Could I feasibly keep a (captive bred) mandarin dragonet in a biocube 32

[Jack_10218]

I’ve seen things about them being able to destroy a pod population in a few days, but is this really true? I have an inTank Refugium comming in a few days so I’ll have a little fuge to support a pod population, but would also be willing to dose pods on a somewhat regular basis (bi weekly?) and if if I purchase a captive bred specimen that eats frozen food would there be an issue? Would supplementing bi weeekly with pods with a refugium be enough to sustain one mandarin dragonet? I don’t plan on keeping anything to fiercely compete with it for pods as well. If anyone has experience or knows someone that has I would love to hear it.

 

[davidcalgary29]

You can certainly do this...if you plan it very carefully and make it a long-term project.

First, I think that you'll need a tank with some type of sump or refugium in which you cultivate some type of macro. Halymenia seems to be a favourite nursery for many types of copepods, and my fish loved this type of alga to the extent that they devoured both it and the 'pods that lived on them.

Second, you're going to have to have tolerate a high failure rate before you find a mandarin that actually will eat frozen food. One importer of captive-bred mandarins told me that he stopped selling them because no one could get them to eat. Mine did eat frozen food -- I watched it carefully -- but it died in an unfortunate accident about a year after I bought it.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Are you set on a mandarin? If you still want to have a dragonet in a smaller tank, you could certainly keep a Ruby Red Dragonet. I don’t own a mandarin but I do have both Ruby Reds and a Brown Scooter Blenny. Both of them were fairly easy to get onto frozen mysis, with some patience. I actually have a pair of Rubies in my 13.5g Evo… I do stock pods in there occasionally and I see a ton of them on the glass all the time, but now that my pair are actively eating frozen, they’re more of a snack than anything. Rubies are still really beautiful fish just not quite as rainbow-y as mandarins.
From what I know, Mandarins are just really tough to get on frozen food & will even go back to pods after eating frozen for a while. There is a great kit that you can buy to culture pods as well as keeping a refugium, if you want to go that route.

 

[DaJMasta]

Absolutely possible, but I wouldn't rely on pods alone to do it. I've got two mandarins in an E170 (~45g) and they're healthy and spawning regularly, but I trained both to eat frozen as soon as I got them, and even then, there aren't generally pods visible on the glass.

Both of mine were fully grown and wild caught, and it took around 2-2.5 weeks for them to eat the food offered them immediately. I basically fed them frozen twice a day, cleaning the old food out before, in a mesh breeder box on the side of the tank, so that when they picked around for pods in the box, they would just have to accidentally eat the frozen at some point. Once I started seeing some disappear between feedings, I made sure that I could see them eating in the first minute or two of it being offered, since it would just be blowing around the tank or eaten by something else unless they were quick.

When trained, I put them in the tank, and I feed frozen every day with the powerheads off for 5-10 mins for them. You do have to sort of spot feed them early on to get their attention and teach them not to be afraid of the thing offering the food, but now they will come out at feeding time and graze on the rocks, slurping up meaty chunks of things readily. Since a mysis shrimp or bloodworm is so much bigger than a pod, a single bite of frozen could be worth hundreds of pods, easily, in terms of nutrition.

I'd say the minimum I'd try for letting them subsist on pods and whatever they find on their own would be 55g with a fuge or 75g, and I would say at this size there needs to be at least a moderate amount of rockwork as well as substrate (don't think barebottom does as well for benthic pod populations).

Also, they are jumpers if they get startled, so have a top.

 

[areefer01]

Biota captive bred is what you are looking for. They are raised on prepared food(s). Biocube is fine. Just remember the mandarin is going to forage all day, right? So do not stock any fish that would compete for similar foods. No wrasse. No copperband. No pipe fish. Of course some of those fish I noted are too big but you get the idea. No possum wrasse - like that.

Depending on how your in-tank fuge does will depend on how you resupply. When you do resupply you do that after lights out Also you can place rock rubble in your overflow in the bio cube. That is what I did. Natural area for pods to grow. In fact I do that in my 210's overflow box now. Lots of rubble. Lots of pods. 2 large gorilla crabs

Tank is a great space for a mandarin - just need to pay attention to natural food, who will compete, etc. I personally would not add any fish that competes for food but outside of that great tank. I loved my 29 gallon biocubes.

 

[jrill]

Yes. Just get one raised on and eating pellets and frozen like one from Biota. No need for pods.

 

[Paul B]

I personally would not put a mandarin in a 32 gallon tank. They normally live about ten years and are a very easy,no maintenance fish, "if" they are in the correct, "older" tank.

I have been keeping pairs of them along with pairs of ruby reds and pairs of blue stripe pipefish but my tank is not very clean and very old. I don't think it would live long in that tank no matter how many pods you feed or how you "train" it to eat other things.

Mandarins need pods or any small, preferably living food and they need it constantly due to being designed with hardly any stomach so they can't store food like most creatures.

Good luck whatever you decide.