red dragonet mandarian and brine shrimp hatching

[aerialdronemaster]

Hello
I am planning to get red dragonet and /or mandarian

I am planning to feed the fish with live brine shrimp . I am testing / learning the hatching

I am using https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brine-shrimp-hatchery-dish-brine-shrimp-direct-inc.html

so , I have few quesitosn

how many ( ready to eat) those white scoops per day the the fish need? just 1 a day? there is like thousands of those little gays in the little white cup

also I noticed if I add eggs ( lets say on Monday) I will have a lot of guys in the white cup, but still thousands of eggs not hatched,
so what do I do now?
a) feed fish from and put the white cup back, and get move brine shrimps tomorrow? and keep doing it till no more shirmps?
b) dump everything and add new eggs everyday?

I noticed that those 2 sops of eggs will last for few days,. no need to dump it and do again hmm

what do you guys think ?

 

[Crustaceon]

If you’re planning on cultivating brine for a future dragonet, why not set it up to raise full-sized brine and not have to do the daily hatch thing? You can even gut-load these brine before adding them to the tank. I don’t think any dragonet would hesitate to consume a live brine shrimp of any size. Each full-sized one consumed has to be the equivalent of fifty baby brine and if properly fortified, just as nutritious.

 

[Uncle99]

Both would be a definite problem.
Tried this, mine would not touch them.
Brine Shrimp Nauplii, even gut loaded, are not very nutritious.

They hunt PODS on hard surfaces.

 

[CoralDanimal]

Hello
I am planning to get red dragonet and /or mandarian

I am planning to feed the fish with live brine shrimp . I am testing / learning the hatching

I am using https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brine-shrimp-hatchery-dish-brine-shrimp-direct-inc.html

so , I have few quesitosn

how many ( ready to eat) those white scoops per day the the fish need? just 1 a day? there is like thousands of those little gays in the little white cup

also I noticed if I add eggs ( lets say on Monday) I will have a lot of guys in the white cup, but still thousands of eggs not hatched,
so what do I do now?
a) feed fish from and put the white cup back, and get move brine shrimps tomorrow? and keep doing it till no more shirmps?
b) dump everything and add new eggs everyday?

I noticed that those 2 sops of eggs will last for few days,. no need to dump it and do again hmm

what do you guys think ?

Great questions. Let's break this down line by line.

I am planning to get red dragonet and /or mandarian

Are you planning to get a wild caught dragonet or captive-bred? Captive-bred options are obviously more sustainable and reefers say more likely to eat prepared foods, but they're very, very small when you buy them. The answers to your questions could differ depending on the answer.

how many ( ready to eat) those white scoops per day the the fish need? just 1 a day? there is like thousands of those little gays in the little white cup

Well it depends on how big your reef is and how established it is. If you have a larger tank, say 75 gallons, that's over a year old, you might not need supplemental feeding depending on how many other fish it will have to compete with. If you have a small tank or a tank that's not established, you'll need to supplement. I have a captive-bred mandarin I've been raising since a baby (1 year old now) and I'm still unable to get her to eat frozen food (and I've tried literally everything). The only thing that works - Nutramar Ova - is not being made right now.

As someone else stated, brine shrimp aren't overly nutritious. I still use them, but as a distraction.

I cultivate pods in a 5 gallon bucket. I used this easy method to a lot of success. Whenever I'm about to harvest, I get a batch of brine shrimp going. When I feed the shrimp, which the mandarin does like, I add the pods to give them a batch chance to find shelter and start reproducing. I do this routine about twice a month. I know it's time when I can spot any pods on the glass at the bottom of the tank.

It hasn't been easy, but the mandarin is healthy and the belly is full which is what I'm aiming for. If your tank isn't established, I highly recommend something like this as it will make spot feeding (brine shrimp, frozen food) so much easier until your reef is mature enough for the mandarin to be let out.

 

[aerialdronemaster]

Great questions. Let's break this down line by line.



Are you planning to get a wild caught dragonet or captive-bred? Captive-bred options are obviously more sustainable and reefers say more likely to eat prepared foods, but they're very, very small when you buy them. The answers to your questions could differ depending on the answer.



Well it depends on how big your reef is and how established it is. If you have a larger tank, say 75 gallons, that's over a year old, you might not need supplemental feeding depending on how many other fish it will have to compete with. If you have a small tank or a tank that's not established, you'll need to supplement. I have a captive-bred mandarin I've been raising since a baby (1 year old now) and I'm still unable to get her to eat frozen food (and I've tried literally everything). The only thing that works - Nutramar Ova - is not being made right now.

As someone else stated, brine shrimp aren't overly nutritious. I still use them, but as a distraction.

I cultivate pods in a 5 gallon bucket. I used this easy method to a lot of success. Whenever I'm about to harvest, I get a batch of brine shrimp going. When I feed the shrimp, which the mandarin does like, I add the pods to give them a batch chance to find shelter and start reproducing. I do this routine about twice a month. I know it's time when I can spot any pods on the glass at the bottom of the tank.

It hasn't been easy, but the mandarin is healthy and the belly is full which is what I'm aiming for. If your tank isn't established, I highly recommend something like this as it will make spot feeding (brine shrimp, frozen food) so much easier until your reef is mature enough for the mandarin to be let out.

