mandarin goby

beeholtz · 07-02-2009, 06:15 PM

there isnt a forum to post about fish so i decided to put it here.
I recently decided to purchase a mandarin goby but the lfs was out so i got a green spotted mandarin goby not my first choice but cool, i have a 9 month established reef tank some mushrooms zoas nothing too crazy, its a 29 gallon, ammonia nitrite nitrate 0 ph 8.3 calcium 370, i have a 2 x 65 watt 1 actinic 1 8,000k bulbs, I have a maroon clown, coral banded shrimp, and the green spotted goby. am i able to house a mandarin goby with the green spotted one w/ oout problems. the reason i got the goby was because i have a copepod explosion for a month or two where they are out 24 hrs a day everywehre in my tank. is it possible to have a mandarin and a green spotted mandarin in this tank? thansk

lostanime · 07-03-2009, 12:08 PM

I'd strongly advise against mixing different dragonets (mandarins) in the same system - they've been known to very frequently hunt and kill each other in very large setups. Also - watch your mandarin closely to make sure the belly doesn't start concaving in. 29gal is not very much breeding ground for copepods to multiply with a mandarin devouring them 24/7 (they'll starve in small tanks after 3-6 months of destroying a copepod population)... they are also jumpers and are worth keeping a lid or egg crate on the top of your tank to avoid an early demise.

hyeteck · 07-07-2009, 05:35 PM

I had both mandarin and the green spotted gobies in my tank without any issues. From my experience, they should be fine together. A friend of mine had 3 of them in his 120gal.

lostanime · 07-08-2009, 08:54 AM

We have a local fish store that kills these every time they have a new employee that puts multiple males in the same tank. male mandarins are extremely territorial and will hunt each other down, even in large setups. experts in this field, such as Bob Fenner, frequently recommend only one mandarin per hundred gallons of aquarium.

I have to respectfully disagree with hyeteck's advice here, adding multiple within a 29 gallon is really playing with fire.

Judge · 07-08-2009, 12:14 PM

I have to agree with Lostanime. from everything I have read males should not be kept together. I am sure there are times when species get along but that is not the norm and certainly not worth the chance IMO.