Mandarin Goby

[Dun3r]

Hey I'm new to Saltwater but not to fresh water after owning a Beta for over 7 months. Anyways I have a question, what fish is good to put with a Mandarin Goby? It looks real lonely so I'm wondering.

 

[Navarre]

Mandarins will go with just about any fish. They dont usually get picked on as they taste foul!

Be careful though, Mandarins are by no means a begnners fish, they require specialist care when it comes to feeding sue toheir specilised diet. If you have one that feeds on frozen food then you really do have a prize!
If your mandarin (Mandarins arent actually gobies, they are Dragonettes) does take artificial food or frozen then make sure it gets enough as they are slow feeders and can easily get pushed out of the food fight with more lively fish.

 

[hyrookin]

hey dun3r, I just wanted to add that if you want to get another fish only
because he might be lonely, don't worry about that. as navarre said, if
he is eating frozen food, you have a good chance of keeping him healthy
and adding another fish may change that. so if you are in no rush to get
another fish, then you should think about making it a species tank and
concentrate on the mandarin, as they are a very tough fish to keep long
term(mostly due to their feeding and dietary requirements).
good luck!

 

[impur]

Mandarins are grazers, which means they eat constantly all day long in the wild. They mostly feed on pods that live in the LR and LS. In the aquarium, they can eat an entire tanks pod population in a short time, which is why most people can only keep these fish for about a year (give or take depending on tank size) then the fish starves to death. I suggest you do extensive reading and research before you add this fish to your tank, especially since your only experience is a betta (which requires next to no care).

Just to add one more thing, even if your mandarin is eating frozen food, you must be aware of the diet these fish need. You cannot rely solely on one type of food, or the fish will ultimately die of malnutrition.

 

[Dun3r]

Right now I'm currently feeding him Mysis shrimp, whats the most recomennded food for fish other than Mysis Shrimp?

 

[impur]

You will need to feed it more than just mysis if you want to keep it healthy. I suggest cyclop-eeze, gut-loaded baby brine, krill, plankton, chopped silversides, and formula 1 & 2. Its spendy to keep beautiful fish thats for sure (which is one of the reasons i won't keep one!!)

 

[Navarre]

Good advice by impur. Mysis is a good food, far better than brineshrimp as thtat is almost totally devoid of nutrition! I use cyclopeze and highly recomend it. Krillis good as it has a varied diet in it. try to feed little and often with as many different types as possible.

 

[tashanbrown]

i have marin fish myself and you could put a regal tang in there

 

[impur]

i have marin fish myself and you could put a regal tang in there

How can you suggest that without knowing his tank size? These fish require room for CONSTANT swimming. No less than 70 gal is suggested.

 

[Navarre]

Impur is right, tangs cant go into just any tank. The problem is that most LFS sell these without giving much concern to the new reefer. They see a small sailfin or nice little "Dory" (Regal Tang) and buy them for their home tanks.

They dont realise that these fish grow incredibly big and are open water swimmers. If anyone saw tangs in their wild state they would realise that they are not like clowns or dwarf angels that have small territories, the territory of a tang ranges for miles!

Regal tangs and other similar shaped tangs are probably the ones needing most space (anyone seen the space a Sohal tang requires? )
Yellow tangs and similar shaped tangs require slightly less space IMO but i do mean "SLIGHTLY" Tangs should not even be attempted in a system less than 75 gallons (UK) IMO.

 

[Max]

Impur is right, tangs cant go into just any tank. The problem is that most LFS sell these without giving much concern to the new reefer. They see a small sailfin or nice little "Dory" (Regal Tang) and buy them for their home tanks.

They dont realise that these fish grow incredibly big and are open water swimmers. If anyone saw tangs in their wild state they would realise that they are not like clowns or dwarf angels that have small territories, the territory of a tang ranges for miles!

Regal tangs and other similar shaped tangs are probably the ones needing most space (anyone seen the space a Sohal tang requires? )
Yellow tangs and similar shaped tangs require slightly less space IMO but i do mean "SLIGHTLY" Tangs should not even be attempted in a system less than 75 gallons (UK) IMO.

75g uk converts to... (i think 55ish.) i was planning on having one in a 56bowfront (us)for my next tank think that would be ok?

 

[Navarre]

Wrong way around UK gallons are larger than US gallons.

If you have 75 UK gallons this will convert to 90.07 US gallons.

My 100 gallon= 120.09

So if you dont meet these volumes in US gallons i would recomend you not try tangs. They will stress out and regals are especially prone to whitespot. I have seen a few tanks with tangs in small setup that get whitespot and then they wpe the entire tank out with it.

Perhaps a dwarf angel would be better suited? they are just as colourful and need far less swimming room. Very few fish can match the splender of a Coral beauty or Flame angel (at that size)