Spotted mandarinfish ( Synchiropus picturatus )

FAMILY - Callionymidae

SCIENTIFIC NAME - Sychiropus Picturatus

COMMON NAME - Spotted Mandarinfish (Psychedelic Mandarinfish, Picture Dragonet)

SIZE - 2.8" (7 cm)

RANGE - Western Pacific

MIN. AQUARIUM SIZE - 20 US Gal. ( 76 L)

FOODS AND FEEDING - Finely chopped meaty foods, black worms, shaved shrimp, vitamin enriched live brine shrimp. Feed 3 times a day in a non reef bare bottom tank.

AQUARIUM SUITABILITY - 4

REEF COMPATIBILITY - Excellent, will eat brown flat worms

CAPTIVE CARE - Difficult to provide sufficient food for long term success, a well established population of copepods is a plus, an established reef with a mature sand substrait is also a plus, use a feeding tube and spot feed at the substrait near the fish, Keep only one male per tank, may be aggressive towards other dragonets, keep with non aggressive feeders or tank mates, provide plenty of open bottom, will bury itself if threatened or at night, a bottom feeder so food must be available for a sufficient time for the fish to feed. aggressive bottom feeding tankmates will consume food to quickly, will acclimate to captivity, however, may need special feeding, can be eaten by sea anemones.

** Extracted from livingreefs.com