Thinkin of adding a mandarin dragonet

[johnsamm7]

so I was thinking of adding a dragonet to my tank I just wanted to get some feedback on how difficult they really are to keep I have a lot of live rock in my tank and want to populate pods for the mandarin I also run chaeto in a small chamber in the back of my tank nuvo fusion 30L that's already seeded with pods anyone has any tips experiences with them if there aggressive with other fish or easily picked on by other fish thank you and also anything to be aware of

 

[Bunnee911]

How old is your tank?
Have you stocked pods yet?
Would you settle for scooter dragonets? Mine are from ORA and eat everything that hits the gravel.

 

[johnsamm7]

My tanks 3 months old I have pods in the chaeto not a huge portion though I want to add pods to get the stock up how often and long does it take to get a sufficient amount o pods set up I really like the look of the green mandarin

 

[domination2580]

My tanks 3 months old I have pods in the chaeto not a huge portion though I want to add pods to get the stock up how often and long does it take to get a sufficient amount o pods set up I really like the look of the green mandarin

Pods are the biggest thing. As long as you have enough you should be fine

 

[Mike_J]

The difficulty is maintaining the pod population to allow a mandarin to thrive long term. They are generally peaceful tank mates and will hunt pods all day long and wipe out a population in no time so you will have to constantly seed and it gets expensive. But you can also train mandarins to take frozen food such as brine shrimp. When I had mine, I target fed my mandarin at every feeding to supplement his diet of pods and he ate right from the baster. I also made sure to seed the pod population as often as I could since most of my wrasses will hunt pods as well.

 

[johnsamm7]

Awesome thank you for the info how often do u seed the population I have a 30long with two clowns and 2 Royal gramma but about to be 1 I gotta remove the one ling story thought one was dead disappeared for a few days I got another one and the first one came out . And I also have a condylactus anem. Hammer frag and zoa branch

 

[johnsamm7]

How soon should indeed the pods before adding the mandarin

 

[Waboss]

Short answer is your tank will not be able to sustain him without constant supplementation. Either train, or better yet, get one that already eats frozen, or "seed" pods at the very least on a weekly basis. I keep a Mandarin in a 34 Gal DT and the only way to keep him fat and happy is to add pods a couple times a week. I add from 2 cultures I keep active so I always have a good pod supply on hand........plus it's too pricey to be buying pods all the time.

 

[Baby Ray]

I would spike the tank with pods and let them populate for a couple of months first. Algae barn has a very good selection of pods. Trainer a Mandy to eat frozen is also a very good thing to do. It is best to start with baby brine shrimp. @Paul B makes a really good baby brine shrimp target feeder. Look it up online. After they are eating BBS (baby brine shrimp), try putting small pieces of food on top of the target feeder so that mandarin might accidentally eat them and find out that it doesn't taste to bad :p. Put the target feeder in a low flow area so the food stays on top. Some foods that people have had lucky with are LRS and ROE. LRS and Reef Nutrition both sell very good ROE. If you have a Qt, it would be best to train a mandarin in it so there is no competition for food. Also, spike the tank ever couple months or more with pods. Spike the tank at night and turn all the pumps off so they can find there way into the rocks to hide and breed.
Hope this helps and good luck!!

 

[Baby Ray]

Short answer is your tank will not be able to sustain him without constant supplementation. Either train, or better yet, get one that already eats frozen, or "seed" pods at the very least on a weekly basis. I keep a Mandarin in a 34 Gal DT and the only way to keep him fat and happy is to add pods a couple times a week. I add from 2 cultures I keep active so I always have a good pod supply on hand........plus it's too pricey to be buying pods all the time.

+1^^^
Culturing pods is also a very good idea. It can be a little time consuming but once you get the hang of it, it isn't too bad

 

[johnsamm7]

Awesome thanks guys appreciate it much

 

[Jongalt26]

I highly recommend going to your LFS and finding a mandarin that is already eating frozen foods and save yourself the headache. An LFS near me has their mandarins eating LRS. The larger mandarins tend to be more receptive to frozen foods. Definitely train the mandarin in a QT!

I had a 2 year old tank that was heavily pre-stocked with various pods and supplemented with tigger / tisbe / algagen reef pods and even cultured my own. Unfortunately my mandarin was just not eating enough. Over time i finally was able to feed him frozen bloodworms. He loved those things but was slow to eat them and i had to keep other fish away for the duration of his meal. Was quite labor intensive but he grew puffy.

 

[nitro]

I am with jongalt26, I picked up a large male Mandarin and put him with 2 sea horses and he waits for food to fall to him and he eats very well. They all eat frozen mysis shrimp and he is a porker. I love this fish and I was so pumped he ate frozen food.

 

[Chrisfish]

I have a mandarin in my 30 gal. Jbj. And she is happy and is my favorite fish in my tank , I have live rock, live sand and a hob refugium the I keep chaeto and pods to continue populate the pods. I also feed her live black worms and LRF through a turkey baster and she loves it, very fat. I got through live aquaria and she took to the othe stuff right away. I also add pods once a month just to be safe:) here she is

 

[johnsamm7]

That's awesome I really appreciate it that's an awesome picture nice fish can't wait to add one in mine

 

[Bunnee911]

I would spike the tank with pods and let them populate for a couple of months first. Algae barn has a very good selection of pods. Trainer a Mandy to eat frozen is also a very good thing to do. It is best to start with baby brine shrimp. @Paul B makes a really good baby brine shrimp target feeder. Look it up online. After they are eating BBS (baby brine shrimp), try putting small pieces of food on top of the target feeder so that mandarin might accidentally eat them and find out that it doesn't taste to bad :p. Put the target feeder in a low flow area so the food stays on top. Some foods that people have had lucky with are LRS and ROE. LRS and Reef Nutrition both sell very good ROE. If you have a Qt, it would be best to train a mandarin in it so there is no competition for food. Also, spike the tank ever couple months or more with pods. Spike the tank at night and turn all the pumps off so they can find there way into the rocks to hide and breed.
Hope this helps and good luck!!

Excellent write up.