Mandarin Dragonette advice please! :)

[Mschmidt]

Please a few more details... I have a 180 gallon reef where my mandarins will eventually be housed.

In my 20 gallon QT/refugium I have placed 2 green spotted mandarins (male/female pair I hope) and a male ruby red dragonet. My thinking was that since I was getting one mandarin I would need to add BBS daily anyway so why not enjoy a few of them. and I saw photos of Paul B doing this... I have kept a single mandarins in the past in a 55 gallon with no extra feeding.

A few questions:
Re BBS: How do you get your mandarins to eat the BBS? In a 180 reef how will the mandarins not be outcompeted for the BBS? I have tried the paul b feeder in the past and the mandarins never sat on top of it... and the other fish ate the pods. Also many BBS died in the holder and never swam out?

re pods: I have 4 jars of eco pods arriving yesterday (Ha ha they are LOST!) but I was going to add them 1/4 jar to 20 gallon refugium where my mandarins are waiting and 3/4 jar to my 180 reef (split between my tank and sump). I am now rethinking that? Should I instead set up a 10 gallon right now and harvest the pods b/c it now seems like 3 ddragonettes will decimate my pod population?

re pods: How do you harvest the pods? I can barely see them EVER! I can feed the pods banana peel... and spirulina. Can I see a photo of the 10 gallon refugium? Do you put in live rock?

thanks 3 mandarins and a delayed shimpment of pods... oh my!

Neptune

I never see my pods. My mandarin does though. I have one in a 40 right now and he isn't out competed. I'll be moving to a 120 in the next month and the only think I'm worried bout is if there is a lag in pod growth, but that's not a big fear. Make sure you keep the pods fed and you'll be fine.

 

[BuddyBonButt]

Please a few more details... I have a 180 gallon reef where my mandarins will eventually be housed.

In my 20 gallon QT/refugium I have placed 2 green spotted mandarins (male/female pair I hope) and a male ruby red dragonet. My thinking was that since I was getting one mandarin I would need to add BBS daily anyway so why not enjoy a few of them. and I saw photos of Paul B doing this... I have kept a single mandarins in the past in a 55 gallon with no extra feeding.

A few questions:
Re BBS: How do you get your mandarins to eat the BBS? In a 180 reef how will the mandarins not be outcompeted for the BBS? I have tried the paul b feeder in the past and the mandarins never sat on top of it... and the other fish ate the pods. Also many BBS died in the holder and never swam out?

re pods: I have 4 jars of eco pods arriving yesterday (Ha ha they are LOST!) but I was going to add them 1/4 jar to 20 gallon refugium where my mandarins are waiting and 3/4 jar to my 180 reef (split between my tank and sump). I am now rethinking that? Should I instead set up a 10 gallon right now and harvest the pods b/c it now seems like 3 ddragonettes will decimate my pod population?

re pods: How do you harvest the pods? I can barely see them EVER! I can feed the pods banana peel... and spirulina. Can I see a photo of the 10 gallon refugium? Do you put in live rock?

thanks 3 mandarins and a delayed shimpment of pods... oh my!

Neptune

Regarding the pods, I siphon them out with a fairly thin tubing into a small pint cup. I then run them through a coffee filter catching all the stages of pods. Rinse them with fresh saltwater. Replace the water back in the culture. I just woke up so I don't have any pictures of the room, if I remember, I'll be happy to get you some pictures.

Also it's hard to culture Galaxy pods because they will all compete each other. Each species will eat the other and eventually you'll be left with only one. I would just dose those when you get them and try to get your hands on one single species for culturing

 

[Neptune 555]

Regarding the pods, I siphon them out with a fairly thin tubing into a small pint cup. I then run them through a coffee filter catching all the stages of pods. Rinse them with fresh saltwater. Replace the water back in the culture. I just woke up so I don't have any pictures of the room, if I remember, I'll be happy to get you some pictures.

Also it's hard to culture Galaxy pods because they will all compete each other. Each species will eat the other and eventually you'll be left with only one. I would just dose those when you get them and try to get your hands on one single species for culturing

If you could grab a photo awesome! I am still doubtful I can *see* the pods to siphon them out? I know I have pods b/c I seeded my tank 6 months before getting the mandarins and I don't really see pods in my refugium? I have had a mandarin for years never supplemented his diet and never saw a pod? AND I Just added 2 jars of pods to my refugium prior to getting this batch and can't see them? going to LFS now to get another batch of pods since my shipment is lost... and now I have 3 in holding!

