Green Mandarin Dragonet

DButikofer

DButikofer

AC Members
Apr 23, 2009
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About 3 years ago when I was getting into aquariums I saw a Green Mandarin Dragonet and at the time I only had a 10 gallon fresh water community tank, but the second I saw this fish I new salt was the way I was going. Now I have the saltwater tank and I would really like to buy my motivational beauty but I have read and heard a lot of back and forth between whether or not these guys are impossible to keep or just a tad picky giving them a bad wrap. Any comments, suggestions, or general advice would be much appreciated so when I do get him, he will live and prosper.
 
I put one in a 46 gallon bow that was over a year old and loaded with pods. Loaded to such a degree that the covered the glass - they covered everything.

My mandarin plowed through them in about two months and starved to death! I couldn't get him out, but that is a different story. So in my case it didn't work. I notice by you description you already have a ton of fish in your 58 gallon. I had only two in my 46 when I added the mandarin, so I don't know how you would be able maintain a pod colony to support one. My 2 cents.
 
It will most likely starve in your tank unless your train or find one that eats prepared food. The sixline also feeds on copepods and will outcompete the mandarin for them.
 
I had a red mandarin for about 2 years and he was amazing. As long as your tank has a thriving copepod population, he'll do fine. I've read all the people saying they can't be kept, but I did it, and so can you.
 
Corax said:
I had a red mandarin for about 2 years and he was amazing. As long as your tank has a thriving copepod population, he'll do fine. I've read all the people saying they can't be kept, but I did it, and so can you.
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but what percent of its life did your fish actually live?

dragons just dont work long term in aquaria, unless you really can keep up with their eating habits
 
I read in coral magazine where they reccomend putting the dragonnet in a mesh breeder for a few weeks when you first get it to try and teach it to accept frozen food (baby brine I believe they said). Once he becomes accustomed to the food, release him into the aquarium and he will now be trained to eat the food. Don't know how well this works, just passing the word on.
 
Octavarium said:
I read in coral magazine where they reccomend putting the dragonnet in a mesh breeder for a few weeks when you first get it to try and teach it to accept frozen food (baby brine I believe they said). Once he becomes accustomed to the food, release him into the aquarium and he will now be trained to eat the food. Don't know how well this works, just passing the word on.
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Mine ate brine...still died.
 
Tons of great input, I really want this fish but I can't see myself doing it now. It just seems cruel to have a fish, knowing from the get-go, that it is more than likely going to starve to death. I have heard about the training thing and will look into this further but I am really on the fence with this one. Thanks for all of your input.
 
I saw somewhere that had his mandarin eating out of an olive bottle, It allmost has to be that way they are such slow eaters. They will stare down a meal forever then go for it, by then it's to late and the other fish already ate it.
 
Personally I wouldn't put a dragonet in anything smaller than 100gals. This isn't because of swimming space needed as they don't need a lot, but rather to cope with the amount of live rock to keep a "pod" population big enough to sustain them. I've had mine for over a year now and he still has a healthy fat belly on him. The majority of my rock is 3 years old and in between setting up the 182gal tank and adding a dragonet, I was chucking pods in at least once a month.

Added to that he's also managed to eat his way through an extreme outbreak of flatworm. So much so I'm actually thinking of reintroducing some more, this time deliberately;)
 
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