keeping a mandarin goby?

[reeffreak]

They are actually real hardy,they are not suspectible to Ich,flukes etc.There diet is what makes them hard to keep.

[Doc]

I agree. Diet is the main problem, that and aggressive tank mates. they can be scared into hiding during feeding time and not come out even if they are taking frozen food. Tank mates are as important as feeding IMO

-Doc

[daugherty]

Yes they are very shy the one that i had if you walked by the tank it was gone and you would not see it again for hours.

[fatman]

Look at whether you have food competitors. Do not consider a Mandarin if you expect him to compete with brittle stars, some gobies and the like. Just keep things in your sand bed that eat detritus and bacteria, and no more , if you want a Mandarin. Mandarins are not competitive fish and simply starve when they need to compete. Do not expect a tank by itself to provide a good home for a Mandarin without a long maturation period, and usually that even requires a few inoculations. Something like 18 months or so to mature a tank for Mandarins. Of course you can run culture facilities for food, but that is another topic large enough in itself. There are also culture packages. Just Google plankton cultures. Culture packages are pure strains and inoculation packages are usually mixed organisms.

[fatman]

Try out this site for some Mandarin info. http://reefcentral.com/modules.php?n...showpage&pid=3

[Toni White]

Hi everyone, Guess what, Ididn't know they didn't eat frozen food. I've had one for about 5 months. What do you mean they wither away, and how long will that take? Come to think of it. I've not see it eat frozen food either. What do you mean by eat pods? I have a 180 gallon tank for three years. The only thing that's happened is that I sudenly keep loosing corals. Mushrooms,Colts,ect.... I do water changes and also have had my water checked by the reef shop. What's your ideas? Toni

[Bifferwine]

Hi Toni. If yours has survived for five months, it's eating something. Most die within a month or two of starvation. If yours is still alive, then I wouldn't worry about it eating, it's probably eating when you're not looking since they are such shy fish. A tank your size and a few years old probably has a pretty healthy pod population, enough to sustain a mandarin.

About your losing corals, can you post what your water parameters are? And have you ever treated your tank with any sort of medication? And what kind of lights do you have?

[reeffreak]

Most of my reading on mandarins is that you can't claim success with them until one year.It can take up to six months before they actually starve to death.I do agree with Biff,with a tank that size and maturity with plenty of live rock then it will most likely sustain a mandarin.

[Doc]

so much of success is about their tankmates as well. even if they would take frozen fare, but if they have aggressive tankmates, they will hide and starve. I had one that was eating frozen and he just never came out...a month later...he was dead. It is encouraging for you to have him for so long tho. Hope he stays strong

-Doc

[fatman]

Lots of old aged rock and sand, and lots of nooks and crannies they can get into that larger fish can not get into. They do well with rubble piles, as they can get into small areas to get to pods and such that like to breed and hide in rubble where they are protected from larger fish.