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Finally got a Mandarin Dragonet


Rick

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It's been a long wait however I finally got a Mandarinfish a couple of weeks ago. I searched for several months before I found one I really liked. (I did find one about 6 months ago that I also liked but I passed it up since it didn't seem very healthy) This one has been spending most of it's time hiding back behind the rocks however each day it comes out a bit more and I finally have a few decent pictures now. My purple tang bugged it a little the first day or two however it does that with anything I add and it stopped now.

 

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Yeah they are totally cool!

I have the "target/bullseye" style of mandrain. And I recently caught him eating some frozen food!! (cheer)

 

Mine has been with me for about 3 years and I finally saw him eat frozen, so keep trying.

There is also a thread on Melev's site about a "diner" to help get them started on store bought food. Worth checking out.

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WOW' date=' thats a beautiful one, I would love to have one someday, but everything I read scares me that it will just end up dying on me. Does your eat brine or mysys? Or copepods only?[/quote']

 

That is why I waited so long to get one. I seem to have a pretty healthy pod population now. I also have a red scooter dragonet which is fat and healthy (I've had it for 18 months or so now) which will eat pellets or mysis now if they happen to reach the bottom of the tank (Doesn't happen very often). I had a six line wrasse for several months too which also kept me from getting a mandarin (too much competition for the same food) but it's been gone for 8 months or so. Currently the mandarin is just eating pods however I expect it to adapt to mysis eventually. (I don't feed any brine at all)

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Yeah they are totally cool!

I have the "target/bullseye" style of mandrain. And I recently caught him eating some frozen food!! (cheer)

 

Mine has been with me for about 3 years and I finally saw him eat frozen, so keep trying.

There is also a thread on Melev's site about a "diner" to help get them started on store bought food. Worth checking out.

 

Cool. I remember the first time I caught the red scooter blenny eating pellets. I'm not going to worry too much about it as long as they both stay happy and healthy.

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I waited a year or so myself before I got my Target/Bullseye as well and nice pics Rick where you at the meeting lol (laugh)(laugh)

 

LOL, I considered sorting through these pictures on my memory card during the meeting but decided it would be too time consuming. (I had a few hundred pics I would have had to sort through)

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  • 1 month later...
I was trying to get a look at it in the picks' date=' but couldn't see it in any of them.[/quote']

Just an update. After a few months now I've determined (I think) that it has a long dorsal. (It appears to be folded down to the body all of the time which is what makes it hard to see)

 

BTW, After a few months this still isn't eating any of the food I add to the tank (or at least I haven't seen it eating any). It no longer seems shy though (spends much of the day out in the open picking at the rocks for food) and it does still appear to be well fed. (Must be getting plenty of pods from the tank)

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I have found that you can help your pod population by feeding cyclo peze. You can even see the pods turn red when you feed it. Then the pod population explodes!!! Your tank appears to have plenty of live rock, but if they are all big pieces you can make little piles of reef ruble for the pods to hide and breed in. Kind of works like a mini fugue inside your tank. If you do make " pod piles" you can feed the rubble rock directly, you will be able to see the pods run out to get the food :-) One downside to pod piles is bristle worms will move in too.

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I have found that you can help your pod population by feeding cyclo peze. You can even see the pods turn red when you feed it. Then the pod population explodes!!! Your tank appears to have plenty of live rock' date=' but if they are all big pieces you can make little piles of reef ruble for the pods to hide and breed in. Kind of works like a mini fugue inside your tank. If you do make " pod piles" you can feed the rubble rock directly, you will be able to see the pods run out to get the food :-) One downside to pod piles is bristle worms will move in too.[/quote'] Thanks, I've been feeding phyto once a week or so which may be helping. (I do phyto every other feeding which is about twice a week right now)
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Nice looking Mandarin, mine was the first to go when I lost all my fish which was a bummer. I had him for two years and he would come and sit right here in the corner when I was at home sitting at my laptop which, unlike the other fish, he wasn't just waiting for food since he only ate pods!

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I agree definitely a male :-) I wonder' date=' maybe if you put a mirror against the glass he would stand it up for you.[/quote']

 

LOL, I might give it a try. I did this with my Purple Tang and it completely changed color when it flashed. Every once in awhile my Red Scooter Blenny raises the front fin but I have yet to catch a good picture of it.

 

Nice looking Mandarin' date=' mine was the first to go when I lost all my fish which was a bummer. I had him for two years and he would come and sit right here in the corner when I was at home sitting at my laptop which, unlike the other fish, he wasn't just waiting for food since he only ate pods![/quote']

 

Mine isn't to that point yet but it does spend a good part of the day in the open now and doesn't scurry into the rocks anymore when someone walks up to the tank. The first few weeks I wondered if I was just going to see it early after my T5's came on or right before they went out. (It hid the whole time the MH were on)

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