Mandarine Dragonet

[nakazoru]

Hi all;

While I have an abundance of pods and growing... Has anyone kept 2 dragonet together?

I know they will fight and compete but is it possible....

Dun wana add and see one perish...

[southpaw23]

How much liverocks do you have in your tank? Generally the ratio is about 26 pounds to a single mandarin but it's only an estimate. Secondly, how matured are your liverock...ie. have the copepods had the opportunity to multiply without natural predators in the tank?

Thirdly, if you were to get a pair, get a male and female. Males are distinguished by their high fin on the top....kinda like a flagpole, while females don't have this "high fin".....a male and female can generally get along and if you're lucky might mate as well.

hope that helps...

[nakazoru]

How much liverocks do you have in your tank? Generally the ratio is about 26 pounds to a single mandarin but it's only an estimate. Secondly, how matured are your liverock...ie. have the copepods had the opportunity to multiply without natural predators in the tank?

Thirdly, if you were to get a pair, get a male and female. Males are distinguished by their high fin on the top....kinda like a flagpole, while females don't have this "high fin".....a male and female can generally get along and if you're lucky might mate as well.

hope that helps...

Hi southPaw;

Thanks for the reply. My water is nuetrients rich so the pods multiply like mad, only natural killer is this dragonet. I'm in a regime of reducing feeding of LS and coral. If ratio of 26 pound 4 for 1 dragonet, then I have enuf. My dragonet actually got a tummy without me feeding... yet can see pods on the glass. The sump's pods can even see them, abt 2-3mm...

Thanks for answering this not so common question.

[southpaw23]

Just to clarify..did u just get yourself a dragonet or have you already had one in your tank for sometime now.

The reason i ask is cos the caution with dragonets is that although you may have abundant pods in the tank....depending on the tank size...a dragonet can completely decimate it's population in less than 2 months. I used to own a 16 gallon which i allowed to mature for a whole year before introducing a mandarin. At that point, my tank was loaded with pods and so was the custom 8 gallon refugium i built...even so, the dragonet literally terminated all the pods in the maintank in less than 2 months. It's amazing how much these lil buggers can eat.

Either way, now that you've got one...just keep an eye on him and see if you can slowly wean him onto frozen brine/mysis shrimp as that'll help the pod population to recover.

If you already have an existing mandarin and intend to get another one...it'll be tricky cos most times you'll need to introduce both in at the same time as they tend to be aggresive towards one another. If u still insist on adding another one...your best bet is with one from the opposite ######.

Ur welcome on the response....I can understand your query as i had these same questions when i first stumbled across this beauty a couple of years back.

[jervismun]

Very insightful reading... I am also planning to introduce another Spotted Mandarin to my tank (currently a female)... on second thoughts... maybe not... not now at least

[nakazoru]

Just to clarify..did u just get yourself a dragonet or have you already had one in your tank for sometime now.

The reason i ask is cos the caution with dragonets is that although you may have abundant pods in the tank....depending on the tank size...a dragonet can completely decimate it's population in less than 2 months. I used to own a 16 gallon which i allowed to mature for a whole year before introducing a mandarin. At that point, my tank was loaded with pods and so was the custom 8 gallon refugium i built...even so, the dragonet literally terminated all the pods in the maintank in less than 2 months. It's amazing how much these lil buggers can eat.

Either way, now that you've got one...just keep an eye on him and see if you can slowly wean him onto frozen brine/mysis shrimp as that'll help the pod population to recover.

If you already have an existing mandarin and intend to get another one...it'll be tricky cos most times you'll need to introduce both in at the same time as they tend to be aggresive towards one another. If u still insist on adding another one...your best bet is with one from the opposite ######.

Ur welcome on the response....I can understand your query as i had these same questions when i first stumbled across this beauty a couple of years back.

[southpaw23]

Another option is u could switch the mandarin back and forth between the sump and main tank so that both places have time to recover.....they aren't that hard to catch

[newmarine]

Hi sorry this may be a stupid question. What is pod? Got picture to show show. Cos I also have one.

Thanks

[southpaw23]

Pods are short for for Copepods and Amphipods, they're basically the lil white bugs in your tank...they look like mini white cockroaches that live and multiply in your liverock.

Most times they serve as food for some fishes like the mandarins and wrasses. Do a search on google for them...should give you a good idea of how they look......

[nakazoru]

Another option is u could switch the mandarin back and forth between the sump and main tank so that both places have time to recover.....they aren't that hard to catch

Haha, ya they are really slow. But too elusive to catch anyway.

[dersuz]

I have a pair of mandarin in my tank for a year now and at times I feed them with live brine shrimp. I still see a lot of pods in my tank even though I got 2 of them.

[lyz77]

I got 1 green and 1 spotted mandarin in my tank and so far so good! My spotted mandarin with me for 6 months liao! Still fat and healthy!

I oso got 1 red blenny scooter which shd belong to the Dragonet family!

[nakazoru]

Good to see a couple ppl with knowledge of this cutie fish. Okay will source for a male dragonet.

[Reefer Pro]

One male (longer dorsal fin) and one female. If yr tank bigger, u can keep a few.

Mine is breeding pair with fry coming almost every month. But difficult to keep fry as other fishes eat them and I don't have spare tank.