Mandarin rescue

Jeremy1988 · 11/18/2017, 04:53 PM

Hey guy...okay. So I have had my 90 gallon reef tank up for over 2 years now. The sand bed is about 3-4" all around...lots of LR. The tank has been doing well...no crashes etc. I'v seeded it with various pods thru out the time I have owned it. Current fish are as follow, Tomini Tang, Pink skunk clown, scissortail dart, zebra barred dart, blue assessor, swalsi basslet and a tanaka pygmy wrasse.

So I have this mostly awesome LFS. And they had like 7 mandarins in a 30 gallon tank or smaller. I did not plan on buying a mandarin...although I know the dangers in owning on. Well this pet store is cheap...they were selling them for 15 bucks. I know I have a good pod population bc I can see them on the glass even with the lights on. Me being me...I got the smallest runt of the litter...know that he was probably going to starve anyways. His stomach is a little pinched

. He immediately started eating...AND looks to be doing fine. I can see him trying to eat pods etc...I also I guess fortunately have been having a slight brown hair algae problem...which I imagine will harvest pods. I DO NOT run a refigum...

My question is A is this just a death sentence for this fish seeing as how he was already juvenille and skinny and probably WILL not bounce back...and or B do you think my tank is mature enough etc to support him. The only fish I was slightly worried about was the wrasse out competing him...but I rarely see my wrasse nipping at the rocks and grazing, and hes been in the tank well over a year. Also how long before I start to notice him plump back up and also signs they are doing well would be helpful. I DO NOT run chato either

JustinM · 11/18/2017, 06:31 PM

I think he will be fine. I have my mandarin in a 120 with multiple pod eating wrasses and mine is very fat.

When I bought mine, he had a pinched belly too and he went into a 20 long for QT. Many people keep mandarins in much smaller tanks.

11/18/2017, 04:53 PM	#1
Jeremy1988 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 209	Mandarin rescue Hey guy...okay. So I have had my 90 gallon reef tank up for over 2 years now. The sand bed is about 3-4" all around...lots of LR. The tank has been doing well...no crashes etc. I'v seeded it with various pods thru out the time I have owned it. Current fish are as follow, Tomini Tang, Pink skunk clown, scissortail dart, zebra barred dart, blue assessor, swalsi basslet and a tanaka pygmy wrasse. So I have this mostly awesome LFS. And they had like 7 mandarins in a 30 gallon tank or smaller. I did not plan on buying a mandarin...although I know the dangers in owning on. Well this pet store is cheap...they were selling them for 15 bucks. I know I have a good pod population bc I can see them on the glass even with the lights on. Me being me...I got the smallest runt of the litter...know that he was probably going to starve anyways. His stomach is a little pinched . He immediately started eating...AND looks to be doing fine. I can see him trying to eat pods etc...I also I guess fortunately have been having a slight brown hair algae problem...which I imagine will harvest pods. I DO NOT run a refigum... My question is A is this just a death sentence for this fish seeing as how he was already juvenille and skinny and probably WILL not bounce back...and or B do you think my tank is mature enough etc to support him. The only fish I was slightly worried about was the wrasse out competing him...but I rarely see my wrasse nipping at the rocks and grazing, and hes been in the tank well over a year. Also how long before I start to notice him plump back up and also signs they are doing well would be helpful. I DO NOT run chato either

11/18/2017, 06:31 PM	#2
JustinM Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 1,215	I think he will be fine. I have my mandarin in a 120 with multiple pod eating wrasses and mine is very fat. When I bought mine, he had a pinched belly too and he went into a 20 long for QT. Many people keep mandarins in much smaller tanks.