Red Mandarin Dragonet

[nathanemmerich]

I have a 180gallon tank with no fish, two small clowns in quarantine to be added in about a week. I want to get a red mandarin dragonet. And want to know if my tank is ready for one. The rocks are crawling with pods. The glass when the lights are off has 10-20 tiny "white lice" scurrying around. And the fuge is full. Do you think this enough food?

Second question are there any specific tips on quarantine? I was thinking of adding a bag of mixed pods to my quarantine tank and keeping the dragonet in there with no meds as I assume the meds will kill the pods. Are there any meds that I should use?

Lastly further on down the road are there any fish that I need to avoid that would eat up the dragonets food supply? I heard that basslets can be an issue with food competition. Would a royal gramma and a dragonet be too much for a 180gallon tank to provide pods?

Thanks

 

[thegrun]

Sounds like there will plenty of food for the dragonet. Adding pods during quaranteen should do the trick. I would use the tank transfer method followed by 4 weeks of quarantine, although dragonets rarely carry ich. The fish you list are fine, in general wrasses can be problematic since they are very active pod hunters.

 

[GimpyFin]

Mandarins are one fish I don't QT. They have such a massive slime coat that the chance of them bringing in disease such as ich is quite low. IME/IMO, getting them comfortable and eating as quickly as possibly is important because they can starve fairly quickly. It sounds like your tank already has a good pod population which is good. Royal grammas generally eat prepared foods so you shouldn't have to worry about it competing with the mandarin. One fish I'd probably avoid, though, are leopard wrasses as they will eat pods as well.

 

[billdogg]

Mandarins are one fish I don't QT. They have such a massive slime coat that the chance of them bringing in disease such as ich is quite low. IME/IMO, getting them comfortable and eating as quickly as possibly is important because they can starve fairly quickly. It sounds like your tank already has a good pod population which is good. Royal grammas generally eat prepared foods so you shouldn't have to worry about it competing with the mandarin. One fish I'd probably avoid, though, are leopard wrasses as they will eat pods as well.

Well said. I wouldn't QT either. And I speak form experience when I say the Leopard Wrasses (really, wrasses in general) love to hunt for little critters.

 

[nathanemmerich]

I am going to avoid all wrasses I think

 

[homer1475]

In your size tank with an active fuge, and plenty of rock for safe places for them to breed, a mandy and a wrasse would be fine.

I have a leopard wrasse and a mandy in my 80 and both are fat and happy. I do supplement my pods population every few month with bought pods though(posidens feast from Algaebarn). So I'm sure that also helps.

I also would not QT a mandy. It is the only fish I have not QTed as they have a massive slime coat and hardly ever get ich. Getting them comfortable and eating is the most important factor in keeping one long term.

 

[MurphyLong]

Although I have a Scooter in my 125, (they're in the same family of Dragonet) I didn't QT, and he wasn't eating frozen when I got him, but when I started feeding Reef Frenzy, it somehow got his attention. He used to ignore "feeding time" and would just continue to scoot along, picking at the rocks, but now when I hit the "Feed" button on the pump, he swims to the highest rock and steals anything he can, including flakes I put in there.

He's quite the character, and I never see pods at lights out, and I never see them in my chaeto in the sump either, but he's eating something to keep his little round belly.

 

[MondoBongo]

Mandarins are one fish I don't QT. They have such a massive slime coat that the chance of them bringing in disease such as ich is quite low. IME/IMO, getting them comfortable and eating as quickly as possibly is important because they can starve fairly quickly. It sounds like your tank already has a good pod population which is good. Royal grammas generally eat prepared foods so you shouldn't have to worry about it competing with the mandarin. One fish I'd probably avoid, though, are leopard wrasses as they will eat pods as well.

i'm on board with this. i did not QT my mandy either. it is a risk, but it is a calculated one. due to the challenges with their food supplies, i feel the benefit outweighs the risk.

 

[Yonp11]

I QT'd my mandarin and it wasn't that difficult, made it through just fine, just takes some preparation.

I kept rocks in my refugium way ahead of time before QT, enough time to get them populated with pods. I also set up a brine shrimp hatchery with 2 2-liter soda bottles and an air pump. I used the Tank Transfer Method.

Every new transfer, the tank got seeded rocks the mandarin could feed from. I also kept a 2 liter going of brine shrimp eggs, squirted a new batch of brine shrimp into the QT tank 2-3 times a day, whenever i remembered.

Mandarin came out of QT fatter than when I got him from the LFS. It does take more work to QT a mandarin, but it's not really that much more if you are prepared for it.

 

[nathanemmerich]

Wow thanks for all the feedback. I wanted to order two from live aquaria buy they can't guarantee I will not get two males. Any thoughts? I could order two and hope for the best.

 

[GimpyFin]

Wow thanks for all the feedback. I wanted to order two from live aquaria buy they can't guarantee I will not get two males. Any thoughts? I could order two and hope for the best.

Any LFS near you? The ones by me seem to carry have quite often and that's where I got mine. If they do have them, you can pick which one(s) you want.