Green Mandarinfish – Synchiropus splendidus
The green mandarinfish comes from the West-Pacific ocean region. They are bottom dwelling fish. The green mandarinfish will do best in an aquarium that has plenty of active and health live rock and live sand that maintains populations of brine shrimp, worms etc. Mandarinfish have a mucus coating that is noxious and is  thought to be a deterrent to preditors.
Maximum Size: The green mandarinfish should grow to a maximum size of 3.1 inches
Minimum Tank Size: The minimum tank size should be 20 gallons
Care Level: The green mandarinfish is not a hardy fish. On a scale of 1 –10, (10 being easy) it would rate a “3”. The tank needs to already be cycled and mature. It needs to have plenty of live “prey” items to feed on. It needs hiding places and live rock.
Tank Conditions: - Temperature 77-79°F; Specific gravity: 1.021 – 1.025; pH: 8.1 – 8.3; Nitrates should be no more than 20 ppm.
Color: The green mandarinfish as picture shows is quite a colorful fish. The pattern is almost maze-like.
Temperament: This is a good fish. It can ultimately become aggressive to other mandarinfish kept in the aquarium – keeping two males in the same tank will be a mistake, they will fight often causing harm to both. You can possibly maintain a male and female together – and they have even spawned in captivity.
 Reef Compatible: Good. They will not nip at corals and make excellent fish for the reef aquarium setup.
Diet: The green mandarinfish is an omnivore and should be provided live rock and live sand with micro-algae for it to graze on along with brine shrimp and food worms, rotifers etc. Often they will eat only live foods they can scavenge on their own Part of the difficulty with these fish are that they may not find enough food and may starve.
Habitat: Provide with plenty of hiding places and live rock growth for grazing on – keeping live rock is important. Good water circulation is important as well as high quality water maintenance. Filtration should include a protein skimmer.
Lighting: Depending on the tank setup you desire. The green mandarinfish needs no special setup nd may gravitate to shady areas of the tank.
Compatibility: mandarinfish in general can be kept with many other fish such as clownfish, cardinalfish and firefish. They should not be housed with sharks, rays, groupers and triggerfish. Other fish that may be a problem are angelfish. Check with your aquarium shop if you plan on buying one of these fish.
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