Psychedelic Mandarin...

[X-Treme]

K peeeeple. I am looking for opinions and/or experiences here. I am wondering what the minimum size tank is for housing a psychedelic mandarin... How much live rock... How long tank should be up and running... etc.

I read on liveaquaria.com that minimum tank size is 30G but was told today at a LFS that it's more like 70G and at least a year of operation.

What do you guys think?

[justinl]

Id agree with the lfs for most dragonets. most wont take frozens and will just feed on copepods and such. and they will eat LOTS of them each day. so obviously yuo would need an established large tank, preferably with a fuge (which i highyl recommend) to keep up with a dragonet's demand of live food. If you have tankmates that will compete with the dragonet for the live food then you have to take that into consideration as well.

of course if you do manage to find a healthy dragonet that does eat frozen (and be SURE of it), snatch it up fast because they arent that common. for these few cases, tank volume can be much less than for one that wont take frozen.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by X-Treme

K peeeeple. I am looking for opinions and/or experiences here. I am wondering what the minimum size tank is for housing a psychedelic mandarin... How much live rock... How long tank should be up and running... etc.

I read on liveaquaria.com that minimum tank size is 30G but was told today at a LFS that it's more like 70G and at least a year of operation.

What do you guys think?

I believe i read somewhere that a pair of mandarins grazes over a couple of acres, I had a friend in the US who decided she wanted to breed mandarins with her husband (poor wording there excuse my elementary grasp of the english language) they were somewhat successful but not succseful enough for a business venture. They now do everything else marine related. Back to the point they had 12 foot long 5 foot wide 3 feet high industrial tanks they used for the mandarins (they had an equal size tank that would be best described as a refugium) specifically to feed the mandarins. They told me in their experience not many hobbyists can keep mandarins without monthly supplemental feedings of live pods (which it seems at least in canada is hard to come by reliably) This is however only their opinion, but I personally trust them. Even if they still sold them to people who probably couldn't look after them. A side not they stated that somewhere in the neighbnorhood of 2-3 out of every 10 would eat mysis and pellets. The few they managed to breed ate everything including flake food, so hoopefgully mandarins become another species that is bred in captivity for the trade, then we can leave the live ones alone.

As to your question I emailed my friend and she said you "can" do a 30g if you supplement live pods twice a Month. But a 4 foot tank is recomendended simply because mandarins will eat still they depletes...meaning they are constantly hungry and hunting and a 30g just doesn't have the places to hide. She also suggested putting a couple of those plastic flower/strawberry containers with a couple little holes/notches cut out of it upside down filled with chaeto and liverock rubble and specifically seed the pods to it. They will be able to multiply a bit that way. If you have a sump, then she suggested making as many of these "pod" homes that will fit in your sump. Or a gravity return refugium (sorry i am not sure what she meant, i have an idea but i will get her to clarify)



Just to point out how people have their facts wrong about this fish take a look at

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/green...agonettes.html
Notice they say minimum 20 gallon tank THEN down the page they say 75 with a refugium. At least they corrected their error.

Hope i helped a tad.

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy

.....she wanted to breed mandarins with her husband .....

Only problem was they were both Cantonese. badoom boom!

[dogboy]

Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer

Only problem was they were both Cantonese. badoom boom!

That actually dosent make a difference becuase i think i saw an article in the paper about that strange and un-natural union..... humans and fish apparently can breed... easier than clownfish

[Pan]

Originally Posted by dogboy

That actually dosent make a difference becuase i think i saw an article in the paper about that strange and un-natural union..... humans and fish apparently can breed... easier than clownfish

Nixon Fish?

[EmilyB]

I've kept mandarins for four years max. I also read that the pod thing isn't correct, that there are many worms and other life forms important in their nutrition. I never saw a mandarin eat a copepod.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

I've kept mandarins for four years max. I also read that the pod thing isn't correct, that there are many worms and other life forms important in their nutrition. I never saw a mandarin eat a copepod.

They eat any living little bug/worm/creature on the ocean floor really. copepods are just the main source of food the hobbyist can supply them. I am surprised you've never seen them eat a pod before though...wow

[Cameron]

I have my mandarin eating frozen mysis

[andresont]

Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy

They eat any living little bug/worm/creature on the ocean floor really. copepods are just the main source of food the hobbyist can supply them. I am surprised you've never seen them eat a pod before though...wow

There are many "pods": amphipods, isopods, copypods, ostrapods.
And they all differ in size Mandarin will eat the smallest first.