teddy Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 These fish should be given sunglasses, they are so cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 cool yes. more info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 It's a Mandarin Goby, one of the most difficult fish to keep in a marine aquarium. I have just started out another tank aimed at keeping one of these. Tricky bit is that they won't eat any other food other than copepods and amphipods which you have to breed in a separate attached tank called a refugium in which you have to grow chaeto algae or a full blown mini mangrove swamp if you can manage it. The pods breed and live here but trickle through into your main tank where the Mandarin feed off them. It will be about 6 months until my tank is ready to house one of these, just got the live reef rock from Fiji and will be starting out soon. I will post some pics when I get my Mandarin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
passingthru69 Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Those are some neat looking fish. But from what you explained, sounds like a full time chore just raising their food. Good luck on it and hope it works out ok for you. How many can you keep in one tank of average size before they crowd each other or run out of food source? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Awesome. Yes. I wish I could have pets, but my work schedule kills that idea. While salt-water fish are very pretty, I'm a big fan of African Chichlids for their ease of care. But still not "easy" enough for me to properly take care at this point in my life. That said, I prefer dogs. Big dogs (Akitas #1, retrievers, shepherds, Aussie cattle dogs are cool too). But same problem. Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 You shouldn't keep more than one unless you had a tank of about 300 gallons. You might be lucky if you had a pair, male and female and they paired up but the same sex mandarins will kill each other. The minimum size you should have is 75 gallons which is what I have with a refugium of 15 gallons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Awesome. Yes. I wish I could have pets, but my work schedule kills that idea. While salt-water fish are very pretty, I'm a big fan of African Chichlids for their ease of care. But still not "easy" enough for me to properly take care at this point in my life. That said, I prefer dogs. Big dogs (Akitas #1, retrievers, shepherds, Aussie cattle dogs are cool too). But same problem. Cheers, SD It is probably something to get into when you retire. I know what you mean though about the problem of travelling. I had a tank in Dubai but once whilst I was away my 3 year old daughter collected a tiny crab from the beach and brought it home in her little plastic bucket. My wife took great pleasure in putting the crab in my tank. The crab was about the size of a dime and she thought the thing would be a snack for one of my fish. Anyway, the bastard grew to about 8 inches and massacred every fish in my tank. The bastard even managed to chop up my anenome without getting stung. That was the end of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 sounds like a right old caffufle looking after them but worth it :thumbup: . do you remember fair ground goldfish you'd win that you took home in a small bag of water?.....they lived for years didn't they, tough little beggars. i had a catfish many moons ago that out grew 2 tanks and i put it in my pond, even when we moved house it suvived the trauma and lived in the new pond for years, only died when it froze solid nearly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I like it with a garlic sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carew66 Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Teddy, I am no expert at all, but I've got a lovely tank now (approx 75 gallons)and my mate (who is the expert) donated 6 red-bellied piranhas as 'starters' which I've kept because they really are fun to watch and much more placid than people think. Also in there are 5 Bala Sharks no problems and evil 'Tex' (Red Tex). Oh, and a pleco - he works hard. Now, my buddy in Banchang and his brother have both branched out into salt-water. I've seen the video of the tanks on his phone and I'm going up on Saturday to see them for real. I have a funny feeling that the next 6 months is going to see another 'installation'. I'm just taking it easy at the moment though and learning from the experts and researching on the net. I'm lucky with the Canadian guys who've been doing this for years and drop in for a beer and monitor that I'm doing everything right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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