Mandarinfish Really Hard To Keep Or Did I Just Get Lucky

[winngames]

i've had my mandarin fish now for about 8 months in a fish only tank with 10kg of live rock , it doesnt eat any frozen foods just whats on the live rock and its doin great my question is ... ive read loads of forums about mandarins dying weeks after purchase anyone know the main reason why ? and also should i buy more live rock to put into my 20g tank?

 

[Colin_T]

mandarinfish usually arrive at the shops in pretty poor conditiojn. Then they often get stuck in tanks without any rock and they starve. By the time most people get the fish they haven't eaten very much if at all, and have been moved from the ocean to various tanks and are quite stressed out.
Once they settle into a tank and have been there for a while they usually do well.

The only reason to put more rock in the tank would be to increase the amount fo rock that you have. Basically if it looks good now then leave it be. If there are lots of open areas and you want to fill them up, then add a bit more.

 

[Betta5]

Does yours feed on frozen food at all? I dont think they are hard to look after if you have the correct enviroment (like most fish)People buy them and put them in tanks which have either too little LR for it to survive or get one and it wont feed on frozen, so they are stuck with a fish which wont eat. They are such beautiful fish, people seem to just buy them even when they know it wont survive.

well heres to many happy years to a healthy mandarin (hopefully)

 

[winngames]

lol thanks, yeah it doesn't eat any frozen food not even live brine shrimp and from what Ive heard mandarins arnt supposed to survive in a 20G in fish only tanks. theres about 12kg of live rock in the tank, I'm looking to buy at least another 4kg of live rock and maybe some live rock rubble, would 16kg of live rock be over kill?