Green Mandarins

[westiemarble]

Hi,

I would like peoples opinions and experiences on keeping green mandarins.

info on the internet would appear to be out of date - saying they are all wild caught and difficult to keep as they will only eat isopods and lots of them. My LFS has a couple which he believes are tank bred and they apparently eat brine shrimp and other 'normal' food stuffs.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[xxBarneyxx]

They are very difficult to keep (as are all dragonets which also includes scooter blennies).

You can get some now that will eat frozen food which makes it slightly easier. Make sure you see them eating frozen in the shop though and dont buy them if they look like they have sunken in bellies.

The probably with them is that even if they eat frozen food they often wont get chance to get to it when in a tank with other fish. With my scooter blenny I have to try and target fed him everyday to make sure he gets enough.

I would not recommend one unless you have a fairly large mature tank with loads of LR and a big pod population (even if it does it frozen).

 

[connorsbala]

I agree with Barney. IF you do see one that eats frozen..buy it! You are likely to have great success with it. But, they cannot live off of on just frozen foods...they also need to feed on Copepods, which can be intorduced into your aquarium via live rock. If you have enough live rock, they will multiply and stay in high numbers.
I personally keep Mandarins by getting them on to frozen foods, having copepod cultures running outside the tank (you can read up on these on google etc) and live rock and things such as Chaeto in the tank.
They are hardy creatures and dont get massive, but you do have to be comitted to them

 

[Trod]

I have recently bought a Tank breed, frozen food eating mandarin, I saw her eat in LFS and bought her straight away
I do spot feed her, which she is slowly getting used to, I also add extra copepods once a week, she is looking nice and plump and gorgeous to watch. If you are willing to put in the effort of looking after them properly then they are well worth it

 

[danni_69]

Mandarins are not that difficult to keep as long as you give them the right requirments. Which means you either need a refugium (cant spell) which will provide a good source of constant live food (zoo plankton), a large amount of live rock and a clurpa (cant spell again) type of algae. I've got one myself who's actual now gettin too fat due to too much food (he's greedy). It's best to get a mandarin who will eat frozen food just for peace of mind, and it's also a good idea to have a mature tank of about 4-6 months. Try not to get any other zoo plankton eating fish as this may dwindle the food supply in a smaller tank, so no other dragonettes really, unless it's a breeding pair (which is very rare to find in a tank)

To double check the natural food supply (zoo plankton) you could also check in the darker corner areas of the tank, or have a good look about an hour or two after the lights have gone out, to see if plankton is growing and surviving in the water. This way, you know the mandarin will get a good head start on natural feeding when he goes in.

Finally, you could add brine shrimp eggs (not shelled) as these will hatch pretty quick and give the mandarin more food to come by.

PS. If you are thinking on keeping a mandarin, please make sure you have the right knowledge under your belt, as 99.9% are wild caught and because of this, the species in the wild is under threat of extinction cuz people want them for the tanks from LFS.

Hope this helps

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah other than the difficultly feeding there are pretty easy to keep. Its just managing to keep them fed that is the biggest problem.

 

[seffieuk]

Mandarins are a really difficult fish to keep and should only be kept by people who are willing to give them what they need which is copods and lot's of them. The fish that eat frozen seem to be few and far between so always ask for proof (and even if they eat frozen they still need pods)! Mandarins need a vast supply of pods, if you are willing to culture them or buy them monthly you could be ok

Unless you are prepared to culture the pods or buy them in from a supplier (which is not cheap) your tank should be at least a year old and with at least 55lbs of lr

Having said that they are the most lovely of fish and seem to have their own little personalities - if you can give them what they need then you will surely have a lovely fish

Seffie x