Green Mandarinfish, Striped Mandarinfish / Synchiropus slendidus

[swannyson7]

Green Mandarinfish, Striped Mandarinfish / Synchiropus slendidus

SCIENTIFIC NAME –Synchiropus slendidus

COMMON NAME – Green Mandarinfish, Striped Mandarinfish

SIZE – 3.1" (8 cm)

MIN. AQUARIUM SIZE – 20 US Gal. (76 L)

FOODS AND FEEDING – The Green Mandarinfish consumes finely chopped meaty foods, black worms, shaved shrimp, and vitamin enriched live brine shrimp. Should be fed a minimum of 3 times per day in a non-reef barebottom tank.


REEF COMPATIBILITY – Yes.

CAPTIVE CARE – It is difficult to provide sufficient food for long term success with the Green Mandarinfish. A well established population of copepods is a plus, as is an established reef with a mature sand substrate. Only one male can be kept per tank and it may be aggressive towards other dragonets. This species should be housed with non-aggressive tank mates and provided with a large area of open substrate. The Green Mandarinfish is a bottom feeder, so food must be available for a sufficient amount of time, with limited competition from other bottom feeders that may consume food too quickly. This fish will bury itself if it is threatened and sometimes at night. This species has successfully spawned in captivity. For protection, the Green Mandarinfish extrudes a toxic exterior slime. Exercise caution when housing this fish with anemones, as it may be eaten.

 

[swannyson7]

 

[RZ5T]

 

[CJO]

Nice pics. The proper common name is the Green Mandarin Dragonet. I've also seen Psycodelic Mandarinfish and Mandarin Gobies. You might want to modify the foods and feeding to same something like.. In the wild, Mandarin Dragonets continually feed on copepods and other small crustaceans. Many people have been able to train them to eat fresh and frozen foods such as finely chopped meaty foods, black worms, shaved shrimp, prawn eggs, flying fish roe and vitamin enriched live brine shrimp, but many others have been unsuccessful doing so.

Also, it might be good to add a modifier to the beginning of captive care- Without a mature system with a large amount of live rock or a refugium in which to cultivate copepods, it is difficult to provide sufficient food for long term success with the Green Mandarin Dragonet.

Hope this helps,
CJ

 

[Lynnmw1208]

Female

 

[Lynnmw1208]

Here are a couple more pics of mine

 

[Eienna]

 

[uall8up]

I have 2 mandarins and they LOVE each other. Does this mean I have a male and a female?

 

[Eienna]

I have 2 mandarins and they LOVE each other. Does this mean I have a male and a female?

A male will have the spike in the first dorsal fin (like mine, just above). The female will also have that fin, minus the elongated ray. I imagine two females would be okay, but two males will generally fight over territory once they come of age even if they're buds until then.

 

[kes]

one of the most spectacular fish you can get! but so hard to keep long term. ;-(

 

[Oliver_Klosoff]

I had a little girl for 4 years but had to let her go when I took down my tank. I never did get her trained to eat frozen food but I had a mature 75g reef tank. That as far as I'm concerned is a must. She was very emaciated when I bought her. I know this was a no,no but I thought why not see what would happen. Once in my tank she began putting on the ounces I guess. lol I miss her and have plans of setting up a 200g reef in a few years then I will get a pair. I took a few pics of her but my pics suck compared to all of yours but I have her as my avatar.

 

[Eienna]

I had a little girl for 4 years but had to let her go when I took down my tank. I never did get her trained to eat frozen food but I had a mature 75g reef tank. That as far as I'm concerned is a must. She was very emaciated when I bought her. I know this was a no,no but I thought why not see what would happen. Once in my tank she began putting on the ounces I guess. lol I miss her and have plans of setting up a 200g reef in a few years then I will get a pair. I took a few pics of her but my pics suck compared to all of yours but I have her as my avatar.

Aww! Glad you were able to save her.

 

[Oliver_Klosoff]

Yeah I was sorry to see her go.

 

[Eienna]

Someone needs to fix the title. I believe it's Synchiroptopus splendidus. At the very least, it's splendidus, not slendidus.

My first one was an epic fail. The poor thing turned out to be so unwell that it died the first night. Well, you live and learn, so my next try I got a nice fat healthy boy from Deep Sea Creations. They'd had him in for about four months, they said. He has done splendidus - er - splendidly! <3 He's the one in all my photos.

 

[Djtonton]

Make sure you have some pods for these guys. Currently keep 2 females in a 120 gal tank.

 

[Squishie89]

My mandarin is very, very shy. He was given to me as he was starving to death in his previous home (he had a sunken in belly, he was almost dead). Luckily I had enough pods and he recovered and seems to be doing very well in my tank. He sometimes hangs out with the starry blenny.