Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Green Mandarin - (Synchiropus splendidus)

The head and body of the Green Mandarin, also known as the Striped Mandarinfish or Green Mandarinfish, are a mazelike combination of blue, orange, and green. Males may be distinguished from females by their more-elongated first dorsal spine. It is extremely popular with aquarists because of its unusual beauty.

It should be kept in a well-established 30 gallon or larger aquarium with live rock, live sand, TONS of copepods, and plenty of hiding places. It is moderately hardy in reef aquariums if given special care. It is not overly aggressive towards other fish, except for conspecifics.

The Green Mandarin has been known to spawn successfully in an aquarium.

It feeds on a variety of vitamin-enriched live brine shrimp, live black worms, and natural prey on live rock and live sand. Make sure you have an established tank with a refugium with healthy pod growth. Green Mandarins will constantly swim around and look for copepods to eat. That's pretty much what they do all day long.

If you cannot maintain an abundance of copepods for this fish to seek out and eat, it will, most likely, not survive. While it's true that some of these fishes have been trained to east prepared foods, the majority of them will only eat pods.


Minimum Tank Size: 30 gallons
Care Level: Difficult
Temperament: Peaceful
Reef Compatible: Yes
Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, sg 1.020-1.025, pH 8.1-8.4
Max. Size: 4"
Color Form: Blue, Green, Orange
Diet: Carnivore
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Callionymidae

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