adding fish question

[zoalover34]

After i get my tank cycled these are some fish i would like to see in my tank.. my question is which should go in first and last.. will they get along with each other..
2 Maroon Clowns
1 Yellow Tang
1 Mandrin Goby

i think ill get a sand sifter but i don't know what is best. should i get a cucumber or what? and what about snails should i put some in and i would like to maybe put some shrimp in also but once again im not sure what is the best type to add.. i would love some more fish in there but those ones really catch my eye.. i think i would have to put the Tang, Goby, then the Clowns in that order.. how many fish could i keep in a 55gal. without overloading it? any advice on other fish types to put in would be great! thanks

 

[Pure]

Your tank is a 55 gal right? Do make sure you have a large pod population before adding the mandarin. You may or may not be able to get it to eat prepared foods.

Lordroad can help with keeping these guys alive. It's no walk in the park i can tell you that much.

 

[dbacksrat]

The two clowns will probably dominate that tank. If you do add the tang, he should probably be added near the end, the same with the mandarin if you decide to go that route.

 

[zoalover34]

yea i read the mandrin canadate post! It was really helpful.. at the only LFS near me they have 3 of them and the all eat brine shrimp.. i know thats not a good sorce of food for them but if i mix mysis with the brine they should eat that and i found a few places online that sells pods so ill be getting those along w/ some mysis and brine.. what other fish would be good to add w/ the ones i have listed? any info would be great! Thanks

 

[Lorna]

Do you have a refugium or sump with that 55g? that is the only way I would consider a mandarin and then only after the tank has been up and running for almost a year without any other main pod predators.......the tang is going to be borderline in a 55g they do like room to swim and most don't recommend them in anything less than a 48" tank.....the maroons are a good choice as long as you get a mated pair as it may be difficult to mate them up on your own without a back up plan if they don't suit each other. I would be leary about getting an anemone for the clowns as your tank is too new and I am not sure about your lighting...........

 

[kevin4052002]

Yellow tang will be fine if your 55 is the typical 48", but make sure to add it LAST. Maroons are possibly the most difficult clowns to pair, try and get your LFS to pair them for you. Some type of sand sifting goby would be nice, maybe a diamond watchman.

Just make sure not to stock too heavily, it will make things a lot easier on you and your fish.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

yup...my yellow tang didn't like 2 fishies introduced in the tank after him...he took care of them in no time. R.I.P. pricy fishies

 

[dbacksrat]

My friend has a yellow tang in his 200 gallon that won't let any new fish have a break. This thing is evil!

 

[zoalover34]

i didn't think tangs were that mean! guess he will be going in last lol.

 

[wayne]

Maroon clowns are nice, but very aggressive. I think that apart from the feeding issue that will whip the mandarin butt.
With those fish you have a hawk would be a good choice, or a dwarf angel, but both of those would compete with the mandarin, as will any other gobies and blennies. Having a mandarin really limits your fish choices in small tanks

 

[zoalover34]

what fish would you recomend to keep if i go the mandarin route in the end? i probably will since its my fav. fish by far to look at! i was reading somewhere that you can't keep 2 in the same tank b/c they will fight? is this true.. not that i would want to keep 2.. from what i have read it will be hard enough keeping one happy and alive! thanks

 

[Joe Fish]

Gobies need a good established substrate to feed on. Especially the Mandarin and I think the Diamond. Having two, yes the probably would fight, but having enough natural food would be difficult to keep up unless you had a heavily populated refugium or sump. I agree that Mandarin has a beautiful color to it. I'm looking at a yellow watchman gobie right now. They don't seem to be as hard to keep properly feed.

 

[Zman16]

Yellow watchman gobies are cool and easy to care for! *thumbsups

 

[aresgod]

just so you all know a mandarin is not a "goby" it is commonly mislabeled as such, it is actually a dragonet.

 

[wayne]

Mandarins have been captive bred a few times, and are quite easy to sex, and quite a few people keep pairs. 2 males scrap. As far as fish to go with them, do them a favour and get nothing that competes for food with them. Leaving you with clowns, chromis, plankton feeders, tangs.... no wrasse, gobies, blennies, dottybacks grammas, hawks and so and so forth. Too limiting for me

 

[saltwater84]

Hey if you do get a mandrain, use a turkey baster and keep on squirking live brine or frozen brine shrimps in front of the goby, eventually, he or she will eat the brine. This is how I got my mandrain to eat prepared food in a 20gals.
Still in progress of getting my mandrain to eat mysis, he does eat it but spits it back out.

 

[zoalover34]

the mandrains in the LFS by me eat brine thats the only thing that they are feeding them.. they sell copepods but don't feed them any? kinda weird and they only have them in like a 20gal. maybe w/ 1 very small LR w/ no good algae or anything.. they have been in there for over a month but they do kinda look "skinny" probably because no good stuff in the brine? anyways thanks for the thoughts on the fish i can use w/ em

 

[aresgod]

if they look "skinny" dont buy them, it is very difficult to nurse a mandarin back to health and more often than not even with the right conditions they still die...you want them to look plump and healthy.

 

[zoalover34]

yea i know.. in their display tank they have 1 and he is pretty fat its kinda sad to look at the other 4 they have and compair them to the show tank one and you can see a huge difference in the way they look.. oh well can't do much about it.. so far they are the only LFS i have seen that keep them in stock.. ill keep checking around.. im not gonna get one for like 6 months or later.. what can i do to get my copepod population booming before i put one in? from what ive read when you get some in there they start breeding like crazy .. maybe after i get my tank cycled i can buy a few things of copepods and put them in and in 6-8 months hopefully they will have doubled the population or more..

 

[fish outa wata]

the lfs by me also has copepods and mandarins. I bought a bottle yesterday and they are everywhere in the tank, but from all that I have read the madarin would blow through them in a short time. I still haven't decided on whether or not I am going to buy one, I would hate to watch a fish slowly starve to death.