Tips for feeding mandarin dragonet?

[FDshoes]

They simply aren't out there. Im just saying I would never even consider putting one in my tank without it being able to eat naturally. Its the same reason I wouldn't go with a moorish unless I could spawn sponges everyday for him.

 

[blackmolly]

@OP: well, good luck getting your fish to eat! maybe you can be a success story! keep us updated please!

 

[FDshoes]

I agree good luck and at the person saying there not hard don't encourage the keeping of this species that is already over collected. They truly are meant to be left in the sea or to the extremly established tank.

 

[kade]

Thanks guys! I'll try to keep you updated!

 

[mr_X]

Good advice here. Hard creatures to keep without an established tank with a lot of live rock. I have heard people say 100 pounds of rock per dragonet. Don't know how accurate that is, but in my experience, it's not far off.

 

[FDshoes]

I like the baseline total of lr but let's not forget to include that having that much lr=conditions for manderan survival u still better have that plus scrapping pods off glass everyday

 

[FDshoes]

Edit* that amt of le does not guarenree

 

[mr_X]

Scraping pods off of the glass? I think you are mistaking Isopods with copepods. Copepods swim, and isopods are not on the menu for dragonets.

 

[FDshoes]

I am using it as a comparison as in there better tons of then

 

[kade]

I just feed some frozen brine shrimp to my other fish, and my mandarin had a nibble on some. So I might have some luck. But I am aware that she might stop eating frozen food soon :/

 

[kade]

Oh, some one on this thread said before that brine shrimp isn't enough to keep my mandarin going. If it eats the spirulina feed brine shrimp, would that be better or be able to sustain my fish for longer?

 

[Reeffanman]

Just a note I was at my Lfs yesterday they had one that they couldn't get to eat.... It's in a tank looking sooooo sick nobody will buy it.
Another note I have one that is thriving off established population for almost a year now.

 

[carey]

Figured I'd give my 2 cents since I have 2 dragonets that are eating prepared foods. lol

My mandarin is an ORA one that supposedly ate pellets. HA! Not when I got her home she didnt and only ate pods. i started by feeding 3 times a day an assortment of frozen food. i started with cyclopeeze and baby brine. I tried everything i could think of, I mean I had over 12 different foods in my freezer at that time. She eventually started in the small frozen and has worked her way up to bloodworms, which she really loves and eats like spaghetti. lol

My scooter was actually easier, well, it took less than a month with the same feeding protocol and he was eating mysis and bloodworms. The mandarin took over a month and luckily I had enough pods in the tank for her to eat while she transitioned.

I've had my mandy for about 6 months or so and she'd a fat little sausage now. Same with the scooter, two little fatties. LOL I still feed twice a day though and I watch like a hawk for any signs of them turning down frozen food. It's really a gamble with these fish. An established tank is probably the best way to go, not sure if I would do it again with the mandarin but she is an awesome fish!

 

[Fish-guy]

Yes my scooter and mandarin are eating bloodworms and mysis shrimp as well. I guess it depends on the fish but it is possible to keep them without having a huge supply of pods. Best of luck

 

[alex07]

Yes my scooter and mandarin are eating bloodworms and mysis shrimp as well. I guess it depends on the fish but it is possible to keep them without having a huge supply of pods. Best of luck

Everyone will have a different experience.

 

[Mpfaff77]

I second what Carey said about bloodworms. I have had my mandarin or 8 months or so. He is in my profile pic. He also loves bloodworms. I also have very good pod population so he is supplemented and very fat. My mandy didn't eat frozen when I got him. I found a small glass bottle I think was like 16 ounce orange juice bottle. I put small pieces of rock rubble in bottle. The opening to bottle was big enough only for the mandarin to fit in and I put it in the corner where he hung the most. I would squirt little bit of food in every day. Maybe twice a day. Mysis. Brine. Plankton. Pellets. Then I found 50/50 food it is bloodworms and mysis. This took about 1 month. My Mandy finally went into bottle and ate 4 bloodworms. I was ecstatic. I never really needed to clean bottle out since nassarius would eventually get in and eat left overs. So I fed Mandy in the bottle for about week. I took out bottle and now mandarin will eat anything I put in tank. Although he is not aggressive eater. He likes to inspect His food then he hits it hard. Can hear him chop on food from out side tank.

I also breed pods in a 5 gallon tank. Which is surprisingly easy. I could go into depth if anyone interested. I harvest them just by switching out rocks from pod tank to display and refugium every week or so.

 

[bighabeeb]

Details if you please! I currently have a 10 gallon tank sitting in my garage gathering dust that I got as a freebie at a midnight firesale, and have been thinking about setting it up as a pod breeding tank - but had no clue where to start!

I second what Carey said about bloodworms. I have had my mandarin or 8 months or so. He is in my profile pic. He also loves bloodworms. I also have very good pod population so he is supplemented and very fat. My mandy didn't eat frozen when I got him. I found a small glass bottle I think was like 16 ounce orange juice bottle. I put small pieces of rock rubble in bottle. The opening to bottle was big enough only for the mandarin to fit in and I put it in the corner where he hung the most. I would squirt little bit of food in every day. Maybe twice a day. Mysis. Brine. Plankton. Pellets. Then I found 50/50 food it is bloodworms and mysis. This took about 1 month. My Mandy finally went into bottle and ate 4 bloodworms. I was ecstatic. I never really needed to clean bottle out since nassarius would eventually get in and eat left overs. So I fed Mandy in the bottle for about week. I took out bottle and now mandarin will eat anything I put in tank. Although he is not aggressive eater. He likes to inspect His food then he hits it hard. Can hear him chop on food from out side tank.

I also breed pods in a 5 gallon tank. Which is surprisingly easy. I could go into depth if anyone interested. I harvest them just by switching out rocks from pod tank to display and refugium every week or so.

 

[Mpfaff77]

I ordered a amphipod breeding kit from indo pacific sea farms. Can post links later. I also ordered bag of pods from reefs2go.com. Just so I had good variety of pods to seed my tank. I put good amount of rock rubble in tank with a small hang on back filter with small heater and bag of carbon in hob filter. The amphipod breeding kit has some algea mats it comes with along with pod flakes. I dumped pods in and feed flakes once every other day or so. I will also squirt some frozen food in there too when I do tank feeding. I do weekly water changes and when I shine flashlight at night just little pods everywhere.

 

[mr_X]

Mandarins don't eat amphipods.

 

[Sergie]

Mandarins don't eat amphipods.

Since when? Just two days ago I moved a rock and an amphipod ran out towards the glass. My foxface saw it and attempted to eat it but he let it go quickly. Then I see him running towards my mandarin along the glass. My mandarin waited patiently. When the pod stopped my madarin snuck up and sucked him right up. I almost filmed it cause I saw it coming as soon as my rabbitfish spat him out. And yes it was an amphipod. About a quarter of an inch long.