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Sadly, you cannot easily raise mandarin's in a small tank. They generally only eat live food, which populations are supported only by a large tank (>100 gallon). There are cases of mandarins eating processed food but these are very rare individuals. If you try, study extensively and get only fish that you have personally observed eating something other than live copepods and amphipods.
I think mandarins are some of the most beautiful and animated fish in the sea, but due to their being common in certain areas of the ocean, particularly the Philippines, and easy to catch, they are very commonly seen in pet stores, most of whom are destined to die of starvation.
As for your other questions, I have no experience with the two tanks you describe, but I would not listen any further to the advice of a salesman who says you can put fish in a tank on the second day, live or not.
As A. Calfo once said, "Beware the advice of a man with dollar signs in his eyes"
Set the tank up with rock, sand and water then monitor the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for several weeks yo a month, until the ammonia and nitrite are at 0 levels in your tank, then it is safe to slowly add livstock. The longer you wait, the better it will be for the livestock when you do put it in. A marine aquarium is not the same as freshwater, you must be much more patient with it.
The prices you quote seem about right, depending on where you are. If you are in Asia, they are way too high, California about right.
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