# Ratios of Cleaners to Food to Copepods to Mandarin Goby



## cbusexaminer (Jun 12, 2010)

Alrighty, I've tried to get this going twice now and can't manage to keep my copepods alive long enough to reproduce. It's probably not so much a bad ratio of pods to Mandarin but moreso nitrate spikes. What ive used both times are Tigger Pods but they seem really fragile to any kind of spike. It's just a crazy mess. 

My new plan is to use my 14 gallon Biocube to amass a bunch of 'pods to transfer into my main tank and then attempt my 3rd goby. 

Sound like a decent plan?


----------



## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

I think the size of your tank will play a huge part. It can be very difficult to maintain a thriving population of copepods unless the tank is rather large in size. The other fish choices will impact this as well. For example, members of the Centropyge genus will spend their day grazing on 'pods, making it even more difficult to sustain a population to provide adequate nutrition for a mandarin.


----------



## cbusexaminer (Jun 12, 2010)

it's only a 29 gallon aquarium... but we'll see what happens
i need a good cleaning crew first, once i get the $$$


----------



## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Honestly, when it comes to keeping Mandarins in small aquariums, it has been tried literally thousands of times. Even with a refugium the odds of success are virtually zero. Most people drastically underestimate the size of copepod population needed to sustain a Mandarin. Unfortunately a 29 gallon tank just doesn't have the space to accomplish this. Trust me, this is one of my favorite fish, but there is no reason to unnecessarily sacrifice a fish in the name of learning an outcome already well documented.


----------



## cbusexaminer (Jun 12, 2010)

Pasfur said:


> Honestly, when it comes to keeping Mandarins in small aquariums, it has been tried literally thousands of times. Even with a refugium the odds of success are virtually zero. Most people drastically underestimate the size of copepod population needed to sustain a Mandarin. Unfortunately a 29 gallon tank just doesn't have the space to accomplish this. Trust me, this is one of my favorite fish, but there is no reason to unnecessarily sacrifice a fish in the name of learning an outcome already well documented.



I've read that in a lot of other places too but there are people that have had luck/the ability to keep them in nanos. The "not long enough to reproduce" from my original post was a bit exaggerated. My first goby was part of my first and only slow tankwide die-out (when it was in my biocube) that started when an anemome died inside my liverock and i didnt notice. The second goby lasted about 2 months before some phantom nitrate spike killed off my remaining 'pods. At least thats my assumption. I started to see less and less on the glass and swimming around after the inital reproduction period.

I think my issue has always been my amount of cleaners in the tank. At this moment it's definitely my issue.


----------



## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

Pasfur said:


> Honestly, when it comes to keeping Mandarins in small aquariums, it has been tried literally thousands of times. Even with a refugium the odds of success are virtually zero. Most people drastically underestimate the size of copepod population needed to sustain a Mandarin. Unfortunately a 29 gallon tank just doesn't have the space to accomplish this. Trust me, this is one of my favorite fish, but there is no reason to unnecessarily sacrifice a fish in the name of learning an outcome already well documented.


 
i just want to expand alittle on what "success" is.

you may have the fish for a month, two heck even 6 but think of the fish's life span in the wild.. unless prayed on by a larger fish, they can live for years. ive heard of many fish keepers having clowns 10+ years so on terms of success, long term is what success means.

i personally dont think a 29 is enough for a mandarin even after it has been established for about a year because the mandarins are just to good at pod hunting and will have your population gone in a few days. adding tiger pods can get very expensive fast so my best advice to you would be to skip the mandarin and go with a different fish.


----------

