Mandarin goby

[thompson2224]

I want to put a mandarin goby in a 5 gallon tank for 4 months and then put it in a 55 gallon tank. I am hoping to train him to eat frozen food but I will also stock the tank with copepods regularly. I have done a lot of research on this fish and nothing has ever been mentioned on this fish needing space, the space has just been the issue to be able to provide the adequate amount of food. So is this something that could succeed until I put him in the 55? Or is this a bad idea? I want to put it in a 5.5 gallon at first to be able to train him to eat frozen food. I have a 20 gallon tank that is up and running that I have been adding pods to to build a good population for the 55 gallon tank I'm setting up.

[Neogenesis]

Getting a Mandarin to eat frozen is hit or miss.  Not all will eat it.  I would not recommend it, and even after you set up your 55, give it six months to a year so your tank is stable and will have a thriving pod population to feed that mandarin.

I would advise against it.

[Twizted1]

I found the key to getting a goby to eat frozen is have lots of pods already established in your tank. That way it don't starve. And with time it will figure out that the frozen Mysis is a source of food. I did se mine eat frozen for about 3-4 months. And he really only eats it now on occasions. So a well stocked pod supply is a must.

[Travis8896]

A 5.5 is too small even if you were to stock it with pods they eat constantly and would starve without a large thriving pod population.

[merlin3]

A 55 is really too small,  he will completely wipe out all the pods in a short period of time.  Healthy mandarins will usually start eating frozen mysis and brine from my experience.

[Westeri]

Question: So how does someone quarantine a Mandarin Goby?  I am a long way from that, but curiosity reigns supreme.   I am guessing you just have to have separate pod rearing tanks to provide him with a steady supply while in quarantine?

[Wall_Tank]

Question: So how does someone quarantine a Mandarin Goby?  I am a long way from that, but curiosity reigns supreme.   I am guessing you just have to have separate pod rearing tanks to provide him with a steady supply while in quarantine?

Mandarins have a very healthy immune system, they typically don't get the common ailments. But there is always a risk they carry something.  A large pod populated QT tank and then observe the fish.  It is a fine line between starving the fish and making sure that it doesn't carry anything nasty.

[lazylivin]

I have a little tip. At times Gerbers purchases a whole bunch of mandarin. They will have like 50 in one of their tanks. When they do ask them to feed some sinking pellets. Watch very carefully to see if you can see one eating it. That is the one to buy. If none eat pellets move up to some mysis. You can almost always find a couple in their tank that are eating. You have to watch closely to be sure they are actually eating it and not tasting it. This will give you a headstart. Then QT as you normally would. I am very fortunate to have found one that eats pellets. It is rare you would see a pod in my tank with the open and light rock work. But my Mandarin has got a healthy gut and had him for about 3 years.

[andys1982]

^ nice tip ^

[bbtm64]

Prawn eggs are also and good food for mandarins.

When you say pellets, I'm assuming you mean shrimp pellets? My mandarin is looking a little thin. He eats LES pretty well but not all the time.

[Miles]

There was an article about this in Coral magazine at the end of  2011 written by Matt Penderson. It talked about training them to eat frozen food along with breeding and general care.  He recommends using a small tank or breeder net when training them to eat. He also recommends a small tank between 10 and 30 gallons for breeding.

I have one in my 75 right now. Ordered it from Live Aquaria. Its been eating frozen brine and mysis since day one. I target feed it everyday just to make sure its getting fed, and she seems to be doing fine.

You would probably be fine keeping one in a small tank for a while, just make sure you use that time to train it to eat something other than copepods.

You can read back issues of Coral Magazine free through the Apple Newsstand app, so go check out that issue if you can.

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[Miles]

I may have lied about Coral Magazine being free in the Newsstand app... It used to be free, then they changed it to subscription, it looked to me like they changed it back, but apparently not. Something has changed though, because I can access some of them for free, while others prompt me for a subscription. I can get to the Mandarin issue, so give it a try, but it may not work....


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