Help! Mandarin dragonet losing color!

[lil_mermaid28]

My husband and I are new to salt water. We bought a mandarin dragonet yesterday and acclimated it according to the guidelines. We placed it in a breeder box to monitor its feeding. Our LFS already feeds it frozen brine shrimp, but we wanted to be sure it actually ate. This morning we noticed its loss of color and removed it from the breeder box into the main tank. It's hiding in the live rock now. I think it just needed to be released, but any information regarding specific care for our mandarin is highly appreciated. I'll update if it gets its color back or gets worse. If it does get worse, what should I do?

Tank information: pH is 8, ammonia is 0, nitrate is 0, and everyone else is fine (two snowflake clowns, and a yellow tail damsel). Banded coral shrimp passed this morning from stress (bought yesterday with mandarin).

 

[swally]

They do go a whitish colour when sleeping. Just keep an eye on it. If you don't have many pods in your tank then get some and add them when the lights are off at night.

 

[Nina51]

new fish often hide, it's what they do. you should soon see him out and about hunting pods to eat.

having said that, it's unlikely you will be successful with this fish. i assume, since you are "new" to saltwater, your tank hasn't been set up long. mandarins take large, mature tanks with abundant pods for them to eat and no competition from other pod-eating fish.

you might want to think about returning this fish and getting something different and please, please, please, research your purchases! people at the fish/pet stores will tell you anything to get a sale. the person who sold this fish to you should have let you know it's very particular needs.

brine shrimp is like you eating popcorn every night for supper. very little nutrition and will not sustain any fish long term, let alone a mandy.

 

[swally]

They are fairly hardy fish and not likely to get white spot ect due to them having a slime coating so if you do see spots it could just be sand sticking to the slime.

 

[Nina51]

some and add them when the lights are off at night.

i don't know this from personal experience but i've read that a mandarin will eat 1,000 pods in a 24 hour period. dumping a bottle of pods in the tank every day is gonna get majorly expensive!

 

[laga77]

How new is your tank and how much live rock? What else is in there?

 

[MondoBongo]

this thread is throwing up some serious red flags.

you bought it, but now you're asking for specific care requirements? dragonets are not easy to care for fish. they need some very specific conditions to thrive, including a large tank size, plenty of pods to graze on, no competition (i.e. very careful stocking selection), no aggression, etc...

eating frozen brine is neither here nor there. you can't feed these fish once a day like they were clown fish and expect them to live. their dietary requirements are very distinct from most other kinds of normal reef fish. they share more in common with syngnathids (seahorses and pipefish) in that regard than they do with other "standard" fish.

why did the coral banded shrimp die? why did you even get a coral banded shrimp? they can be aggressive to benthic fish, i've even seen reports of them attacking sleeping fish. mandy's like to sleep on the sand bed. you do the math.

the chances of eating while in an acclimation box are pretty slim, and even if it did it's a moot point, since it's primary food source needs to the established zooplankton in the tank, not your discrete feedings.

what size is your tank? how old is it? what else lives there? how much rock do you have? do you have a fuge?

these are all crucial questions to ask before considering the purchase of any dragonet.

the best guideline for keeping these guys happy, healthy, and alive long term is a minimum of 75 gallon tank, with 20 gallon fuge, rock heavy, sand bottom, and established for at least a year with no other direct competitors for food such as wrasse.

re, the color loss. mandy's will go pale and limp when they sleep. sometimes they will even gently drift on the current at the sand bend. i've even seen mine make a "sand blanket" for herself when she sleeps. using her fins to blow up some sand grain from the bottom to cover herself with.

 

[hotelbravo]

this thread is throwing up some serious red flags.

you bought it, but now you're asking for specific care requirements? dragonets are not easy to care for fish. they need some very specific conditions to thrive, including a large tank size, plenty of pods to graze on, no competition (i.e. very careful stocking selection), no aggression, etc...

eating frozen brine is neither here nor there. you can't feed these fish once a day like they were clown fish and expect them to live. their dietary requirements are very distinct from most other kinds of normal reef fish. they share more in common with syngnathids (seahorses and pipefish) in that regard than they do with other "standard" fish.

why did the coral banded shrimp die? why did you even get a coral banded shrimp? they can be aggressive to benthic fish, i've even seen reports of them attacking sleeping fish. mandy's like to sleep on the sand bed. you do the math.

the chances of eating while in an acclimation box are pretty slim, and even if it did it's a moot point, since it's primary food source needs to the established zooplankton in the tank, not your discrete feedings.

what size is your tank? how old is it? what else lives there? how much rock do you have? do you have a fuge?

these are all crucial questions to ask before considering the purchase of any dragonet.

the best guideline for keeping these guys happy, healthy, and alive long term is a minimum of 75 gallon tank, with 20 gallon fuge, rock heavy, sand bottom, and established for at least a year with no other direct competitors for food such as wrasse.

re, the color loss. mandy's will go pale and limp when they sleep. sometimes they will even gently drift on the current at the sand bend. i've even seen mine make a "sand blanket" for herself when she sleeps. using her fins to blow up some sand grain from the bottom to cover herself with.

Very good info here.