ruby red dragonet

FishN00b83 said:
he's still not eating. I put some cheato in and I did see little pods all over it. the brine shrimp hatched and I put a bunch in there as well...I have literally tried to feed him everything and I've seen him peck 4 or 5 times. right now it's not looking so good. hopefully tomorrow things start to turn around. he's got every kind of food imaginable right now.
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Imo as long as it's not overly thin and lethargic you have done what you can up to this point. Just let it do what it wants for now and monitor it. You could always toss a small rock from your Dt in there as well to give it more options of small pods and it will add some biological filtration to boot. Best advice I can think of right now is don't go overboard on the feeding in the QT, rotting food can/will cause more issues.

Knowing now it's not right and I'm sure I just got lucky but I've always ( 3 total) just acclimated them straight to the tank and haven't had any issues. The ruby red did get a safety stop dip just because I got a sample but I have never quarantined mandarins because of the slime coat theory that is pretty prevalent. I have a spotted Mandarin now that replaced the ruby red that went straight in also without any negative issues. I don't want to reccomend that but in the back of my mind I want to =). Good luck they are great little fish..
 
Thanks! He actually stated eating mysis today, and I was completely surprised. It looks like hell be ready for TT this weekend!
 
Thats good news. If you witnessed him eat prepared food, you have a real good change. Good luck with him, they are delightful little fish!
 
paul87 said:
Thats good news. If you witnessed him eat prepared food, you have a real good change. Good luck with him, they are delightful little fish!
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Well he is very shy and won't go near food with anyone near the tank. I put a few pieces of mysis in and realized they were gone later. He is much more active a that I believe he's eating so hopefully he continues to improve. I'll definitely keep the thread updated.
 
rogersb said:
Not to derail your thread, but are there members here who have kept these fish for a year or longer?
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I will have had my male Ruby Red Dragonet for a year this next month.
I won the fish in our local club's raffle and added it straight into my well established display; knowing that it continuously needed plenty of live foods.
He is a "large" (2-½") male and has done exceptionally well, but trying to add some females has been tough.



Back to the original topics...
I have yet to see him eat any prepared foods, as I'm sure there are plenty of pods for him to eat otherwise. And I haven't really tried to ween the fish onto prepared foods either.
He does pick at the rock all day and has the full belly to prove it.

Great little fish! Good luck!
 
jlanger said:
I will have had my male Ruby Red Dragonet for a year this next month.
I won the fish in our local club's raffle and added it straight into my well established display; knowing that it continuously needed plenty of live foods.
He is a "large" (2-½") male and has done exceptionally well, but trying to add some females has been tough.



Back to the original topics...
I have yet to see him eat any prepared foods, as I'm sure there are plenty of pods for him to eat otherwise. And I haven't really tried to ween the fish onto prepared foods either.
He does pick at the rock all day and has the full belly to prove it.

Great little fish! Good luck!
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Very nice. Beautiful fish. Why has adding females been tough j/c? Mine chase each other around occasionally, but nothing serious. They usually get along well. I doubt they where a bonded pair because I picked them out of a tank of about 5. They do hang out often though.
 
The problem was most likely due to poor specimens.
The females were all very small and thin when they arrived. The longest survivor made it about five days. Some disappeared immediately and were never seen again. So I'm not sure that a fully stocked 120gal reef system was easy for them to acclimate to with much success.
My male displays and swims into the water column every night, so I know that he'd be interested in a few females being added.

I am currently finishing up a smaller Fluval M60 build that will be for blennies and gobies, so I may try a small group of dragonets in there someday.
I'll make sure that the next batch have been quarantined and eating well before I pick them up.
 
wow, I've never dealt with a fish that loved to fly as much as this thing. every tank transfer so far he's wound up on the floor, couch and the first time he was about an inch and a half away from jumping straight into the DT!!!! such a crazy *** fish...I hope I can get him to stay in the water long enough to get through QT lol
 
I'm not sure if Ruby Reds share the same behavior but I remember reading that Mandarins definitely jump, especially closer to sunset as it has to do with their spawning behavior.

