Fish Compatibility

[Marlboro]

Can I put a green mandarin with a lawnmower blennie in a 75 gallon tank?? thanks

 

[dima96]

it should work if you can get them both eating prepeared food or provide pods for the mandarin and algae for the lawnmower. i personally have two mandarins and a lawnmower in my 125 but the lawnmower eats nori from a clip and one of the mandarins eat frozen mysis. theese fish will get along fine together you just need each one dietery needs.

 

[stang8s]

I have a lawnmower blennie and a mandarin in my 75. When I first got the blennie i had a ton of hair algae. The tank was very new then. After he finished it off, he would not eat anything else, he got very thin. I tried all sorts of things. Nori, algae wafers, frozen vegetarian mixes, etc.. I figured he was going to die, but then all of a sudden one day he just started eating flake.. Now he eats everything and anything and I have had him about 2 years. My mandarin is constantly picking at the sand and rocks, he has no interest in any prepared foods at all. I have had him about 1.5 years and he is happy and healthy.

 

[Marlboro]

Thanks guys !! I have a mandarin right now and he eats out of the rocks and seems happy.. I am gonna add a lawnmower soon

 

[NateHanson]

Someone should probably add that Mandarins are risky fish for a new tank. They often don't eat prepared food, and live rock can't sustain them until it's built up a large population of 'pods, which in my experience takes about 6 months for new rock. So if your rock is recently cycled, and your mandarin isn't one of the few that eats frozen food, it will likely starve to death in a month or so.

You could start training it now to take frozen food, by starting with live brine, and going from there. Or you could see if a reefer with a more established tank wants to buy your mandarin, and get another one in about 6 months.

These are beautiful fish and it sucks when they die (I know ).

 

[Marlboro]

Thanks for the pointers Nate, I ll try feeding him live brine. Id hate to kill a fish !!

 

[NateHanson]

Yeah, I'm sure you're not looking to torture anyone. We all make stocking mistakes in the begining. If you don't have Scott Michaels pocket-sized guide "Marine Fishes" you should pick it up as a late Christmas present for yourself. It's invaluable. That way you can do some quick research about a fish before you bring it home, to make sure you can take care of it, and that it won't eat all your other fish .

Nate