The big ones eat many things, but the babies prefer phyto. The population will explode if you feed them. And for dragonettes, that's a good thing. Just watch your organic levels as phyto can screw them up.
I used a dark colored 5 gallon bucket to culture mine. Just use old aquarium water and a sponge filter. I freeze glycerin free phyto into small ice cubes. It lasts a lot longer that way. Keeping a green water culture going is cheaper, but they crash unexpectedly and you can loose your pod factory. Change the water as needed. Pods will collect everywhere, but especially the sponge filter. Shake the filter and collect the pods then dump them into the display tank every few days. You will want a fine net to filter them out. Doing it this way, you should be able to stay ahead of a mandarin even in a small tank.
