scooter and canary blenny with mandarin dragonette

[SaltyTemple]

Hey guys,

So I'm thinking of adding a scooter, canary and mandarin blenny/dragonette to my tank - I also have a bicolor blenny already in there - will these guys get along? I think that their body styles are varied enough - any experience with this?

Thanks!

 

[returnofsid]

What size tank do you have? How long has it been set up? Scooter Dragonettes and Mandarin Dragonettes need LOTS of live rock and a HUGE population of copepods. Without these foods, they'll usually starve to death. They need a very established tank, with lots of live rock that can support a self sustaining pod population. A refugium is almost mandatory for these fish, as well. It's not a good idea to put these in tanks with other fish that will out-compete them for this food source. The Bicolor Blenny won't be a problem at all. However, the Canary Blenny, if it's a Fang Blenny, might be a problem.

 

[boosted306]

Agree to the above post. I am waiting for my tank to mature enough for them as well.

 

[returnofsid]

Also, it's not recommended to put either of these fish in any tank smaller than 50 gallons. I'm pushing it having them in a 46 with LOTS of live rock and a HOB refugium. I also have a large population of pods. I still purchase and add pods on a regular basis.

 

[SaltyTemple]

I have an established tank - about 3 1/2 years old, 125 display, 30 sump and 40 fuge. I've got pods up the wazoo some of them are 1/4 of an inch these days - I was hoping to get them munched! I think that I have enough food - I'm mostly worried about compatability.

Can someone expand on the fang blenny concern?

 

[SaltyTemple]

and I forgot to mention my LR - I think I'm at about 200lbs - too much I should think since my aquascaping has started looking like piles of rock

 

[returnofsid]

LOL Definitely plenty of live rock. Keep in mind that sometimes, you can have too much live rock and it will obstruct flow pretty bad. Having open areas among the rock allows much better flow and circulation. You need this to keep detritus from building up and for the overall health of your reef.

 

[SaltyTemple]

oh yeah - I hear that - which is why some of it migrated to my fuge - I'll probably offload some when I get my stuff together - I'd let the tank just run for most of this year - and am now getting serious again about giving it a work over - spent last weekend bruising my arm chipping the coraline off the bottom quarter of the tank Did some rock blasting, fuge cleaning and pump/power head servicing - ahhh good weekend!

 

[Myteemouse]

Sounds like a party, LOL!

 

[returnofsid]

I think with that size of and maturity of your tank, you'd be fine with a Mandarin and Scooter Blenny. What I meant about the Fang Blenny is that they are zooplantonvores, so could out compete both dragonettes for their needed food source.

 

[SaltyTemple]

Sounds like a party, LOL!

Sweet - next time I'll provide the beer and you provide the arm?

Being 5 feet 4 doesn't work well with the depth of my tank...

 

[SaltyTemple]

I think with that size of and maturity of your tank, you'd be fine with a Mandarin and Scooter Blenny. What I meant about the Fang Blenny is that they are zooplantonvores, so could out compete both dragonettes for their needed food source.

Thank you for the feedback - I think that having three competing for the same source of limited food is a bad idea - thanks for that insight.

Man, what I wouldn't give to have my mandarin back from about three years ago who ate formula two pellets - he was awesome! had a run in with a non QT'd fish and that was that damn chromis.

 

[johnmaloney]

What size tank do you have? How long has it been set up? Scooter Dragonettes and Mandarin Dragonettes need LOTS of live rock and a HUGE population of copepods. Without these foods, they'll usually starve to death. They need a very established tank, with lots of live rock that can support a self sustaining pod population. A refugium is almost mandatory for these fish, as well. It's not a good idea to put these in tanks with other fish that will out-compete them for this food source. The Bicolor Blenny won't be a problem at all. However, the Canary Blenny, if it's a Fang Blenny, might be a problem.

+1. If I were going to get one I wouldn't add them at the same time. The LFS near me sells only dragonets that are trained on mysis and bloodworms, but even when I got mine I was happy to have a very large refugium to keep them hunting. The male, (picked up a pair of spotted mandarins), eats flake, but I still feed them the pods because they are much more fun to watch when they are hunting. Probably better for them too, although mysis is pretty healthy.

 

[Myteemouse]

Sweet - next time I'll provide the beer and you provide the arm?

Being 5 feet 4 doesn't work well with the depth of my tank...

well you met me today i'm only 5'6"
LOL
I'll drink the beer and cheer you on LOL

 

[burning2nd]

my scooter smoked the pod-u-lation in about 6 months...
he did not kill them off... just put it in check.. he bulked up then skinnyed up a little...

but he eats pellets so.. Im not worryed...

 

[SaltyTemple]

Thanks for the real time infor - is this on your 30 gal w sump? Do you have a fuge?

my scooter smoked the pod-u-lation in about 6 months...
he did not kill them off... just put it in check.. he bulked up then skinnyed up a little...

but he eats pellets so.. Im not worryed...

 

[burning2nd]

they told me he wouldnt eat pellets... guess i got lucky... my sump is my fuge as well..

yes on my 30