Carpets and mandarin dragonet?
- Thread starter pfan151
- Start date
anemone food
davocean
Active member
I had a pair of mandarin's in my 150g and I had a hadonni at one time, though I swapped that out for a natural host nem after 4 months, but in that time my manderin's seemed to know better, but 4 mo is not considered long term success.
Size of tank may be a factor as well, proximity, swim space.
Size of tank may be a factor as well, proximity, swim space.
D-Nak
Active member
I don't think that makes a difference, Mandarins tend to climb into the rockwork. The problem is that they hop around, and will eventually get to close to the nem.
ThRoewer
New member
My mandarins do just fine with the gigantea that I have in their tank. That gig is high up in the rocks. During the day the mandarins get close to it but seemingly know to avoid it.
The issue with mandarins and carpets comes at night.
I always find my mandarins on the bottom of the tank during the night, so I think as long as the anemone is high enough in the rocks the mandarins should be fine. A carpet on the ground on the other hand is a death trap for bottom dwelling fish without a defined home.
The issue with mandarins and carpets comes at night.
I always find my mandarins on the bottom of the tank during the night, so I think as long as the anemone is high enough in the rocks the mandarins should be fine. A carpet on the ground on the other hand is a death trap for bottom dwelling fish without a defined home.
ThRoewer
New member
Leave a night light on until the Mandarin has settled in and picked a sleeping spot/cave.
I would think that due to their thick slimecoat they have a decent chance to get away even if they come to touch the gig as long as they flee in the right direction.
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I would think that due to their thick slimecoat they have a decent chance to get away even if they come to touch the gig as long as they flee in the right direction.
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Hope so. It's been almost a week. So far the mandarin has been very reclusive. It's a 90g tank and I've been convinced it was eaten a few times already but then it pops up. I'll grab a male to go with it if this once manages to not get eaten.
What type of anemone?
WatDatThing
New member
I think every fish is a potential carpet nem food, including a sick clown.
ThRoewer
New member
By that logic everything is also potential food for the CUC.
Anemones are part of the life on the reef and associated sand zones and most fish know to avoid them.
The fish that usually fall victim to carpet anemones are disoriented, usually at night or sick.
The one anemone I would consider particularly dangerous is the haddoni due to it being a sand zone anemone that usually has to be placed on the bottom of the tank.
Giganteas that are placed higher in the rocks are far less of a hazzard. I may have lost a couple of gobies to my giganteas. It usually happens when the fish get startled during the night and swim around disoriented.
I also found one Banggai cardinal in one of my giganteas, but that fish looked like it was dying a few days before so the anemone just caught the floating carcass (or the clowns dragged it in.) In the end the anemone spat it out again.
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marc price
Active member
Very tempted to try one of the Biota captive-bred blue mandarins popping up on LA Divers Den in my 40B which contains an S. gigantea carpet anemone at the sand/rock interface.
Mine is still going strong so far. I like those captive bred ones on DD but a hundred a pop is more of a premium than I'm willing to pay.
marc price
Active member
They are expensive and it seems LA DD has capitalized the market on them.
The thing is, I've been keeping saltwater aquariums since 1980 and ever since captive-bred fish became available I have been very OCD only wanting captive-bred despite how limiting it has been in the past. The numbers of available CB species is not bad now, finding them at the LFS, not so good.
Practically never but occasionally I'll make an exception and purchase wild-caught fish that are essential "workers" for my tank which aren't available captive-bred.
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