I will most likely get the fish at local store or https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/1635/dragonets?c=15+1635

My tank is small 24 gallon nono, ( 2-3 months) I am new , I will get a bigger tank from RedSea, but not yet, I want to practice on this tank first, and when coral grows and fishes are getting bigger, I will get a big tank lie 75g or more.

I got pods from local store, and I dont think it worked out, since I dont have a sump or refugin, I added them at night to the tank, and I dont see them, maybe few of them in the filter, so it did not work out, plus it is expensive, the guys said to add it once every 3-4 months, I had a post for it, and people responded that it will not work out, and I will end up adding pods once a week , so 24 dollars a week, vs hatching brine shrimps, thats is why I decided to try hatching them

thank you

 

[CoralDanimal]

I will most likely get the fish at local store or https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/1635/dragonets?c=15+1635

My tank is small 24 gallon nono, ( 2-3 months) I am new , I will get a bigger tank from RedSea, but not yet, I want to practice on this tank first, and when coral grows and fishes are getting bigger, I will get a big tank lie 75g or more.

I got pods from local store, and I dont think it worked out, since I dont have a sump or refugin, I added them at night to the tank, and I dont see them, maybe few of them in the filter, so it did not work out, plus it is expensive, the guys said to add it once every 3-4 months, I had a post for it, and people responded that it will not work out, and I will end up adding pods once a week , so 24 dollars a week, vs hatching brine shrimps, thats is why I decided to try hatching them

thank you

Gotcha. Since you'll most likely get an adult, wild-caught mandarin and your tank is small & new, I'd try really hard to get them to eat frozen vs. hoping brine will sustain them. To be 100% honest, brine shrimp isn't enough on it's own - I've lost other picky eaters before that only ate brine shrimp such as a leopard wrasse and over time (even though they eat it as much as you feed them) they slowly wither over months.

If you do add pods to your display tank, do it at night and turn off your pumps for 30 minutes or so. If you just dump them in, most will get eaten by your existing fish or caught in your filtration. I actually stopped using filter socks when I started to culture pods because you definitely lose a lot to filter socks.

As for what food, the 100% best is Nutramar Ova, but it hasn't been available in years. Here's what I'd recommend ordered by most likely for the mandarin to eat:

• Rod's Food Tentacle Teasers
• Piscine Energetics Calanus
• Hikari® Bio-Pure® Cyclopod
• San Francisco Bay Brand Frozen Reef Plankton
• Rod's Food Coral Blend Frozen

Also, be prepared to do a lot of water changes. Trying to get a fish to eat frozen and feeding brine shrimp on a regular basis -> a lot of uneaten food -> heavy phosphates. Mandarins are amazing fish, but you have to be ready to work if you want to keep them in small, newly established tank. Hope it goes well!

 

[xjiang7]

I have been hatching and raising bbs for my banggai cardinalfish babies. I use the one from Amazon which you can screw in a topless two liter bottle. Make sure you clean that thing very well without dish detergent between use to avoid water fouling during hatches. After 24-36 hr I collect the bbs using a fine net to remove dirty water, and dump the bbs with egg shells into freshly mixed saltwater or tank water to a glass mixing bowl. The bbs can then be collected using a turkey baster. If you have a 2 to 5 gallon container with an air stone you can raise those bbs, key is to keep them well fed and also the water not too dirty. I feed them with spirulina powder and seclon. If the water smells I drain the shrimp out and scrub the container, also add nitrifying bacteria to the water I change with.

 

[eaquintero]

Try some chroma boost pellets. I have a nano tank as well and my green Mandarin stays chubby from those alone but he's always hunting for pods the rest of the day also.

 

[Doctorgori]

One of my mandrins eats mysis, the othe doesn’t and neither do my red dragonets...good luck (sincere)

....Alyssia @ Seahorse Savvy sells a supplement to make BBs more nutritious...but I’ve never seen either species go for them

 

[NS Mike D]

+1 on brine. I have read that mandarins need more than brine. It's ok as a supplemental treat.

I have had one for 2-3 years now in a 29 gal with two sumps. A classic 10 gal DIY with a box made from egg crate and zip ties to hold rubble rock and chateo and a 5 gal HOB CPR fuge with some rubble rock and cheato, to keep a pod population streaming into the tank. I am also cultivating my own phyto and tigger pods.


I turn off my pumps for 20 minutes so it can eat, then turn the powerheads for 10 to kick everything back up for the corals and for the fish to eat the extra before the sumps come back on

My mandarin does eat frozen brine and small pieces of frozen mysis. I had observed it eating that in the LFS before buying - a huge plus in selecting a mandarin as one can wipe out a small tank population of pods in one day.

It also gobbles up Reef Nutrition R.O.E.

 

[FragileReefer]

I have had a Mandarin for 4 months so far in my 14g and I have some tips.

Captive bred! It's silly not to, they are conditioned to eat food.

Seasoned tank I always knew I wanted to get one but I still waited a year.

Frozen daphnia and reef nutrition TDO are my prepared food.

I buy tiggerpods 4 times a year and feed phytoplankton to keep the population thriving

Brine shrimp direct has an amazing hatchery! It is simple to set up, uses no air, designed to keep the eggs away, and i keep a steady supply of shrimp. I hate the airline in a bottle method, good luck separating the eggs! It's really worth a look at

Good luck!