New at this...Help

[rainey]

thanks that does help.... I really love all these sites even if it can be confusing.... I really would love to be able to get another scooter blenny but don't want to kill it like the other one... he was so cute and quiete a personality...miss the little guy.... I did put dead sand on bottom but sand did get mixed up rearranging the rocks and it was a lot of stress on the little guy....

also don't have a protein skimmer don't know if that was a cause for anything too... so new at this.... but want to do things right... I know u will loose fish but don't want to keep making stupid mistakes.

 

[stricknine]

I would definately look into a skimmer!

To keep a dragonet (scooter blenny, mandarin) you need the live food in most cases. There are a lot of ways to try to keep the pod population up;
- Dosing live food. A lot of places sell pods.
- keep a refugium. A refuge can be chaeto in the overflow, a pile of live rock rubble in a corner of your tank, or an external "fuge" set up

Not sure if I mentioned it previously, but try to buy a dragonet that eats frozen. My spotted mandarin eats nothing but frozen. My pod population is huge, flatworms are out of control (to a point), and that mandarin will even steal frozen food from a hermit crabs claws. I have pointed a flashlight in the tank at night and even saw pods crawling on the mandarins face without even a twitch from the fish. If you buy from a LFS, look for the fat one. Usually the LFS display tanks do not have much of a pod population, so you know the fat one is eating something. Always watch for "pinch belly" when purchasing a fish, especially the hard to feed ones.

Good luck!

 

[rainey]

thanks you for your help...this help to clear up some of the confusion....Hopefully next time will be a great success.... need to buy the skimmer and more live rock first....if putting in new live rock will that alter the water paremetors... don't want to upset the clown fish and green chromis..Don't think 23 pounds is enough for 37 gallon tank?

 

[stricknine]

If it is cycled it shouldnt be a big deal. Doesnt go through the ammonia, nitrate, nitrite cycle like new stuff does, but Id go slow. Dont drop 50lbs in at once, all has to be slow in this hobby. Kinda painful sometimes.

Rule of thumb is 1-2lbs/gallon sand and rock. Im looking to go 1.5lbs, few inch sand bed, and a DSB in fuge.

Enjoy!

 

[beachbumva]

hmmm be careful when adding new rock, even if its "cured" there may and probably will be a short spike when you add it depending on who you buy it from, how reliable they are and how long it is out of the water between prchase and introduction. At minimum there will be die off of any sponges and such as even a hint of air and they die off . Always scarey a little to add it str8 into an established tank without at least a short qt period to be sure yourself but thats just my opinion, dragonette really needs an established tank to survive as they require live food within the sand bed and are normally an expert only type of fish to own because of there difficult feeding habits. They can be "trained" to eat frozen however it may take months or longer but eventually they perish without the constant ability to be able to feed through the sand. There are numerous choices of blennies and gobies with much the same attitudes and very fun to watch that you might wish to consider versus trying another of these right away. Diamond Watchman goby will act in alot of ways the same however they will do better with feeding on frozen mysis and brine and a lot of the true blennies are true herbivores and will live off algae and such and are also incredible to own without the headache and worry of trying to get them to eat. Just IMO good luck with it

 

[rainey]

thankyou all for your help.. maybe I will buy a daimond watchman goby for now... they seem pretty cool too.... so many fish to choose from... don't want to make the same mistakes... thanks again.. rainey