Help with new Dragonette

[method0075]

I recently added one to my 50 gal. tank and really like it`s personality and color. I`ve heard that a lot of these will die because of malnutrition. I would hate for that to happen to such a cool fish. Experts here can you give me some advice as to proper nuritment?

 

[reedman]

Have a well established tank with lots of pods. Most don't adapt well to prepared foods, so if you don't have a pod population (and one that is thriving) they typicallly starve. Most people who are successful have refugium where the pods reproduce.

Good luck with it. They are very cool fish, but not the easiest to keep if you don't have the right setup.

 

[method0075]

can I pick up pods or cultures from a local fish store

 

[reedman]

Depends on your store, but yes they are available commercially. I would strongly advise setting up some kind of refugium to provide a breeding ground for them, as this will provide a long term solution for you.

Where are you located? I know Ocean Reef Aquatics in Poulsbo, WA has pods in the store.

http://www.oceanpods.com/ Adelaide is active on these boards and runs Essential live foods (or ocean pods), providing pods to everyone that can't breed them in their tank. She is a great source of information on pods and a great person in general. Her name on here is ladygator.

 

[Curtswearing]

EDIT: Reed already covered it while I was searching for a link. Post deleted.

 

[wrightme43]

usually.
this is just me, I would not recomened buying one based on this, but since you have it.
I got my to eat newlife spectrum pellets.
If you can get it to try some live brine in your tank, drip some garlic in with the live brine, give them a little bit to absorb up the flavor.
put them in the tank. I think the M. goby gets the flavor and scent attached to food. Then try some pellets soaked in a little garlic, once it eats one or two its on.
Mine and this is two in a row, (one jumped to his death a long time ago) eat just plain dry newlife spectrum like it is going out of style. He comes to the tank sidewall just like the others in the tank, wanting his food from me. I have plenty of pods, I just live to do things other people say I cant do.
Now why do I think he eats it? Its the same size as a pod, its close to the same color as a brine shimp, it rolls around on the bottom in the current so he has to chash them, orginally they are soaked in garlic, so the smell just like the brine shimp he was eating, and they are close to the same color. So its a pretty easy switch for him. Its worth a try.
Now if you just throw the pellets in dry without the steps I dont think it will work. There is some kind of method to my madness. LOL

 

[gbr]

I am resisting the temptation to preach...if this were a different forum, you would have been attacked already. So let's stick with help. Dragonettes eat copepods for the most part. There are some that are and can be trained to eat some type of frozen food. There is help on that out there but that is not an easy task at all. I have two in my 180 and they are fat, I won't say happy because how happy is an animal in a 6ftx2ft box? Anyway, if you look in your tank at night with a flashlight (you can use a red filter or look quickly with a white light) you should see hundreds of life forms scurrying from the light. These usually are amphipods, copepods and mysis shrimp and various others (not an expert on that). If upon close inspection you don't see hundreds of little shrimp-like creatures scurying from the light, you don't have a large enough pod population. So you need to either buy some pods or spend a large amount of time training, which will usually require some kind of live food. Several local stores sell a product called Ocean Pods (I believe) which is loaded with live pods. http://www.oceanpods.com/ A local store in Poulsbo carries them so you could avoid shipping...depends on where you live.

A refugium is not necessary as long as you have enough rock and only that one pod eater in your tank. Other fish will eat them as well so if you have more pod eaters, they reduce the population to the point where they all starve. A refugium will help here as a location for the pods to breed and thrive without predation.

Good luck. If in doubt, bottom line, get some ocean pods.

 

[gbr]

I obviously write slowly...only one post when I started mine. Local store should have them. http://www.oceanreefaquatics.com/

Call Mario first to see if he has them.

 

[NaH2O]

method0075 - how many pounds of live rock do you have? As stated, a refugium will help with tank of your size. Getting it to eat prepared foods would be ideal, but I understand not all mandarin owners get theirs to take prepared foods. Here are some articles for you:

Feeding a Mandarin Part One
Feeding a Mandarin Part Two

The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part One
The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part Two
The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part Three
The Synchiropus splendidus Series, Part Four

Hope they help!

 

[method0075]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LR is abundant! I had 50lbs to start a year ago and added over 100lbs of LR that I brought back from Hawiaii in Sept. I`m pretty confident that I have pods and similar creatures in their I just Haven`t tried to look for them.

I`m going to pick up some live cultures this evening and start a fuge under the tank.

I have a Fluval filter system, the ones that are sealed with a supply and return lines. If I take out the filter medium and just put LR in it do you think that could make for a fuge?

