New scooter dragonet

[Foskett96]

I guys I just got a new scooter dragonet. I no and have read on the Internet that they are hard to keep due to the fact of their dietary requirements but I thought I may have a chance with this one as at the pet shop he was already eating frozen brine shrimp

[Fish-guy]

I've lost mine about a week ago. Too bad. He was a funny guy to watch.

[AquaRick]

Well you have a leg up on him since he was eating mysis. Good Luck! Great looking fish too.

[CleverBs]

i think mandarins are the hard ones to keep my scotter is chubby and knew to eat frozen food after about 3 days of being in my tank. I have a small fuge that i think gives him snacks through out the day but he knows when its time to eat and goes to the same spot in the tank ready for me to squirt in some food. mine eats brine, mysis, cyclops

[carey]

Took me almost a month to get my scooter on frozen. :-( But now he eats almost anything frozen I put in the tank. Try the brine and then move up to mysis and bloodworms, mine loves those things.

[Foskett96]

How do you guys feed yours. I put in half a block of frozen brine shrimp and my clowns broke it up and it went everywhere except I don't no if he at any. How do yous feed them and how do you think I should feed mine

[carey]

I use a turkey baster to shoot the food right to the dragonets. works like a charm

[Sniperhank]

When I feed my tank, I cut a frozen cube in half and thaw it a tad in the tank. I keep ahold of it and just put it infront of my powerhead and there is shrimp everywhere. I get a nice frenzy going off of it as I put my flake/pellet in shortly before. Keeping ahold of it gives me a chance to keep ahold of some of the mysis to hand feed my duncan.

[redsea]

Very nice specimen, I love scooters!

[Foskett96]

Do you think it looks healthy to you.

[Mrc8858]

Check his belly if it ever becomes "sunken" then you need to worry

[Starchar]

I have a scooter blenny and seahorses so its mysis everyday for us. I use the turkey baster method and feed in a scallop shell as a trough. I put a full cube in the bulb of the baster and scoop some tank water and let it thaw out. I then put the tube on the bulb of the baster and squeeze the bulb holding it sideways and filling the bulb and tube in the tank. Finally, I hold the baster vertically and let the mysis float to the bottom of the tube and then gently sqeeze them out and let them float into the "trough". This keeps the mysis juice "cyano jet fuel" out of the tank and everyone is happy.

[Foskett96]

Ok so far I have had him for 2 days and when I fed him this morning he only ate a little bit of the brine shrimp. Is this normal.

[carey]

How often are you feeding? Have you tried bloodworms yet? Mine really like them and mysis....

[Foskett96]

I feed him once a day and my clowns twice a day. I have only tried brine shrimp cause my lfs said he was eating that there.

[carey]

I would keep trying the brine but also try some other frozen foods. I also would feed him multiple times a day until you can get his diet down and he eats regularly. My water parameters aren't that great because of the extra feeding I have to do but it seems to be working out so far. I think I've had my scooter about 6 or 7 months and it took a few weeks to get him on prepared foods. But since then he has eaten like a champ and has gotten alot bigger even has a little belly on him now. LOL

The important thing is to offer a variety of frozen foods for him to choose from and once you find his favorite you can mix in the other foods.

Good luck! let us know how it goes.

[Foskett96]

Ok so how many times a day would you recommend I feed him.

[carey]

I fed three times a day at first until i got him eating more and more. Months later I am still feeding the tank twice a day. I also have a mandarin in there too so it works out for both fish.

I use a turkey baster to shoot the food to him, I have him trained to go to the right corner of the tank when it's feeding time. makes life easier if he associates a place for food. Also, I turn off the flow in the tank for maybe 10 minutes when I feed, the dragonets are not the most efficient eaters so they need some extra time to find and consume the food, especially if you have other fish like clowns that gobble the food up so quick.

[Foskett96]

Hey I got some good news I fed him for the second time today and he ate more then he did the first time I fed him. Carey I would love to see some photos of your scotter dragonet an you mandarin as well as you tank. Same with any of you others who have these fish I would love to see some photos of them. I will be buying some frozen bloodworms an mysid shrimp to see what he likes most. Is there anyway to sex these guys sometimes when I go over to look at him he put up his big sail looking fin he has on top of his body that has a bit of a gold outline. Thank you everyone

[Foskett96]

I was also thinking about getting some live Copepoda for my scooter dragonet can adding them cause ammonina spikes and other parameter spikes?