ruby red dragonet for 20 gallon long?

Echo2656

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I have seen a lot of people have success keeping ruby reds in tanks as small as 20 gallons. I was planning to stock my 20 gallon long with:
1 tailspot blenny
1 firefish
1 royal gramma
1 Red ruby dragonet
I know they are smaller than mandarins and will accept frozen easier than mandarins. The only thing I'm worried about is I don't have a fuge and I don't think ill ever be able to set one up. I have a Hang on filter. My tank is pretty well established (7 months old). I'm planning to dose phyto and pods the next few months while I introduce the other fish. Do you think if I add pods and supplement with frozen I could have success with a ruby red in a tank as small as 20 gallons with no fuge? I have seen other people have sucess and my lfs said its possible. So, what are your thoughts?
 

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I, myself wouldn't try it. I have a 90g with a mandarin that does nothing but hunt all day long. Never been a fan of having to change somethings natural food source for my own desires.
 
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Echo2656

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I'd at very least wait to see one that eats prepared food in the store.

There is nothing more depressing than seeing a dragonette that's starving to death. It can take forever if you start with a healthy specimen and they get so skinny before they die.
ok thank oyu for the input, I'll ask what they have it on.
 
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Echo2656

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Do you think the algae barn mandarin feeder would work for these guys?
 
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Echo2656

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It's rare for them to be trained well enough to take brine reliably before you buy them... hoping you can train them yourself seems like wishful thinking
ill try to wean him onto frozen brine and cyclops while in qt, I'm trying to be very optimistic. I'm going to start dosing and phyto and pods a lot soon
 

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ill try to wean him onto frozen brine and cyclops while in qt, I'm trying to be very optimistic. I'm going to start dosing and phyto and pods a lot soon

Be optimistic with a captive bred mandarin. If it dies, it doesn't impact the wild ecosystem. This fish is literally going to be taken from the reef, flown 18,000 miles to get to you, and will likely meet the same end as a cut flower.

Unless you see it eating prepared food before you buy it, it's wildly irresponsible to put on in a small tank. Don't be "that guy."

The biota mandarins are beautiful, and if they really are raised on TDO Chroma boost pellets, you should be able to keep one. If not, it's a captive bred fish and the wild reef was not harmed.
 

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You can train them to eat frozen, then if you feed with the powerheads off every day, they can get plenty to eat in the tank. Dropping one in a 20g without training it to eat prepared foods and feeding regularly is very likely a death sentence.

My basic method is to use a mesh breeder box, feed twice a day with a small amount of the frozen foods you'll be offering (and offer several), vacuum out the old food at least once a day, and keep an eye on its behavior. Once it will eat the prepared food within a few minutes of it being offered and you can confirm it with more than one feeding, it's ready for introduction into the tank. Then you just have to shut the powerheads off for a few minutes and feed the same kinds of frozen to the tank each day.

Could work for pellets, but mine have always taken less interest in those. Expect the training to take 2-3 weeks, where the first few days it's too afraid of you feeding it for it to even try to eat soon after the feedings. The idea is by keeping a comparatively large amount of food in a confined space, you make it so when they inevitably start hunting around for pods, they accidentally eat some of the prepared stuff. After it happens a few times, they can identify that as a food, and will start to seek it when offered. I've trained three mandarins and one ruby red dragonet using this method, and I've got a second ruby red a few days into the same now, so I have some confidence that it will work. It doesn't hurt to have some pods on hand if you think it's taking longer and not getting enough to eat, and it helps to have thought through an option to give it away to someone with a big enough tank for it to forage if it doesn't start eating the prepared stuff, though I haven't yet had to do either of those.
 
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Be optimistic with a captive bred mandarin. If it dies, it doesn't impact the wild ecosystem. This fish is literally going to be taken from the reef, flown 18,000 miles to get to you, and will likely meet the same end as a cut flower.

Unless you see it eating prepared food before you buy it, it's wildly irresponsible to put on in a small tank. Don't be "that guy."

The biota mandarins are beautiful, and if they really are raised on TDO Chroma boost pellets, you should be able to keep one. If not, it's a captive bred fish and the wild reef was not harmed.
I was planning on doing a captive bred any way, thanks for the info on the reefs and mandarin
 
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Echo2656

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You can train them to eat frozen, then if you feed with the powerheads off every day, they can get plenty to eat in the tank. Dropping one in a 20g without training it to eat prepared foods and feeding regularly is very likely a death sentence.

My basic method is to use a mesh breeder box, feed twice a day with a small amount of the frozen foods you'll be offering (and offer several), vacuum out the old food at least once a day, and keep an eye on its behavior. Once it will eat the prepared food within a few minutes of it being offered and you can confirm it with more than one feeding, it's ready for introduction into the tank. Then you just have to shut the powerheads off for a few minutes and feed the same kinds of frozen to the tank each day.

Could work for pellets, but mine have always taken less interest in those. Expect the training to take 2-3 weeks, where the first few days it's too afraid of you feeding it for it to even try to eat soon after the feedings. The idea is by keeping a comparatively large amount of food in a confined space, you make it so when they inevitably start hunting around for pods, they accidentally eat some of the prepared stuff. After it happens a few times, they can identify that as a food, and will start to seek it when offered. I've trained three mandarins and one ruby red dragonet using this method, and I've got a second ruby red a few days into the same now, so I have some confidence that it will work. It doesn't hurt to have some pods on hand if you think it's taking longer and not getting enough to eat, and it helps to have thought through an option to give it away to someone with a big enough tank for it to forage if it doesn't start eating the prepared stuff, though I haven't yet had to do either of those.
Thanks for the method I have seen it before and I think thats the method I will use too.
 

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I was planning on doing a captive bred any way, thanks for the info on the reefs and mandarin
I don't think ruby red is commercially available as captive bred yet ... But the mandarin is for sure. Great to hear that you're down for captive bred. My vote is go for it! Talk with the folks at biota to confirm, but I believe they feed the TDO B2 pellets.
 
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Echo2656

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I don't think ruby red is commercially available as captive bred yet ... But the mandarin is for sure. Great to hear that you're down for captive bred. My vote is go for it! Talk with the folks at biota to confirm, but I believe they feed the TDO B2 pellets.
I'm just worried that if they won't eat pellets or frozen they will starve because mandarins need more pods than ruby reds
 

Chrisv.

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Well...that's a very real concern...

I'm just worried that if they won't eat pellets or frozen they will starve because mandarins need more pods than ruby reds

Completely real concern. If a captive bred fish starves, that's sad, but it was bred for the hobby. It didn't come from a wild coral reef. Blasphemy to say, but captive bred mandarins are bred for humans, just like cows and chickens.

The biota mandarins are extremely small when they come in. They will have a food demand that is less than or equal to and adult ruby red. Biota claims these eat pellets in their systems. If they are raised on pellets, I think that's your best bet of getting one that eats pellets.

Keep in mind that either a ruby red or a mandarin that does not eat pellets will have a very hard (impossible?) time surviving in a 20g on pods alone. So prepared foods are key.

I see the biota mandarins as a zero impact option that has a decent chance of success, and no consequence at all on the reefs if you don't succeed.
 

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I wouldn't put a mandarin in a 20g. I'm currently growing pods for my green spotted mandarin in my 55g even though I have 175-200lbs live rock + a refugium full of pods. I know some people think the lives of captive bred fish are dispensible, but I would never take the chance of not being adequately prepared.

If you wanted to grow your own pods, or if you were willing to frequently fork out the money for bottled pods, I'd say sure go for it, but not if that's not in your plan.
 

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