spotted mandarin dragonet

[rlemke]

Does anybody have some advice on having a dragonet in their tank? My LFS sold me one, and I understand that they like copepods. Also bought a package containing about 200 live copepods, but I'm not sure if I need to augment that on a regular basis or not.

 

[kar93]

How long has your tank setup? do you have fuge? do you have all live rock?

 

[rbursek]

46gal is really marginal for a Manderin, not enough rock, keep buying pods! They realy do not eat fish food. Some do but rarely. They starve to death over a few months.

 

[sufunk]

How much lr do you have? If you are packed with lr and have a good amount of pods, you MIGHT be ok but like the previous poster said, a 46g is really marginal at best.

A sump/fuge would DEFINITELY help. If no sump and not a ton of lr, i think you will have to supplement with live pods fairly often. I have a ton of pods and dont know exactly how many my mandarin eats a day but he is hunting and pecking for them pretty much 24/7.

 

[useskaforevil]

test to see if your mandarin will eat frozen foods. my target mandarin will eat frozen food so it helps to supplement its diet.

 

[ionracing]

this is a myth...kinda. At work (That Fish Place) we have had a spoted mandarin in a 24g aquapod for over a year with no issues. As long as the tank is mature its fine. A fuge will help alot though. Not the blue mandarins get much bigger and yes a 46g is too small

 

[rlemke]

Thanks, everyone!
Seems like I didn't update my tank specs since switching out to a 70 gallon tank. My live rock seems healthy, and I've got a sump. Sounds like it won't hurt me to add some more copepods, just to keep the little guy happy.

 

[kar93]

70g is fine for mandarins, do you have a Fuge? How old is the tank?

 

[rlemke]

No fuge. Tank is about six months old, but I transferred a lot of mature rock and sand from my old 46 gallon tank into the new tank. Better lighting (metal halide), and added more live rock when I set it up.
I'd post some pics, but my camera and I aren't on speaking terms right now.