considering mandarin dragonette pair

[russ-iv]

kept one in my 220 but wondering if 265 could house a second.

livestock currently:
2 clowns
BTA
skunk cleaner
1 regal tang
1 yellow tang
1 melenarus wrasse

debating the watchman goby and pistol

 

[genesis]

Really depends on your pod population. How mature your reef is and how often you plan on adding more pods. I've kept my mandarin for over 6 month now but I let my reef mature for over a year before I considered adding it. I also setup a baby brine shrimp hatchery to supplement food for the mandarin

 

[russ-iv]

Genesis;1035736 wrote: Really depends on your pod population. How mature your reef is and how often you plan on adding more pods. I've kept my mandarin for over 6 month now but I let my reef mature for over a year before I considered adding it. I also setup a baby brine shrimp hatchery to supplement food for the mandarin

yeah. im attempting skimmerless due to phyto getting sucked up so hard.

my old 220 i had to supplement once every 2 months for the first 6 months. just not sure if i have enough volume.

 

[jennm]

The wrasse will compete with them for food, but if the tank is mature that shouldn't be a big issue in a system that size.

Jenn

 

[russ-iv]

JennM;1035801 wrote: The wrasse will compete with them for food, but if the tank is mature that shouldn't be a big issue in a system that size.

Jenn

after thinking about this i may just add one first, monitor, and if all is well add the second. im assuming female first? or are females dominant like clowns?

thanks

 

[jennm]

I don't think it matters much. I could be wrong on that though. I had a male for quite some time before adding a female to the same tank, and had no problems.

 

[crew]

If you have a refugium, you will be fine. Without one, you'll still probably be fine, but I'd imagine you'd have to wait on the reef maturing a bit.

 

[russ-iv]

Bassett22;1036422 wrote: I think volume of live rock matters more then volume of water. Do you have an estimate of how much rock you have? Your tank is certainly large enough to keep a pair without any issues, but if you have very little rock to provide pods places for breeding, then they might eat the tank dry quickly.

180 in the display
120 in the fuge

 

[russ-iv]

Crew;1036433 wrote: If you have a refugium, you will be fine. Without one, you'll still probably be fine, but I'd imagine you'd have to wait on the reef maturing a bit.

Yeah i want to wait til my rocks are covered in green. i did dose 10 gallons of phyto/pods while i cycled to hasten it though.