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Are Green Mandarines Fairly hardy becuase I'm thinking about adding one to my 20 gallon tank buts its fairly new. Like 2 to 3 months.

They are very hardy. Actually they are resistant to most parasites such as Ick and other things because of their unique slime coat.

Unfortunately they cannot survive with a large amount of live foods. This is something your 20 gallon tank will not be able to provide for them, so you won't be able to get one and expect to keep it alive. It will starve to death.

I would also recomend agenst it. They are hard to keep alive.



Dan

I've actually had excellent luck w/ mine but i've heard mainly stories that they are hard to keep. I've had mine in my reef for just over a year and a half now and even purchased a psychadelic mandarin about 2 weeks ago. They get along pretty well. I've gotten mine to accept frozen mysis and some pellets (mainly mysis tho). I wouldn't reccomend it tho unless you know what your doing. I have to shoot my mysis down behind the live rock tho so the power heads pick them up and carry them around, that's the only way the mandarins will get them is when they're moving around.

The biggest thing is, the mandarin requires copopods to survive. It may eat other foods you place in the tank, but it needs the copopods to live. So, they need to be placed in tanks that are at least 6-12 months old, so there is an ample supply of living copopods that can reproduce while others are getting eaten by the mandarine. With this in mind, it is always highly recommended the tank be at min 75-90 gals, so as to house enough living copopods, that the mandarine does not eat them all up, thus cutting off thier supply of needed foods.

HTH.....

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There is always a bigger fish...

I have heard about feeding them flatworms, would this be a good idea?

They may eat flatworms, but it wont keep them alive. Anyways...thats something you probably dont want to add to your tank.

good luck finding one that will eat flatworms....mine wont touch em.

I also recommend against getting one....unless of course you are able to pack 150 lbs of live rock into your 20 gallon, and are running a fuge.

Well I guess the mandarine idea is completely out but what about a scooter blenney? They arn't the most colorful fish but they have an amusing behavour.

They have the same requirements as a Mandarin fish, so a Scooter Blenny would also be out of the question.

Yep, stay away from them too.



Dan

Actually the scooter blennies don't have the same requirements. They are in the same family of fish, but are a little easier to keep. And, their food sources/requirements are a little different. The scooter blennys are sand sifters, and don't scope out the rock as much. IMO, a 20 gal is a little small for one of these guys, but I have seen them kept in them, and they have lived long. With this critter, my advice is you can try one, but I would not add more than one of these to your tank. Also, if you can find one, there is a variety of these guys that is an awesome red. I used to have one in my big reef. He lived in there for about 2 years. He was in there before it became a reef, when it was a FOWLR. I think one of my other fish I added a few months ago, took him out.

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There is always a bigger fish...