sevenyearnight
New member
My question, is it possible to overfeed these guys? I received one for my wedding anniversary on the 6th, and I thought I was given, according to the store from which he was purchased, a "blenny" that is an omnivore and eats various food including algae. A quick search online and I found out I had a dragonet, which I knew were difficult species to keep. I panicked and even considered taking him to a reputable LFS because I was fairly certain I wouldn't be able to house him properly. I had some vita chem, and mysis shrimp among other things, and he sort of ate the mysis, but nothing to think he would be able to survive off of.
We drove 2 hours the next day to pick up some live pods as the temporary tank he is in currently has only been set up about 5 months. It had established live rock, but still, I figured he'd eat the pods out of it within a day or two. He's kind of a big guy already, about 3.5". I fed him mysis again the next day and he ate a little more heartily. The first night he didn't sleep much, as we saw him hunting under the moonlight. The every night since though, he has been sleeping though the night buried in the sand. We picked up some cyclopeeze, I mixed it with vita chem and squeezed a "sausage" of it out from a syringe. It landed on some live rock rubble and he gladly gobbled all of it up. So I chopped up some market shrimp, some scallops, some squid tentacles, again nom nom nom nom.
Luckily he wasn't skinny when we got him, (I saw the pics online of the starving ones) but his tummy on the underside was a bit flat, almost concave
His tummy now is full looking, but not grotesquely so. However, I know these little guys need to eat a lot, but how much is too much? I'm generally a conservative feeder, but it seems as though most of these meet untimely deaths from starvation. However, I don't want him to become obese. Will feeding 2 -3 times a day be too much? Or is this about right since they eat so much?
As far as his near future, he will be living in a 37 gallon FOWLR, currently inhabited, but the residents are moving to a larger tank. I'm afraid of compromising his health with tank mates that will compete with food, and this particular set up doesn't have the light hood to support coral, which I heard can compete for pods anyway. If he lives alone with just some snails, will he get lonely? Or will he likely not give a poo? Does this set up for him sound like it would ensure his longevity as much as possible?
Sorry for the obscenely long post, and thank you in advance for any assistance/advice you can give me for "Trogdor"
We drove 2 hours the next day to pick up some live pods as the temporary tank he is in currently has only been set up about 5 months. It had established live rock, but still, I figured he'd eat the pods out of it within a day or two. He's kind of a big guy already, about 3.5". I fed him mysis again the next day and he ate a little more heartily. The first night he didn't sleep much, as we saw him hunting under the moonlight. The every night since though, he has been sleeping though the night buried in the sand. We picked up some cyclopeeze, I mixed it with vita chem and squeezed a "sausage" of it out from a syringe. It landed on some live rock rubble and he gladly gobbled all of it up. So I chopped up some market shrimp, some scallops, some squid tentacles, again nom nom nom nom.
Luckily he wasn't skinny when we got him, (I saw the pics online of the starving ones) but his tummy on the underside was a bit flat, almost concave
His tummy now is full looking, but not grotesquely so. However, I know these little guys need to eat a lot, but how much is too much? I'm generally a conservative feeder, but it seems as though most of these meet untimely deaths from starvation. However, I don't want him to become obese. Will feeding 2 -3 times a day be too much? Or is this about right since they eat so much?
As far as his near future, he will be living in a 37 gallon FOWLR, currently inhabited, but the residents are moving to a larger tank. I'm afraid of compromising his health with tank mates that will compete with food, and this particular set up doesn't have the light hood to support coral, which I heard can compete for pods anyway. If he lives alone with just some snails, will he get lonely? Or will he likely not give a poo? Does this set up for him sound like it would ensure his longevity as much as possible?
Sorry for the obscenely long post, and thank you in advance for any assistance/advice you can give me for "Trogdor"
