Mandarin Dragonettes-!?!

[skyesfire]

My husband and I have a 60 gallon tank that we are getting setup. I would like to get a Mandarin Dragonette for the tank (not right away of course), but I've read that they need to be in a tank 75 gallons or bigger and that they are difficult to keep. Any suggetions on whether or not we can have one and if so, what do we need to do to feed them. I read that they need a lot of copepods (I believe) and that we could do that in our refugium.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Skyesfire

 

[mmkeeper]

I have one in a 46 and it is very healthy and happy. It needs a muture tank with lots of copods. I charged my tank with Garf Grunge with help seed my sandbed and sump. garf.org Welcome to Reef Frontiers.

 

[skyesfire]

Thanks! I plan on not getting one until I know I have a good enough population of copepods. What do they look like and how big are they?

 

[twilliard]

At night when the lights are off shine a flashlight in there and you will see them scurry around.
If you dont see anything I would wait longer.

 

[tike]

When you add your live rock you will already start off with a small population of them. They hide in the nook and crannies off the live rock. Just let the tank mature for 4-6 weeks and then do the light thing suggested above. You should see many of them scurring around the bottom. It'll then be safe to add your mandarin. Good luck and Welcome to RF!!

Regards
Willie

 

[Brenden]

They look like little white fleas. IMO 4-6weeks is not long enought to wait.

 

[tike]

Brenden....you could be right. It all depends on where you get your rock from. Mine came from a very well established tank so the buggers were literally jumping off the rock!!

willie

 

[Gimpster]

Once of the sponsers here, Ocean Pods also sells live pods which can be added to the tank or used as a starter culture to setup a breading population.

 

[skyesfire]

I would like to know more about breeding them. Do you breed them in the main tank or in the sump? I also read that you can make a hole in the center of some home made rock for them in the main tank. I guess it needs to be deep and small enough that the fish can't get to the copepods.

 

[4251cpd]

The pods will breed on their own. As long as their is a constant food supply they will eat, mature, and reproduce. The fuge concept is a safe breeding haven for them as they will constantly be jetted into the display to become food for your verts. This is just ME, but a little bit of green water, DT's etc once every week or so really brings the population of pods to visibility. If you really want the population to be large leave the tank fallow for 3-6 months. Just a suggestion.

 

[skyesfire]

Thanks for everybody's help and advice so far! I appreciate it greatly! Keep it coming.

 

[jetaero]

I say let the tank seed for atleast a year before introducing a mandarin.

-Josh-

 

[varpanus]

not to hijack the thread but what's green water? is it a suppliment dose kinda thing?

 

[jonneedshelp85]

from my own and alot of my friends experience dragonets are very finacky eaters you need alot of copeapods and a safehaven for them to grow some recomend pvc piping or a fuge is even a better idea the idea is to have a place for them to eat and reproduce without bother another thing is you need to have plenty of live rock atleast 80 pounds is what i have heard a decent sized tank and lots of food like dt's there is also phyton pheast but be careful the sheer concentration of that stuff can easily allow it to get out of control , Either way good luck with your new tank welcome to rf and keep us posted on what is going on

 

[shallowreef]

i have a green mandarin and have had him ffor the past two years and he eats pods and needs to have at least 60lbs of LR for pods to grow on. Unless you are going to keep him in a fuge? I have heard of people doing that before.

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

I would wait at least a year before attempting a mandarin. Do research on all your livestock to make sure your mandarin won't have competition for food. Also, as soon as you can, if your mandarin isn't eating prepared foods, then try to train it to eat them. I'll give you some reading assignments :

Check out these articles:

Pods - Delicious and Nutritious by Adelaide Rhodes

Tips on Culturing Copepods

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!

 

[skyesfire]

Thanks for the information!

Our tank is now setup, and going great. We have a small case of diatoms, but hopefully that will pass soon.

Thanks Again

 

[Brenden]

Yes the diatoms are normal and should pass soon. Did you see the mandarin pics I posted on this thread?
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18449

 

[saltyspring]

do i need to seed a copepod population

I would also like to introduce the mandarin goby, a pretty knowledgable friend told me about a web site called oceanpods.com, so I looked it up and found you can buy copepods for 25$ a bottle.Is this the way to go or should I wait for them to just show up? I have 125lbs 0f liverock and my tank is about 3 mo old. I dont see anything as far as copepods anywhere on my live rock.

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

Copepods are very small, and you will most likely see them on the tank glass. I wouldn't attempt a mandarin in a tank that is only 3 months old, regardless of the amount of live rock. IMO, this isn't a long enough time period for the population to grow to a large enough number to support the mandarin. Oceanpods is a great way to jump start the copepod population. IMO, wait until your tank is 6 months to one year old before attempting a madarin, unless it is eating prepared foods when you purchase it. Also, be conscious of the fellow tank mates eating habits. Depending on the tank size, do your research to determine if the mandarin would be competeing for food, and whether or not you would be able to support the fishes needs.