Strange fish loss.

[Aquattro]

It's generally accepted that a minimum 50g mature tank is required for 1 mandarin. Generally. If it has to compete for food against anything else that eats pods in a 4 month old 40g, all pod eaters are going to starve. Mysis is probably too big for a mandarin.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

It's generally accepted that a minimum 50g mature tank is required for 1 mandarin. Generally. If it has to compete for food against anything else that eats pods in a 4 month old 40g, all pod eaters are going to starve. Mysis is probably too big for a mandarin.

agreed and its so hard to tell if mandie's are eating anyways.

without a mature sandbed and a whack load of pods its hard to do.... its a sad way to go

[dkclend]

OK thanks guys I think it is a lack of food for the little guys. I do watch them eat the mysis though. I will lay off stocking for a while.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by dkclend

OK thanks guys I think it is a lack of food for the little guys. I do watch them eat the mysis though. I will lay off stocking for a while.

I thought my Hector's goby was eating cyclop-eze ...
I watched him with a pair of magnifyer glasses on and saw him spit it all out his gills .....

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by dkclend

OK thanks guys I think it is a lack of food for the little guys. I do watch them eat the mysis though. I will lay off stocking for a while.

mandarins are such a nice colorful fish so most new people in the hobby want one...fact is they eat mostly live food and most die from starvation.


if you see a fish in the store you like google all you can before buying, will save you some bucks and stress in the end

good luck

[Jeontai]

Originally Posted by reefwars

if you see a fish in the store you like google all you can before buying, will save you some bucks and stress in the end

good luck

I agree fully with this... I always have my iPhone out when I'm shopping. Even if you think you know all there is to know about a certain species it's good to look it up again just to be safe.

[fishoholic]

FYI barnacle bleenies have a fairly short life span so it's hard to say with them.

[daniella3d]

mandarins don't eat mysis. At least I had 3 so far and never saw them even remotely interested in mysis, as it is way to big for them.

They like pods and small food. Mine eat live white worms, fish roe and live pods, that's about it.

I guess if yours was trying to eat mysis, he was maybe starving (probably since he's dead now).

I have 2 mandarins in my 70 gallons for 2 years now and if they did not have live white worms they would probably not survive out of the pods alone. I do have a large pod population but each day I feed live worms and each day they gobble quite a few of them so that show the pods are not enough to sustain them or they would not be hungry.

Originally Posted by dkclend

OK thanks guys I think it is a lack of food for the little guys. I do watch them eat the mysis though. I will lay off stocking for a while.