Ruby Red Dragonet Help

[skyrne_isk]

Posted this in the seahorse forum, since the question on mandarin and dragonet feeding seemed more like the kind of issue that pipefish and seahorse keepers deal with but didn't get much help. Here's what I have going on:

I have had two dragonets for about 10 weeks in my grow-out/refugium/quarantine system (half of a 20G). I had thought that one (the male) was lost after a couple of weeks when I did not see him only to find it later in the 40B display:eek1:. Though he was much fatter after his unplanned move. Previously, both fish were kept in an upstream low-flow refugium and target fed cyclopeeze. At this point, I am little stuck on what to do.

Initially, before the male made it to the display, his behavior would change in response to the cyclopeeze when all the pumps were turned off but I don't think he had it completely figured out. I am unsure how much of his diet was coming from the target feedings, but the female's behavior would always result in him "hunting" alongside her. He had withered away some (though skinny to begin with) before making it over to the display, where he has filled out quite a bit since then. I would attribute this to the greater volume to graze on and that there are no other micro-fauna eaters in the 40B display he is now in.

On the other hand, the female is still in a small partition (about 5 gallons) in the fuge and eats like a pig when the pipette hits the water with the cyclopeeze. She is decidedly fat and I would consider 100% converted to frozen food. Every day when the pumps go off she heads to the same place to await the food. Pretty sweet.

So here's where I am stuck:

The dislay has a couple wrasses and clowns in it while the fuge has nothing in it but the female dragonet - it makes it fairly nice to get the density of the food way up before flipping the pumps back on. There is a particular spot the female is now trained to go to at feeding time - I have no idea how moving her might impact this. But I don't like keeping them seperate and I don't like that the male isn't able to be target fed.

Do I move the male back into the smaller confines of the refugium so he can continue to take feeding cues from the female or do I move the female into the display and attempt to target feed in there?

Here is the setup, yes it's dirty (that's the point!):
<a href="http://s692.photobucket.com/user/skyrne_isk/media/Snapbucket/EB5DF63B_zpsb49b1658.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img width="600" height="461" src="http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/skyrne_isk/Snapbucket/EB5DF63B_zpsb49b1658.jpg~original" border="0" alt=" photo EB5DF63B_zpsb49b1658.jpg"/></a>


Just the fuge (where the female lives):
<a href="http://s692.photobucket.com/user/skyrne_isk/media/Snapbucket/F0D3530C_zps15905584.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img width="600" height="461" src="http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/skyrne_isk/Snapbucket/F0D3530C_zps15905584.jpg~original" border="0" alt=" photo F0D3530C_zps15905584.jpg"/></a>


I am pretty sure this guy is a male (his dorsal spike/fin is getting lines on it):
<a href="http://s692.photobucket.com/user/skyrne_isk/media/Snapbucket/5A9A657C_zpsfff38dce.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img width="600" height="461" src="http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/skyrne_isk/Snapbucket/5A9A657C_zpsfff38dce.jpg~original" border="0" alt=" photo 5A9A657C_zpsfff38dce.jpg"/></a>

And the female:
<a href="http://s692.photobucket.com/user/skyrne_isk/media/Snapbucket/8DC7BC4E_zps4e845c85.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img width="600" height="461" src="http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/skyrne_isk/Snapbucket/8DC7BC4E_zps4e845c85.jpg~original" border="0" alt=" photo 8DC7BC4E_zps4e845c85.jpg"/></a>

Any suggestions on who to move, and to where?

 

[ThreeMoneyJ]

You have the sexes of the fish correct. I have a pair as well living in my 40B frag system they are eating arctipods and baby brine.

PaulB ha a great post about a mandarin feeding station that he built. I tried to find the post but couldn't, you might be able to search for it.

If they are both fat and eating well I would move the female to the larger tank with the male. You will be able to target feed them there if they are used to eating prepared. They will eventually learn when and where the food will show up!

 

[mcfa2403]

I have two in with, two clowns, a corris wrasse and a purple tang and they both eat frozen mysis and rods reef food (ate rods from day one). My tank is primarily lps and bta's so I feed pretty heavily, my opinion is these guys go to frozen pretty naturally but are just not very competitive for the food. For what it's worth mine seem to feed better with the power heads off.

 

[skyrne_isk]

You have the sexes of the fish correct. I have a pair as well living in my 40B frag system they are eating arctipods and baby brine.

PaulB ha a great post about a mandarin feeding station that he built. I tried to find the post but couldn't, you might be able to search for it.

If they are both fat and eating well I would move the female to the larger tank with the male. You will be able to target feed them there if they are used to eating prepared. They will eventually learn when and where the food will show up!

The female is definitely fat, though I thought for a while I had two females after the first male died. A whole other topic, but these guys definitely have an "unsexed" appearance to them when they are super small (like 1/2" range).

The male doesn't hunt nearly as actively as the female, though. Never has. I need to see how available arctipods are for me, though. Were these along with brine all you have been able to feed? With those wrasses, there isn't going to be anything left of any target foods unless they take their pellets first!

 

[skyrne_isk]

I have two in with, two clowns, a corris wrasse and a purple tang and they both eat frozen mysis and rods reef food (ate rods from day one). My tank is primarily lps and bta's so I feed pretty heavily, my opinion is these guys go to frozen pretty naturally but are just not very competitive for the food. For what it's worth mine seem to feed better with the power heads off.

The luxury I have is being able to feed as much as I want. They still seem to only want to take food ON the rock/sand. Even if it is barely floating it seems to throw them off. Yours will eat mysis, though? How did you pull that off? Their mouths are so tiny, I can't see how that would work until they are bugger. Any ideas?

 

[ThreeMoneyJ]

My pair will eat anything that comes near them the key is getting it near them. They eat bbs, arctipods, small pellets, and mysis. It's funny to watch them with the mysis. They grab it and swim around with it until they get a small enough piece to swallow.

They will come up off the surface of the rocks/bottom about 2 inches to chase food, but that's it.