should be ok.

It's difficult to tell. My yellow tang sliced my beautiful male mandarin to death... now that bastard yellow tang is gone but that prove that you never know how a fish is going to react.

I woudl be afraid of the six line but you know your fish better than anyone and you know if it is aggressive or not.

I have a niger trigger that is a sweetheart and never attacked any one, not even the new fish I put in, so each fish is unique.

One thing is for sure...mandarins don't react to aggression and they will let other fish kill them without too much fighting or reaction.

I added a small female Green Mandarin to my 33 gal reef. She was already on frozen and dry foods so feeding was not an issue.

My six-line wrasse was very upset about the mandarins introduction and did try to harass her for days. She just ignored him so it never came to anything. They get along fine now.

My concern is that your six-line is quite large and may be able to do more damage if he does harass the mandarin.

If you do try,...introduce at night after lights out for an hour or so.

You can also create mandarin feeding spots by creating rubble piles where pods can breed in tank. My six-line does not seem to browse at the rubble piles so there is no competition.

HTH
Blaine

Tang police. Frack Get out.

You are off topic and frankly ****ing me off.

My tank is fine and so is the damn tang.

Go preach somewhere else. Everyone has had enough holier than tho talk to save the world.

Mods. How can I delete irrelevant input?

I saw another thread where the op erased unwanted and off topic crap.

I'm not sorry. My tank is fine. Perfect.

You can add that person or any person on your ignore list. You no longer see any of their comments if it makes you upset.

I know but they are polluting the thread. Hijacking. Taking away from what I want. Losing the info in piles of dung.

Blocking also blocks the times they say something good.

Not bad people. Just could give a crap about tangs in a thread about a mandarin.

They don't realize they are not wanted.

+1 Positive input always works better.

Yes... Too many tang police. I feel that I have the world happiest yellow tang, and he is in a 75 gallon. To the OP my mandarin also eats frozen mysis and he hovers around my live rock pecking at stuff all day.

My last spotted ate mysis after a while.

From what I have read... Spotted are "more likely" to take frozen before a green/blue mandarin. But then again... In a pod rich tank, I doubt they would ever try frozen. It's always a gamble "training" a fish. Lol.

I have not witnessed it, but my green mandarin gets excited when I drop nls pellet in... She won't come out and eat with me present, but I have suspicions she might have tried it.

So if I add... Based on compatibilty... I hope eventually it would go onto pellet or frozen.

You know... I find it funny that six lines are considered an aggressive fish. I never once had a problem with the one that I had. New fish, old fish, no problems. Judging from that experience, I'd say that you'd be fine. I find that my pair of mandarins are among the fish that none of the other fish seem to even notice. I have a Lyretail Anthias that is a real jerk to every fish that I have, but ignores the mandarins. The Antias has chased my black capped basslet into hiding to the point that for 3 months, I thought he had died... and then he showed up breifly the other day. To me, there seems to be something about mandarins that makes all of the other fish oblivious to their existance. I should also mention that I have 4 wrasses in with my pair of mandarins without issue. Oh, and a large regal tang... and 4 angels. All in a 50gallon. (alright.... 2 angels, and it's a 160... hahaha... bring it tang/angel/mandarin/wrasse/everything police)

hehe

I think it is more territorial. Which leads to the aggression.

Mine is fine with all current tank mates. So far.

I have had a female mandarin for about 9 months now, eats frozen blood worms. Adding a 2nd male mandarin which is not trained and both are still doing great. I did seed my tank with a few thousand copepods I picked up in the states and now it seems the macro algae fuge keeps the tank stocked with enough to have them both fat and happy. The female has been preggers for a few months now too. Nothing bothers the mandarins, except for the ywg at times. Even my ex-devil reincarnated saddleback female left it alone and it leaves nothing else alone, didnt even bother the mandarins when they got close to her nems. I swear, mandarins are the most peaceful fish you can get for our tanks, favourite things in my tank by far. I say get one and if something bothers it, get rid of the fish that is bothering it. :mrgreen:

Maybe mine was just abnormally mellow. Never bothered anybody.

Well maybe if people would be more responsible and think about the fishes needs and not their own needs, there wouldn't be a need for tang police.... Some people actually care about the fact the we have a responsibility to the creatures that we choose to care for..... So when someone basically gives the middle finger to the entire reefing community, saying their 4' 70g tank is perfect for a fish that is widly known to NEED more space its somewhat irritating..... Know what I mean?

Moving on. Start your own thread.

By perfect , I mean I don't feel the need to Impress everyone with fancy gadgets and high end accessories. Perfect tank. I would not trade it for anyones tank. I will not upgrade because some people think I should.

Bank roll your own systems. Mine is perfect. Does this make perfect clear now?


Now my thread here is about fish compatibility. Is this clear?

Tired of high jackers. No respect.

Don't put a tang in a situation were people feel the need to say something and you wont have to worry about it. When people see an injustice being done, people will feel the need to speak out about it.

Also for the record in the bold part (in case you didn't see it before) of my original post I did answer your question, so not off topic.

Six lines can be very aggressive. Thats a fact I have seen and read about. I know of people who have taken tanks apart to remove them. {part of why I said be careful if adding one for flatworms}.

They compete for the same food as mandarins, thus always the possibility of eliminating the mandarin, so less competition for that food source. Such as picking their eyeballs out.

Agreed. But I still feel that I can support the pod population.

Who knows.

Mines favorite is Formula One Marine Pellets. They collect in one end from the current and she knew exactly where.

Or did, before we took her to Mikes 240g where she is now cuddled up to her boyfriend.