Mandarin Dragonette

S

schnebbles

New member
Are they hard to keep? I'm trying to figure out what kind of fish I will want/be able to keep.

40breeder

My husband wants a fish so I have to probably figure out HIS fish first, lol! Then work around it. I think he'd like these though, they are pretty. Not sure they would work in a new tank though.
 
Mandarins, scooters and some other fish are 'pod predators. Meaning their main source of nutrition comes from eating copepods and amphipods. Which in itself isn't a problem since most mature tanks have a good supply of them.

In the case of dragonets it becomes an issue because these animals have to eat constantly in order to survive. They are like hummingbirds and have a body part in movement constantly, which makes their metabolism really really high. It takes a lot of energy to undulate those fins. Couple that with a very specialized and innefecient gut and you have an animal that has to graze on the order of a few thousand copepods an hour in order to survive. Most 40B without a place in the tank (refugium or otherwise) for the pods to grow and breed without predation will eventually starve the fish.

Long story short, a 40b cannot sustain a dragonette long term unless some very specialized arrangements are made, which will be labor intensive.
 
if your tank is a new tank its a big no... this fish are really beautifull but they need a big colony of pods to survive (they only eat that). To get a healthy colony of pods you need a mature tank (at least 1 year).
 
Bent said:
Mandarins, scooters and some other fish are 'pod predators. Meaning their main source of nutrition comes from eating copepods and amphipods. Which in itself isn't a problem since most mature tanks have a good supply of them.

In the case of dragonets it becomes an issue because these animals have to eat constantly in order to survive. They are like hummingbirds and have a body part in movement constantly, which makes their metabolism really really high. It takes a lot of energy to undulate those fins. Couple that with a very specialized and innefecient gut and you have an animal that has to graze on the order of a few thousand copepods an hour in order to survive. Most 40B without a place in the tank (refugium or otherwise) for the pods to grow and breed without predation will eventually starve the fish.

Long story short, a 40b cannot sustain a dragonette long term unless some very specialized arrangements are made, which will be labor intensive.
Click to expand...

What he said.
 
I would wait on a HOB refugium. Get your other equipment installed first. Even a small one is going to take a 13 inch footprint, and most also require a separate light fixture. Between the filter, skimmer, power heads, and heater, you'll have a lot of real estate taken up by equipment.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of fish eat pods throughout the day, so with a mandarin, you not only risk starving that fish, but other types of fish as well.
 
Schnebbles, I'm certain you can fit both skimmer and refugium on the back of your 40B, as I have a CPR 24" 'fuge and a Reef Octopus skimmer on the back of my 65, which is the same footprint. It's a tight fit, though - I mean, _just_barely_!

I've also got a 'fuge in my 20L sump, so that adds up to enough 'pods to keep a ruby scooter (had a pair, but the male vanished...) and a target mandarin fat and happy for quite a few months so far.

~Bruce
 
They sell hob refugiums.

Even still I'd give the pods at least a year to populate before you get a dragonette.
 
IMO, unless you plan to keep buying pods constantly or grow your own pods since your tank is new, it wil slowly starved to death. You can probably get away with one mandarin once your tank is establish after a year if you have a lot of live rocks and pods are reproducing. I have a 110g with a pair of mandarin for about 1.5 yrs now and healthy. I do monitor to make sure they are now getting skinny. But i have a lot of live rocks as well as a sump that keeps reproducing my pods. IMO they are easy fish to keep if you have pods to keep them alive. Even if you find one that eats frozen food, they usually wont get the diet they need to be healthy.
 
You can supplement the tank with pods. Check out the reef nutrition product here: http://reefnutrition.com/tigger_pods.php. I add a few bottles from time to time and my mandarin has no issues. Having said that - my tank is 5+ years old and I had a load to start with... I am just making sure the little bugger doesn't starve
 
I have a 40B with a 5G HOB refugium and maybe 55 or so pounds of rock. I've kept my Mandarin alive for seven months so far by adding pods every month or two. I waited over six months before I felt the pod population was good enough before I threw him in. So it's possible, but takes a bit of planning. I definitely wouldn't try a second one in that system, though.
 
juanmanuelsanch said:
if your tank is a new tank its a big no... this fish are really beautifull but they need a big colony of pods to survive (they only eat that). To get a healthy colony of pods you need a mature tank (at least 1 year).
Click to expand...

why is it so? copepods need non predatory environment. this can be readily provided without the long wait. please explain.
 
i wouldn't attempt that as a new aquarist in such a small tank, even with a HOB fuge. the lack of a sump here is a big red flag for me.

you can buy pods, but they're very expensive, and dragonets eat a lot of them. it can also be difficult to impossible to get them reliably eating prepared foods for various reasons. even if you do, they are grazers that do best when they're able to eat many, many small meals all day long.

my advice would be to forgo the dragonet for this setup, and see about one if and when you do a tank upgrade.
 
MondoBongo said:
i wouldn't attempt that as a new aquarist in such a small tank, even with a HOB fuge. the lack of a sump here is a big red flag for me.

you can buy pods, but they're very expensive, and dragonets eat a lot of them. it can also be difficult to impossible to get them reliably eating prepared foods for various reasons. even if you do, they are grazers that do best when they're able to eat many, many small meals all day long.

my advice would be to forgo the dragonet for this setup, and see about one if and when you do a tank upgrade.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. It will be very hard to ever have a population large enough to keep a mandarin alive. Mandarins eat thousands of pods a day
 
that's fine, I appreciate your help. I wish I had room for a bigger tank! Maybe someday if this one goes well. There are plenty of other options for fish. I have no idea what to get really.

I saw a midas blenny who was cute.
 
how does someone know if they have enough pods? I have been thinking about getting a dragonet in my 125g. I have had it up and running for 8 months. I have bought at least 6 bags over the last 3 months so far of different pods and put them in my fuge and DT. I do see them all over the rocks and along the sand. I am just wondering how do you know you have enough???
 
I just want to add one more thing that seems to be left out above.adding a large supply of pods to a new tank even without a fish that feed on them will not grow there population. They need to eat as well. Your tank needs to be mature and Biologically sound. This only comes with maturity.

Adding 2000 pods to a new tank . many of them will starve off and die depending on the food to sustain them. Buying rotifers to feed them may be a short term solution to that..

but do you really wanna put yourself into a cycle of that much work at the same time trying to enjoy the tank
 
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