Am I ready for a mandarin dragonet?

[PRI]

A little about my tank, it's a 58g mixed reef with a mature sandbed and liverock. The other fish are peaceful and include a blue assessor, tailspot blenny, purple firefish, a fairy wrasse and a flasher plus a mated pair of percs that never leave their RBTA or show any signs of aggression.

The tank has a healthy population of large amphipods measuring about 1/8 to 3/16ths of an inch. I would add some copepods in the display tank a few weeks before purchasing the dragonet but no guarantees they will establish.

No refugium, I have a berlin style sump with filter socks and a big Reef Octopus skimmer, CPE in a media rack and UV sterilizer sized for 30-45k uw/cm2.

Looking for some honest opinions because I know they're notoriously difficult to feed properly. My tank usually gets a combo of spirulina, mysis and Rod's Food.

 

[BfishLpond78]

How old is the tank?

Not having a fuge would be my biggest concern. Mandarins eat thousands of pods...they are said to eat one every 10 seconds.

Its all about having a mature system and a place where pods can colonize without any disturbance from predators.

sent from never never land...

 

[woodnaquanut]

Take a look at 'Mandarin Primer', one of the threads in this subforum.

Your chances will be much better if you train it/them to eat prepared foods. You can do this while it/them are in QT. You do QT, don't you?

 

[PRI]

The 58g has been setup for about 8 months and the LR came from my other tank that had been up for a little over a year. The amphipods are everywhere, sandbed, rock, overflow box but I can see how they could be quickly depleted.

I use my old RSM 130D as a quarantine tank but it's barebottom now so no established rock or sand. I'll need to get another QT eventually because I don't want to put any medicine in the RSM, knock on wood I've been lucky so far with fish diseases but I know not using a QT is like playing Russian roulette. I got away with it the first year but I've QT'd all corals and fish since.

I missed the Mandarin Primer and will take a look for it now, thanks!

 

[PRI]

Okay, after speedreading through the Mandarin primer thread I'm going to hold off on getting one, at least for a good while. I may have too much competition for food with the wrasses and prefer to feed with the Vortech pumps in feed mode so the food doesn't settle on the floor.

My next tank will be much larger with a refugium so I may come back to it later.
Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

 

[PRI]

Okay, after speedreading through the Mandarin primer thread I'm going to hold off on getting one, at least for a good while. I may have too much competition for food with the wrasses and prefer to feed with the Vortech pumps in feed mode so the food doesn't settle on the floor.

My next tank will be much larger with a refugium so I may come back to it later.
Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I had one, a Target, that I was able to train to take p.e. mysis shrimp by spot feeding with a air tube and syringe. It worked till one day after two years of spot feeding it, it just stopped eating and died. They really need larger systems to thrive in with lots of LR. Such beautiful fish, but really not for most with small systems. (No matter how much LR you have or throwing copepods in by the gallons everyday, just not worth it)

 

[PRI]

I had one, a Target, that I was able to train to take p.e. mysis shrimp by spot feeding with a air tube and syringe. It worked till one day after two years of spot feeding it, it just stopped eating and died. They really need larger systems to thrive in with lots of LR. Such beautiful fish, but really not for most with small systems. (No matter how much LR you have or throwing copepods in by the gallons everyday, just not worth it)

That's pretty much exactly what I'm afraid of. It's a case of could I keep one or should I keep one and I think the responsible answer is no.

If I have my way with the lady of the house I'll have a huge tank upgrade in the future though. I told her she can decorate every room in the house any way she wants if I can keep the den as my 'man cave' and she said yes. :inlove:

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

PRI: Great to see you did your research and then came to conclusion that it may not be in your interest at this time.... We need more reefers like you...

 

[sponger0]

I think you made the right decision.

The best minimum setup for a dragonette would be 75 gallon display, at least a 36 gallon refugium plus sump, no wrasses, and alot of live rock.

Even with pods in a system, I still wouldnt even use the prepared foods routes as even doing that is not near enough food for them and they need constant food available as they hunt all day non stop.

 

[JMLewis]

If you train them to eat prepared foods there amazing to have.

I dont think you have to hold off...However if your not prepared to take the time to train them then id say no.

I have 100% success rate of keeping mandarins this way. Heck usually at feed times there just as aggressive at getting the food out of the water column as any other fish. Its fairly simple to do using live brine you grow yourself.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Possibly

If you're just upping your post count, at least try to hide it. This comment means nothing.

 

[sponger0]

If you train them to eat prepared foods there amazing to have.

I dont think you have to hold off...However if your not prepared to take the time to train them then id say no.

I have 100% success rate of keeping mandarins this way. Heck usually at feed times there just as aggressive at getting the food out of the water column as any other fish. Its fairly simple to do using live brine you grow yourself.

This approach to keeping dragonettes is at minimum best. It is not nearly enough food.

 

[gnu]

If you're going to do it, ORA now sells CB mandarins. The CB mandarins are already trained onto frozen, and they're definitely the more responsible way to go.

 

[sponger0]

The ORA are not much different than the others. Reason why is they may be eating in store, but once you get them home, they may decide not to eat prepared food due to the stress of the changing environment. This happened to me. Had one eating prepared foods in a somewhat regular basis but moved him to a bigger tank and he decided to just stop eating anything.

So just cause it has ORA on it, doesnt mean its going to eat prepared foods. Dragonettes are not that cut and dry. If they were, this topic wouldnt be a discussion.

 

[Overgrown]

Think you were wise to hold off. They can be trained to take frozen to supplement but they never thrive this way in my experience. The healthiest specimens I've seen are always strictly eating pods all day as their sole source.

 

[Ngoodermuth]

This approach to keeping dragonettes is at minimum best. It is not nearly enough food.

I'm curious about this comment. I have had my spotted mandarin for only a little over two weeks now.

I am feeding 2-3 times a day with a mix of meaty items including mysis, brine, and a prepared reef mix with krill, clam, fish, fish roe, mussels and zooplankton (in that order). He has been eating it all and has visibly gained fat reserves in the short amount of time I've had him.

I'm assuming with his rapid weight gain that he is getting enough to eat?

 

[sponger0]

I'm curious about this comment. I have had my spotted mandarin for only a little over two weeks now.

I am feeding 2-3 times a day with a mix of meaty items including mysis, brine, and a prepared reef mix with krill, clam, fish, fish roe, mussels and zooplankton (in that order). He has been eating it all and has visibly gained fat reserves in the short amount of time I've had him.

I'm assuming with his rapid weight gain that he is getting enough to eat?

Thats only a few weeks. Can you keep this up for his full life span?

 

[Ngoodermuth]

Thats only a few weeks. Can you keep this up for his full life span?

That is the plan lol. It's really not too much to keep up, he eats from a glass vase and I have a sea squirt so we just mix up a batch of food in the AM and squirt it in a couple times a day. My hands don't get wet

We do have a sump w/ refugium also... but honestly he almost seems to prefer the prepared foods. Copepods hangout on the glass inside his vase and he doesn't seem to notice them.

 

[xtlosx]

I think you made the right decision.

The best minimum setup for a dragonette would be 75 gallon display, at least a 36 gallon refugium plus sump, no wrasses, and alot of live rock.

Even with pods in a system, I still wouldnt even use the prepared foods routes as even doing that is not near enough food for them and they need constant food available as they hunt all day non stop.

I have had a target mandarin for almost two years now in a 60G with a 10G fuge with much success. He eats mysis once in a while but loves his pods. We also have a orange back fairy wrasse for almost two years as well....

Not saying it always works out but it's possible. You probably made the right decision.