Mandrian Question

[fish_lover09]

hello how big of a tank would i need to keep one of these a few places on the web says 30 gallon and others say 70gallon just wonder what u guys know on this
thanks for ur help

 

[-Nemo-]

Personally, I wouldn't put one in a tank under 55G. The larger tank the better because it will have more LR. The tank also needs to be mature, about a year old.

The problem with Mandarins is that they hunt copepods. Next to none eat frozen foods at this time. Even if you find or train yours to eat frozen, they still need copepods. They hunt constantly all day long, therefore they need a constant supply of food to hunt. You also have to be careful about adding fish which also naturally hunt copepods. Fish like scooter blennies, six line wrasses. Only way to get away with it in a smaller tank would be to manually add copepods every so often imo.

Sadly many of them die after 4 or 5 months because of slow starvation.

 

[fish_lover09]

Personally, I wouldn't put one in a tank under 55G. The larger tank the better because it will have more LR. The tank also needs to be mature, about a year old.

The problem with Mandarins is that they hunt copepods. Next to none eat frozen foods at this time. Even if you find or train yours to eat frozen, they still need copepods. They hunt constantly all day long, therefore they need a constant supply of food to hunt. You also have to be careful about adding fish which also naturally hunt copepods. Fish like scooter blennies, six line wrasses. Only way to get away with it in a smaller tank would be to manually add copepods every so often imo.

Sadly many of them die after 4 or 5 months because of slow starvation.

ok m8 thanks for the info ill leave it seems bit to much for me and i dont want to keep one just to be killin it from day one

 

[Trod]

You can keep a mandy in a smaller tank, not recommended for a beginner though, I kept mine in a nano, untill my upgrade, as long as you supply them with copepods they will, hopefully, be fine, make sure you buy a nice fat one. have a look here http/www.reefworks.co.uk/default.asp?section=37&subpage=3922, they sell packs, or you could start your own culture, which is very easy.
I was lucky enough to find a tank bred one, (very hard to find) she was a tiny baby when I got her, some 18 months on she is now a big fatty