Mandarin Fish Factfile

[MR Teee]

The Mandarin Fish

Synchiropus splendidus



Synchiropus picturatus



As you may have have guessed there are 2 different sorts of mandarin fish, however they are very much the same in terms of care and requirements.


Requirements

• Your reef tank should have already been established for at least six months to one year.
• You need to have a minimum of 50kG of Live Rock.
• It is recommended to having a working refugium incorporated and teaming with 'pods' of all kinds.

Mandarin fish lack scales and instead have a rather thick, slimy, mucus coating on their bodies. This coating tends to make them rather resistant to parasitic skin diseases. If a Mandarin does get sick DO NOT use any heavy metal based medications (e.g. copper sulfate). Such medications cause an increase in body slime production and the fish can literally suffocate in their own body slime.

In fact, this holds true for most scale-less fish such as gobies and blennies.

Selection

The first thing that should be considered when selecting any fish is its overall health.
Are the eyes clear? Are there any apparent wounds? Are the fins torn, or cloudy? Does the breathing rate appear to be normal? Does the fish scratch or have any white spots that do not belong on it? Is it moving and swimming normally? Does the fish accept feeding at the local fish shop?
I don't suggest purchasing any fish without first seeing it eat, and mandarins are no exception to this. Although many times, fish will accept food when given time to acclimate to aquarium life, your odds of obtaining an animal that will survive more than a short time are better with specimens that you can be sure are eating well in captivity. Given the likelihood that you will see specimens that may have been exposed to cyanide poisoning, it makes testing them this way all the more important. If the fish you have your eye on does not eat, go back to the shop another day and ask them to try to feed it again. Any reputable shop will not sell fish they know are not eating to their customers anyway.

Check the underside of the stomach area for signs of malnutrition in both species. They all too often will be in some stage of starvation. Specimens that have concave stomachs are best avoided; some of them will recover and some will not, even if they are eating at the time you observe them in the store. Ask the local fish shop to feed any specimen that does not have a rounded stomach for a few days and see if it quickly recovers it's body weight. If it does rapidly begin the regain a healthy rounded body shape, then it can be given further consideration. Since so many that are available to purchase have lost body weight, it would be a shame not to give them a second chance to show if they will recover.

Sexing

look for an extended first dorsal ray in the males. The spendidus have a more pronounced difference in this first ray than do the pituratus. Males grow larger than females. Only one male should be kept per tank as they will otherwise fight. More than one female can be kept in the aquarium, given a large enough tank to accommodate their needs. I.e at least 50kg Live rock per fish.

Smaller specimens have a better chance to adapt to captivity, as is the case with many species of fish. This may also contribute to the length of time the fish is kept, as the smaller specimens are generally younger fish. Don't be alarmed by the night coloration of a Mandarin that has been in a dark tank. This is perfectly normal, although many people have reported they thought their fish were dead the first time they encountered a pale white Mandarin.

Feeding

Mandarins tend to be rather picky eaters, preferring to feed from the bottom. Due to the relatively small size of their mouth they must be
fed only small food items or finely chopped foods. As mentioned above they appear to do much better in aquariums with abundant live rock. This may be due to the fact that there is an abundance of natural food items for them to feed on. In such an aquarium they will spend most of the day grazing amongst the substrate searching for food items such as small crustaceans (e.g. Mysids, amphipods, isopods and benthic copepods), small worms and protozoans.
If you have a well stocked reef tank you will probably never have to give any additional feedings to your Mandarins. If you do decide to try
additional feedings you can try baby brine shrimp, frozen/live Mysis shrimp or adult brine shrimp. In some cases it may help to turn off
you water pumps and filters such that the food can settle to the bottom first so that the fish can get to them. If your Mandarins are
housed with larger, more aggressive fish, they will not get to the food in time. In any event, keep in mind that Mandarins are not big
eaters so any additional feedings should consist of small quantities of finely chopped foods.

[lasgringo]

a nice read,very informative,thanks adam:)

[ROB]

Very good all the info I needed on the fish on one page,


Very well done:D :D :D,


Regards Rob.

[mousehunter22]

outstanding adam is this the start of the factfile thingy that eric was sorting?

[MR Teee]

Yeah first draft of one.

I think it could do with a summary box, to capture all the info at a glance.

What would be good is if we keep adding to it as people post up comments on their own experiences.

e.g -> slow moving, and a hitchhiking crab can eat them, or Mine feeds beter if the food is soaked in Garlic.

[moorish]

an excellent read,just what we need.derek

[MrK]

Quality Info Adam.
Could we make this a sticky under Fish facts??? Not sure if this can be done or not:D

Mark

[mousehunter22]

a summary box is a good idea so we could just use it as a at a glance guide,get the full info if required or just glance at the summary if your on your way to the LFS:D

[stevieh]

well done looks good:)

[Tangman]

Hi Adam thats the type of thing i was thinking about, also if we can add minimum tank size and feeding etc that would be good. Eric