Acclimated fish, not moving around in tank

[MARKIS210]

Just acclimated a green mandarin for 45+ min using drip method. Added him to tank, careful not to release too much of his original water into the tank, and he dropped to the bottom and is hiding between rocks. I have not bothered him besides shining a very faint light upon him to observe his breathing and see if he is indeed alive. His breathing appears normal and he is alert. I googled many times to find normal behavior upon adding a mandarin but yielded nothing. I'm not freaked out over it as he doesn't appear shocked but hoping he makes it through the night. I also did not have any tank lights on during this process.

About the Tank -
8g Biocube
Tons of rock and pods
salinity - 1.024
not sure of current nitrates/nitrites
1 Ocellaris clown, cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, nas snail, and 2 hermits
All other fish have been fine and have not bothered him in his hiding

I know this is late but hoping someone can give me a bit of insight on normal behavior upon adding to a new tank. Thank you! - Mark

[MARKIS210]

Not sure if this mattered much but i have a few corals (FS, zoas, gsp, etc)

[rrasco]

They hide a lot. At least mine does. I don't see him everyday. He comes out and if I get close to the tank he will slowly make his way back into the rocks. If he appears to be moving around and breathing right, I wouldn't worry about it.

[MARKIS210]

Thanks for the help, I'm just worried my parameters aren't what the fish requires. Not much I can do at this point but hope he makes it tomorrow until i can get water tested.

[Sherita]

If you added him at night, he could very well be in his resting cycle. By this time of night, mine is quite still and pale. I suspect when your lights come on tomorrow, he will begin exploring his new home. Mine most certainly "sleeps" at night, and I wouldn't be surprised if that is exactly what yours is doing.

[Kristy]

The mandarin's behavior sounds in the range of normal. Mandarins can actually appear kind of freaky when they sleep. They cover themselves with a little mucus as a protective mechanism and the first time I discovered mine in its sleeping spot, I was positive I was looking at a dead fish.

So I can't let this go without commenting...even with plenty of rocks and pods, your tank can only hold 8 g worth of rocks and pods, which may not last your little guy long. Please start reading up on how to train a mandarin to accept frozen foods and also try some methods to encourage increased pod populations, just to give this beautiful fish the best possible chances. Don't be shy about asking questions. We are all here to help.

[MARKIS210]

Thanks for the reassuring comments, and yes i did extensive research before purchasing (pushing limit of my tank with 2 fish) but I bought this lil guy off a member here and he apparently enjoys eating mysis so hopefully i can witness this tomorrow. Again thanks for the help, and I will soon be posting my build thread also with a formal intro since I am new to the site. See you guys and gals at the frag swap

[Sherita]

How is your fish this morning?

[MARKIS210]

Hes great, exploring his tank and scooping up pods. He only ate a small piece of mysis, but gonna pick up some hikari marine s, as I have read many success stories of mandarins going for that. Will also be placing an order of pods tonight from r2go. In case someone knows, is there such thing as "overdosing" your tank with pods (as in overpopulating). They offer great deals with the more you buy, maybe i'll start a group buy thread just to go halfs on a grand or two of them.

[rrasco]

Pod populations will regulate themselves, much like other filter feeders in the tank. If there is excess nutrients, there will be excess creatures that feed on those nutrients. They may also go in cycles. You shouldn't have a problem, but pod populations may not be sustainable if your tank can't support them. Your mandarin will help keep things in check if they get out of hand as well. You want him to have plenty of food.