 

[Skimmy]

'pods themselves obviosly dont require photosynthesis, but i feel that they live in symbiosis with creatures and algaes that are photosynthetic, so my opinion is that you would be better off with a "regular" refugium that includes live rock rubble, macroalgae, and lights. and if you wanted to be real cool you would have it placed above the system and have it gravity feed into the display tank, but typically most people have problems setting up a fuge that way, admittantly it is a p.i.t.a. but it's the best way to get the pods in the tank.
i know eco-systems make a fuge designed like that, but they fetch top dollar because of thier miracle mud, which i would throw in the garbage, or pour gas on and ignite, but the fuge it's self is awesome. if your at all handy you could make one yourself out of a small acrylic tank and save some cash
im not going to even ask about the hawiian live rock, or how you got it:shock:

 

[method0075]

I can make a Fuge (Just got done Building our basement theater room) . So I have a 10 gallon extra tank that I would like to make into a fuge! My tank doesn`t have any holes and Since it`s up and running I don`t want to drill any. Idid some research and found some info about fuges.

How does the plumbing work, and how can I prevent the lower tank (fuge) from over flowing?

 

[gbr]

Let me just say again, there is no reason for a refugium with that much rock and only one major pod eater, that being said, thet are nice for macro algae and another "cool" tank. I used to watch mine more than the main tank.

Hard to help with the design without knowing your sump setup...not real familiar with a Fluval filter. Is it below your tank? If it is sealed, I don't see a way to take water and put it back into it without a lot of trouble. Plus assuming the 10 gallon is glass, drilling it would be a pain. Ideally the sump integrates the fuge so that the water being pumped into the fuge can just overflow to the sump.

????

 

[method0075]

Do you think that is really enough LR. I was thinking about picking up some LR Rubble and adding that as well.

Just to clarify, I didn`t go into the waters of hawaii and dig up the LR. When I went there when they were experiencing horrible surf conditions. A storm surge was hitting the coast and with it was washing 10, 20, and even 30LBS pieces of LR onto the shore. As soon as it washed up I grabbed it with critters and all, bagged it in Garbage bags and filled with some water. I got some really cool hitchhikers and anenomes from these pieces that I gathered in quarantine and sold to local fish stores.

I don`t have a sump, Can I run a tube of siphoned water into my fuge tank and then have a pump send it back to the aquarium?

 

[gbr]

There's 150# in a 50gal...IMO that is more than enough. I have 200# in a 180 with about 40# in a fuge.

Matching flow from a siphon to a return pump is a bit&*...If you don't pump it back fast enough, water on the floor, pump it back too fast, and the pump runs dry.

Power goes out and your siphon break doesn't work, water everywhere.

 

[method0075]

So what do I need for plumbing or how would this work?

 

[liveforphysics]

There is a simple solution for an over flow from an undrilled glass tank.

I was perplexed for about 2 days of thinking about how in the world i was going to make an overflow for my tank without the hassle of takeing the tank down to drill it.

I considdered many wacky options, like glueing on a raised 1/2" lip around the whole perimeter of the tank except for a small section that would have have a little ramp with sides channeling it into a small area to be collected for the journey into the sump. I decided that this would be a labor intensive and poor option (but it would work).

I looked pretty extensively into a siphon related option, but I wasn't able to come up with any easy ways to solve the problems related to flow balenceing and in-ability to auto-restart after a power outage.

Then I realized that if I just trapped a siphon between 2 bends, air could never get in to fiddle with it, reguardless of poweroutages etc. It also auto flow balences inherently.

I built 2 different styles, and I will take some pics and post them up for you.

 

[method0075]

That would be great because my skimmer is HOB and working great. All I want is a seperate tank tthat I can colonize as a refugium that can share the same water as my show tank...

 

[liveforphysics]

This was my first design. I was looking for minimal intrusion in the tank, so rather than useing bends, I placed a smaller diameter tube into a larger one. I estimated the cross-sectional area balence of tube sizes really poorly. I also needed to have the outlet over flow point lower to effectively increase the simulated head ability. Basically, this one works great for low flow levels, (like your fluval), but saturates and cant keep up with big pumps. For a fuge though, less flow can be a good thing.

The cost was about 11$ in plumbing junk, assembled with superglue in about 30mins of cutting, fitting and glueing.

This next design intrudes into the tank much more, but it handles all the flow i can throw at it easily. I was not able to saturate this overflow with a 1/4hp pump (operateing under 4ft head). Its bigger, bulkier, and more of a challenge to initially prime, but it does its job like a champ, and thats what I like in a tool.

Its cost was about 15$ due to the price of all the 90deg elbows required. It took quite a bit less time to build, also useing superglue for the bonding agent.

Neither unit has ever drawn air or malfunctioned. Both are nearly silent, the only sound i hear comes from the water entering the fuge, which I later silenced with a corse spounge in the return tube.

I hope this helps you!

 

[Skimmy]

i'll take some pics of my brothers tank to show you as well, he has a 20g tank beside and above his display tank on a piece of furniture, he then just put a maxijet 1200 in the display tank, but a vinyl hose on it and sends it to the 20g, from there a overflow box simply gravity feeds back to the display tank. when the power goes out the whole thing stops. no water no mess.
it's a simple matter to design a sump that will accomodate any water that will flow down to it when the power goes out.