Try lowering the water level first before tank transferring. I found that helps with jumpy quarantines.
 
fearyaks said:
I'm not sure if Ruby Reds share the same behavior but I remember reading that Mandarins definitely jump, especially closer to sunset as it has to do with their spawning behavior.

Try lowering the water level first before tank transferring. I found that helps with jumpy quarantines.
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that's not a bad idea, I'll definitely try that Thursday morning. thanks!
 
fearyaks said:
I'm not sure if Ruby Reds share the same behavior but I remember reading that Mandarins definitely jump, especially closer to sunset as it has to do with their spawning behavior.

Try lowering the water level first before tank transferring. I found that helps with jumpy quarantines.
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Yes, extremely similar.
 
thanks for the draining idea, it has worked perfectly! his last TT is tomorrow morning (I've been dosing prazi in the tanks the whole time too) so he'll be going back in the bigger QT. I do have one question though. how can I use metro on this guy? I was just going to dose the water column but I have read in a number of places that it doesn't dissolve well and probably won't be effective. how should I go about this?
 
the final countdown starts for the little guy! I hope to have him in the main tank sunday if everything goes right. he's eating a good portion of mysis everyday and he looks to be healthy as can be.
 
Glad to hear you are having success. They do jump, so make sure you have a lid on wherever he is going!

I'm going to be a year into a pair at the end of this month. They are in a 40b with a 40b fuge attached. Lots of rock rubble in the fuge. They are housed with a pair of cardinalfish and some hermits and snails.

My female is around 2inches and my male is around 2.5. She has grown a lot since new, and him not so much.

Tank temp is kept at 78.

Food wise I have a very large pod population. I keep the tank a bit dirty which seems to grow lots of pods. (Basically a fowler tank with some mushrooms and zoas). I'm looking at my dirty glass right now and there are more pods than I can count!!

I also feed mysis, cyclopezee, and flake twice a day. They eat all three, but struggle with the larger pieces. Most of the time they are cruising and eating off the bottom, rocks, glass, etc. the foods they are after are tiny and hard to see with the naked eye. One thing to keep in mind is they are not fast food hunters. Turn off your pumps in the main tank while feeding so the food has a chance to settle before everyone else eats it!

At any rate they are fun fish to watch! Good luck with keeping him long term, it is a rewarding animal to keep.
 
My female is the least camera shy fish in my tank. The male however WILL NOT let me get a photo of him. Funny little fish.

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ThreeMoneyJ said:
Glad to hear you are having success. They do jump, so make sure you have a lid on wherever he is going!

I'm going to be a year into a pair at the end of this month. They are in a 40b with a 40b fuge attached. Lots of rock rubble in the fuge. They are housed with a pair of cardinalfish and some hermits and snails.

My female is around 2inches and my male is around 2.5. She has grown a lot since new, and him not so much.

Tank temp is kept at 78.

Food wise I have a very large pod population. I keep the tank a bit dirty which seems to grow lots of pods. (Basically a fowler tank with some mushrooms and zoas). I'm looking at my dirty glass right now and there are more pods than I can count!!

I also feed mysis, cyclopezee, and flake twice a day. They eat all three, but struggle with the larger pieces. Most of the time they are cruising and eating off the bottom, rocks, glass, etc. the foods they are after are tiny and hard to see with the naked eye. One thing to keep in mind is they are not fast food hunters. Turn off your pumps in the main tank while feeding so the food has a chance to settle before everyone else eats it!

At any rate they are fun fish to watch! Good luck with keeping him long term, it is a rewarding animal to keep.
Click to expand...


yeah I can't believe you said they're jumpers. he has been in the QT and jumped 3 times. I was able to find him and get him back. sadly this morning I found him on the floor dryer than sand...I'm so upset, he just couldn't wait a few hours? I can't believe this happened.
 
FishN00b83 said:
yeah I can't believe you said they're jumpers. he has been in the QT and jumped 3 times. I was able to find him and get him back. sadly this morning I found him on the floor dryer than sand...I'm so upset, he just couldn't wait a few hours? I can't believe this happened.
Click to expand...

So sorry to hear this.
 
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