To be or not to be... that is the Mandarin.

[Gweeds1980]

This might be a daft question, but here goes...

My wife came home the other day with a PBT as a gift... great. Wasn't on my list, bit she liked it and bought it.

She's not a reefer and this is the most interest she's ever shown in the tank.

She said she couldn't decide between the PBT and a Mandarin so had asked the guy in the store and he suggested the PBT because it would be easier to care for (and cost treble the Mandy no doubt).

So, in a bid to gain her interest a little more, I was thinking of buying a Mandy as a gift for her...

Long way round of asking if a Mandy will fit in and if I will need to train it to eat frozen etc or if it will have enough pods to be fat and happy.

My tank is 320g inc sump, params are all fine etc etc. There's about a 100l refuge which is rammed full of pods.

There's around 150kg of rock in the DT and about another 50 in the sump. The tank has been running 15 months now. There is a shallow sand bed in the DT.

Existing fish are (and here's my concern as 3 are avid pod eaters already):

2 x maroon clowns
3 x humbug damsels
The PBT who will come out of QT in 4 weeks
Orange shoulder tang
Regal tang
Yellow tang
Yellow coris wrasse (pod eater)
Blue wrasse (pod eater)
Copperband (pod eater)
Heniochus butterfly
Coral hawkfish
Caribbean blue bass

I have no issue in training one, but I know it can be a nightmare, so was hoping to avoid it if possible.

Ta muchly.

 

[Paul B]

"Training" a mandarin is a waste of time and it is the mandarin that trains you. They are an animal that are built to eat a pod or any tiny creature every 10 seconds.
Build a feeder such as this.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/why-you-should-use-a-feeder-for-some-fish.233564/

 

[Gweeds1980]

"Training" a mandarin is a waste of time and it is the mandarin that trains you. They are an animal that are built to eat a pod or any tiny creature every 10 seconds.
Build a feeder such as this.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/why-you-should-use-a-feeder-for-some-fish.233564/

Love it... as ever Paul, thanks

 

[Claus84]

I spot feed mine with cyclops in a feeder made out of a tupperware container with a mandarin sized hole in it, took a while for him to get the hang of it but now includes it in his pod hunting route and uses it at his leisure. the above feeders great but not for me as I work away and can't keep up with hatching bbs. Mines captive bred though so poss easier to switch to frozen than wild caught

 

[ngoodermuth]

^ the feeder is a good idea. Even without it your tank is probably large enough that it won't be an issue.

Also, I've had tremendous success keeping my Mandy fat in a 20g QT using nutrimar ova. Might be a good option for supplemental feeding.

But...I think you should buy her a pair, it's more romantic [emoji12]

 

[Paul B]

You are correct, I have been keeping mandarins for many years and I just invented that feeder maybe 15 years ago. But with the feeder the mandarins spawn regularly so it is just easier. Even if you have enough pods, the mandarin will do better with a feeder but they also should have a ready supply of wild pods.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Blue wrasse? If it's a blue flasher, then it's not a pod eater.

Your tank should be big enough for a mandy.

 

[Gweeds1980]

Blue wrasse? If it's a blue flasher, then it's not a pod eater.

Your tank should be big enough for a mandy.

Doh... green wrasse! Halichoeres chloropterus. He's definitely a pod eater... I've seen him!

 

[eatbreakfast]

Doh... green wrasse! Halichoeres chloropterus. He's definitely a pod eater... I've seen him!

H. chloropterus will be aggressive to the mandarin and yellow coris when it gets bigger. I would recommend removing him before adding a mandy.

 

[hbetanzo]

^ the feeder is a good idea. Even without it your tank is probably large enough that it won't be an issue.

Also, I've had tremendous success keeping my Mandy fat in a 20g QT using nutrimar ova. Might be a good option for supplemental feeding.

But...I think you should buy her a pair, it's more romantic [emoji12]

Hello, wondering if you can tell me how can I know when a mandarin is male or female... I have 3 tanks.. 50,30,13 gallons and I love the way a mandarin looks... but where should I put it( in case I buy it) ??

 

[RamsReef]

in your forth tank, a 120

 

[Paul B]

Hello, wondering if you can tell me how can I know when a mandarin is male or female... I have 3 tanks.. 50,30,13 gallons and I love the way a mandarin looks... but where should I put it( in case I buy it) ??

In this video, the larger one is the male. Look closely at his dorsal or top fin. Especially in the beginning. There is a sharp spike at the front of that fin that sticks straight up. The female has a soft, rounded dorsal fin,. The male doesn't always put that fin up so you need to look at them for a while to see it but they normally put it up every few seconds.


This is a female, you can tell by her fin. She is skinny here because that was just when I got her.


Female is in front here.


There mating here, female on the right.


Pregnant female, see the top fin, no spine.


This is a male, but he doesn't have his spine up. When you see it, you will immediately know if it is a male by that spike.

 

[hbetanzo]

In this video, the larger one is the male. Look closely at his dorsal or top fin. Especially in the beginning. There is a sharp spike at the front of that fin that sticks straight up. The female has a soft, rounded dorsal fin,. The male doesn't always put that fin up so you need to look at them for a while to see it but they normally put it up every few seconds.


This is a female, you can tell by her fin. She is skinny here because that was just when I got her.


Female is in front here.


There mating here, female on the right.


Pregnant female, see the top fin, no spine.


This is a male, but he doesn't have his spine up. When you see it, you will immediately know if it is a male by that spike.

Paul, thank you so much for the info!!!! You have a very beautiful pair !!!!!

 

[Gweeds1980]

H. chloropterus will be aggressive to the mandarin and yellow coris when it gets bigger. I would recommend removing him before adding a mandy.

The green is already 6 inches and happy playmates with the 5 inch yellow... is aggression likely to have shown itself already at those sizes? There's about 150kg of rock with plenty of swim throughs so am thinking that's keeping aggression down. Mandy a bad idea then?

 

[Gweeds1980]

@eatbreakfast... to give an idea of scale... the yellow tang and heni are fully grown. The yellow coris is about 18 inches further back in the tank that the green which is right up at the glass.

 

[eatbreakfast]

The green is already 6 inches and happy playmates with the 5 inch yellow... is aggression likely to have shown itself already at those sizes? There's about 150kg of rock with plenty of swim throughs so am thinking that's keeping aggression down. Mandy a bad idea then?

In many cases aggression would have already shown itself, but not always. Adding new fish can change dynamics in the tank, which in turn, can cause aggression where there wasn't any before.

IME H. chloropterus always becomes aggressive.

 

[mort]

IME H. chloropterus always becomes aggressive.

In the shop I was offered so many that had turned into monsters, normally after they had faded and were approaching full size. I stopped getting the small colourful juvi's after this.