Can i keep a mandarin?

[jfingers8]

I have a 90 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. I have a little mini fuge going on in my sump. I have a bowl with a little bit of cheato and a couple of pieces of rubble rock. I have about 95 lbs. of live rock. For fish i have 3 green chromis, 2 tru perc clownfish, algae blenny, yellow watchman goby, purple firefish, flame angel, royal gramma and a foxface. Remember my fuge is just a little bowl but its still something. Would i be able to keep a mandarin without a problem or no?

[snorvich]

Should be ok as long as your tank has been established for a while, e.g. six months. But your bioload is pretty high for that size tank.

[AMF]

I would say 8months to a year before you get a Mandarin and if you are real lucky with time he will eat food ......Mine loves Formula one pellets ....he and my Lawnmower Blenny share them :)

[snappedbigfoot]

make sure your pods are real up and can stay up. otherwise he most likely will waste away

[george1532]

how long has your tank been up for, they need to have a tank with a lot of copepods so that the copepod have time to repopulate themselves thus the mandarin doesnt eat all the copepods then starve.

[jaugermeister]

I have seen them eat cyclopleeze in the water column, make sure you have a powerhead running when you feed so they think its alive. I have seen this work in many different tanks in my area, however it does help to have a healthy population of pods in your tank to supplement it's diet.

[mike89t]

I've had my mandarin in my 150 for about 4 months now. he is constant hunting for pods. I never saw him eat anything I added to my tank until recently. Now I see him going after enriched brine shrimp all the time. He is starting to get nice and fat.

I also have a fuge with Chaeto so that may help.

[hanas]

You have enough live rock to support a lot of pods, it's just a matter of how long your tank has been up and running. I would wait at least 6-10 months to ensure a decent population.

[crazyguy34834]

I have never seen mine eat either but I have had her for for at least a month and she is still alive. I have 120lb of live rock and the tank is at least 7 months old. Kust to make sure she survives I am going to start feeding the tank live brine shrimp, she should like that.