Anyone successfully raising dragonets?

[dragongirln]

Hi, from Australia.
I have pairs of draongets (Spotted, Blue, and red scooters) that are constantly spawning - I have managed to get them to 10-14 days old (depending on the species), then the just randomly die.
Is there anyone who is successfully raising them and willing to chat? I have been documenting what I have been doing and thought about posting it here for anyone else to try.

I think I have found and read all the threads on here a few times :)

 

[DaJMasta]

I only had two settle and thanks in no small part to a copepod culture crash, my settled babies were underfed and didn't make it to their adult coloration, but I documented my early attempts here: https://wamas.org/forums/topic/99368-mandarin-dragonet-spawning-log/

Been trying off and on since with the mandarins, but at the moment the fecundity of the spawns is really low - occasionally like 20-25%, but often just a few in a hundred eggs or just none whatsoever. Not sure if it's my adults or what, but it's made systematic improvement tough.

I've got a batch that's about 4 days old now and had a lot of losses on day 3, but also added them after hatching to an already going run of sexy shrimp, so it wasn't ideal situations either. We'll see what happens.

 

[Chrisv.]

Clearly someone is doing it since they are offered commercially. Hard to know if they would be open about the particulars though. Have you tried posting on the Marine Breeders Initiative fb page?

 

[dragongirln]

I only had two settle and thanks in no small part to a copepod culture crash, my settled babies were underfed and didn't make it to their adult coloration, but I documented my early attempts here: https://wamas.org/forums/topic/99368-mandarin-dragonet-spawning-log/

Been trying off and on since with the mandarins, but at the moment the fecundity of the spawns is really low - occasionally like 20-25%, but often just a few in a hundred eggs or just none whatsoever. Not sure if it's my adults or what, but it's made systematic improvement tough.

I've got a batch that's about 4 days old now and had a lot of losses on day 3, but also added them after hatching to an already going run of sexy shrimp, so it wasn't ideal situations either. We'll see what happens.

Thanks - I have actually been following your write up as best as I can :).
The ones that you got to settle was it in the blue tub? I am currently trialling in the main tank however that is not working as well. I think the key is food that is small enough and easily enough for them to see and to get the flow right. I think it comes down to the food I have trialed with rotifers, I am in Australia and I do not seem to be able to get the same pods that I think you used. My Tri pods I had the best result - but that culture did have rotifers mixed in as well, so not sure exactly.

Ill keep trouble shooting what I am doing, i have a couple of different methods going at the moment.

I only had two settle and thanks in no small part to a copepod culture crash, my settled babies were underfed and didn't make it to their adult coloration, but I documented my early attempts here: https://wamas.org/forums/topic/99368-mandarin-dragonet-spawning-log/

Been trying off and on since with the mandarins, but at the moment the fecundity of the spawns is really low - occasionally like 20-25%, but often just a few in a hundred eggs or just none whatsoever. Not sure if it's my adults or what, but it's made systematic improvement tough.

I've got a batch that's about 4 days old now and had a lot of losses on day 3, but also added them after hatching to an already going run of sexy shrimp, so it wasn't ideal situations either. We'll see what happens.