 

[BuddyBonButt]

If you could grab a photo awesome! I am still doubtful I can *see* the pods to siphon them out? I know I have pods b/c I seeded my tank 6 months before getting the mandarins and I don't really see pods in my refugium? I have had a mandarin for years never supplemented his diet and never saw a pod? AND I Just added 2 jars of pods to my refugium prior to getting this batch and can't see them? going to LFS now to get another batch of pods since my shipment is lost... and now I have 3 in holding!

This'll sound silly but literally smash your face up against the glass. Do not move, try to hold your breath, and look at one spot. Eventually your eyes will start detecting small movement on the glass, give up on trying to see it on the rocks. You're not going to. Those are pods, when you go to a fish store and you buy pods in a bag, like algaegen or algae barn, you're buying the Napualli or the eggs, they are literally microscopic and you won't see them. You can only see the adults or close to adults

 

[ScottJ]

To all of you reefers who have mandarin dragonettes I have a few questions for you. I want to start off with my tank and it is an 8 month old 90 gallon tank with a good amount of livestock now.

2 clownfish
1 foxface
Neon goby
Yellow watchman goby
Pistol shrimp
Sand sifting star
2 conch
1 tux urchin
4 cleaner shrimp
Feather Duster
Idk like 30 grazing snails
And 20 banished hermit crabs in the sump

I DO NOT have a refugium so no breeding grounds for pods

I currently have a mandarin Dragonette in quarantine, now before you get to concerned I do have six 10 gallon tanks full of each type of pod. Apocyclops, tisbe, Tigriopus that i culture and sell. I also make 15 gallons of phytoplankton each week, Nannochloropsis, tetraselmis, and isochrysis.

Like most Mandarin dragonettes, it came into the shop with a sunken belly. He's currently set up in a quarantine and I've dosed about 36 Oz maybe 40 of copepods. More specifically apocyclops. He's been in there for about a day and a half and it's still pretty shy. Although he won't run from my hand which is surprising. I haven't really been seeing him eat but he just started pecking at the glass right before I started writing this post. I was wondering if you have any advice to keeping these Fish happy. I have a few questions as well.

* How often do you see yours eating?
* Can they eat free floating pods? Or do they have to land?
* How have you seen the mandarin respond to territorial fish?
* have you found that your fish likes more of a certain pod that the other?
* how do you feed? Directly to DT? To the sump? Pipette right to the fish?
* if you are dosing pods how often and how much?

So how is the little guy doing?

 

[BuddyBonButt]

So how is the little guy doing?

He actually looks a little fatter. He was really skinny before. I'm hoping that my pods continue to self-replicate in the tank for the Mandarin but I can always dose more if I have to

 

[BuddyBonButt]

If you could grab a photo awesome! I am still doubtful I can *see* the pods to siphon them out? I know I have pods b/c I seeded my tank 6 months before getting the mandarins and I don't really see pods in my refugium? I have had a mandarin for years never supplemented his diet and never saw a pod? AND I Just added 2 jars of pods to my refugium prior to getting this batch and can't see them? going to LFS now to get another batch of pods since my shipment is lost... and now I have 3 in holding!

6 minutes of half awake explaining... Good luck lol

 

[Neptune 555]

Regarding the pods, I siphon them out with a fairly thin tubing into a small pint cup. I then run them through a coffee filter catching all the stages of pods. Rinse them with fresh saltwater. Replace the water back in the culture. I just woke up so I don't have any pictures of the room, if I remember, I'll be happy to get you some pictures.

Also it's hard to culture Galaxy pods because they will all compete each other. Each species will eat the other and eventually you'll be left with only one. I would just dose those when you get them and try to get your hands on one single species for culturing

6 minutes of half awake explaining... Good luck lol

That was fantastic! Seeing is understanding... I am setting one up today....

So no heaters? Hmm Great! That will make this easier. Your set up looks amazing with the phyto.... I will share and would love feedback as i try this.

 

[BuddyBonButt]

That was fantastic! Seeing is understanding... I am setting one up today....

So no heaters? Hmm Great! That will make this easier. Your set up looks amazing with the phyto.... I will share and would love feedback as i try this.

No heaters, but try to stay above 70° and Below 80. No media no bacteria nothing. Just a bucket of water with a banana peel in it. When you start your culture give it a month for them to get up in numbers and then start harvesting. What you saw was me having a lot of success with Apo cyclops pods.