FEEDING MANDARIN DRAGONET

by **puffedupseagull** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:27 am

What should i feed my mandarin, he doesnt seem to be eating frozen or flakes and is starting to get thin
Please help my little buddy fatten up
Thanks

by **singapore** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:22 pm

mandarins only eat copepods. they are microscopic crustaceans that live on your rock and in your sandbed. if there arent enough of the little critters in the tank, many dragonettes will eat vitamin enriched LIVE brine shrimp, and LIVE blackworms.

mandarins arent east fish to keep, and you need a large refugium, or a 125+ gal tank to keep the copepod population up.

liveaquaria.com also sells live food, including brine shrimp, and bottles copepods.

many fishkeepers dont realize the advanced care mandarins need when they buy them...i blame the storekeeper. they should inform people about their special diet.

by **fihsboy** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:51 am

agreed with singapore.......i didnt know a scooter blenny is a dragonet......until i almost starved him to death. tisk tisk on the fish stores. If you have a refugium.........GOOD. if not.....get some phyto algae for sure.....and you could even buy some copepods online. I bought from two people.....on ebay........both really really good. But when you add the phyo.....thats what copepods eat.......they come out in full bloom. My scooter eats them like candy now..........but for some reason he is also eating marine pellets.....I guess i have trained him to eat them. You can try the smallest pellets you can find. But your best option is to get some copepods online........some live phyto and dose BOTH at the same time in your tank or refuge or half and half at NIGHT TIME. important that its at night.......so they dont ALL get eaten immediatly. Yes they will get eaten........thats why i had to buy them twice. Good luck though!

by **Snowboss4492** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:09 pm

how many pods is enough??? i have a crazy amount of them in my 20 long but i'm affraid of a manderin eating them faster then they replenish - - - - but i'm actually getting nervous about how many are in there........it's almost getting to an infestation level ...............ideas??

Boss

by **singapore** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 5:07 pm

a dragonette in a 20gal is asking for trouble. he will decimate that tank in days.

thats why i suggested a 125+gal tank per dragonette. there will be enough pods in there to sustain him without having to worry about adding more copepods.

by **fihsboy** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:09 pm

Hey boss I hear that peppermint shrimp will devour these things. Mine will pick at them, but not more than the blenny. Dragonets are supposed to be in at least 80 gallons.........if you want to rent one from a friend to clean your tank. haha they eat deitrus though and are signs of a healty system. I have a 2.5 gallon tank that you can hardly see the tank for all the bugs on the glass. its kinda weird.....but cool cause its food for my scooter. If you have a refuge....or a sump that can house your copepods........and let them reproduce in a spot where they wont ALL be eaten.......it will work out. on a 29 gallon tank i have 20 gallons of refuge for the copepods.....they grow like crazy and keep everything full. Certainly a hard fish to care for though.....hes the only reason i have a refuge to begin with.

by **snowboss** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:11 pm

yeah they are beautiful fish.................i'll prolly wait till the 180 is up and running for him though

by **fihsboy** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 1:58 am

might be a good idea. then you could even get two...... if it is a mature tank. :)

by **dasqer** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 10:45 am

I've got 2 of these in a 55 gal tank, one mandarin and one target. they eat frozen brine shrimp and are healthy as, they also pick off the live rock.

by **Snowboss4492** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:47 am

you have a very mature looking tank as well Dasqer................ which is a huge help................unfortunately a lot of "young" tank masters get in a hurry and buy these fish and the stupid LFS sells them without informaing them/us that these are, as a rule picky lil beauties

Beautiful tank BTW

Boss

FEEDING MANDARIN DRAGONET

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