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Mandarin Dragonettes fish mating

post #1 of 22
12/11/10 at 5:57pm
Thread Starter 

i noticed my  Mandarin/Dragonettes fish  were courting the other day what/where should i be looking for as far as eggs should i be changing water flo at all? turnning off filters?   .... also my friend said my coral banned shrimp looks like its carring eggs i dont see it tho any suggestions?

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post #2 of 22
12/11/10 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 

bump

please reply id hate to miss a hatching anything at all i should be looking for after  Mandarin/Dragonettes fish mate where to look please help most all the treads i find are about keeping  Mandarin/Dragonettes fish alive. i couldnt find any addressing  this issue please

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post #3 of 22
12/11/10 at 10:57pm

Research Matthew Wittenrich (or something to that effect) he's one of the few that's been successful.

I really don't know too much about it, but I believe it's ALMOST impossible and there are a lot of "false mating patterns".  Good luck!

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post #4 of 22
12/12/10 at 4:58am

A bonded pair of Mandarinfish will do a mating dance just about every night.  They start low in the tank and both climb together.  About once a month they will actually spawn.  The eggs will float on the water surface for a little while and then sink.  They are sticky and will stick to just about anything they touch.  The eggs are tiny.

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post #5 of 22
12/12/10 at 5:05am

 

Here's a picture I took to show the relative size of the eggs.  Basically they will fit into a zero on the date of a cent.

mandarin_eggs.jpg

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post #6 of 22
12/12/10 at 5:06am

And this is what they look like a few days after hatching. 

 

mandarin_fry.jpg

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post #7 of 22
12/12/10 at 8:13am
Thread Starter 

thanks bang guy those pics are extreamly helpfull .. the thing is i dont see them couting at night it was during the middle of day i read elsewhere that they mate at night too.. i have my tank infont of a window and the sun was shinning on my tank when they were couring. does anything eat their eggs ..

 

i got two purple sailfin tangs,

 one hippo tang,

a six line wrasse,

yellow watchman goby,

maited pair of banded coral shrimp

about 5-6 emrald crabs

4-5 what look like emrald crabs but are red ( i call them ruby crabs{got from the ocean in Fl.bay any one know what they are?}),

a serpent star

a green brittle star

a sand sifting star,

and an orange star

multiable coral that might eat the eggs if they land on them

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post #8 of 22
12/12/10 at 9:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bostonjoey View Post

4-5 what look like emrald crabs but are red ( i call them ruby crabs{got from the ocean in Fl.bay any one know what they are?}),

 

Mithrax ruber

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post #9 of 22
12/12/10 at 9:28am

 You would need to raise them in a seperate tank. Id imagine if it were anything like clownfish, the fish and inverts in the tank will eat the eggs or (if any got to hatch) larvea right away.

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post #10 of 22
12/12/10 at 9:56am

true it will eat the eggs

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post #11 of 22
12/12/10 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
I think natural foods is what is going to happen over the next year ill set up a smaller tank to try and raise the babys I know lots of live rock but what could I do to encourage the pods to thrive ?
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post #12 of 22
12/12/10 at 1:17pm

Do you have a refugium? A safe place to breed will definantly help them thrive.

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post #13 of 22
12/12/10 at 1:28pm

http://en.microcosmaquariumexplorer.com/wiki/Breeding_the_Green_Mandarin

not exactly detailed info, but it is possible to do.

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post #14 of 22
12/12/10 at 5:28pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that article hunt really helpful Idk what to do now if I see eggs ill make up my mind then . I constantly add brim shrimp eggs and pods and other live plankton to my tank to help keep populations .
Edited by bostonjoey - 12/14/10 at 12:45pm
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post #15 of 22
12/14/10 at 12:52pm
Thread Starter 

was feeding my tank baby brime shrimp and seen my dragonettes stricking at them rotfl.gif

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post #16 of 22
12/14/10 at 3:28pm

Do they eat prepared foods, or just pods? If they are eating live brine shrimp, you could train them to eat mysis shrimp (healthier than brine shrimp).

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post #17 of 22
12/14/10 at 4:40pm
Thread Starter 

i just noticed it

im going to start watching them much closer at feeding time

they stay fat and healthy looking

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post #18 of 22
12/14/10 at 4:55pm

What all do you feed? And how big is your tank?

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post #19 of 22
12/15/10 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 
My tank is a 75 gal I'm going to upgrade when my tangs get a little bigger.
I feed different greens about 3-4 times a week
I have a meaty mix I make up myself that I fortified with a vitamin supplement I use it every night about an hour before lights go out
It has 4 different shrimp scallops muscles cohogs and other meats
My corals feed off my meat mixture ( I blender it super fine)
In-between I use flakes (marine)
Everything thrives


Lights are ho t5
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post #20 of 22
12/16/10 at 5:26am
Thread Starter 
An update
Was feeding my tank my meaty mixture and sewn my dragonettes eating somethingvout of it
I'm not sure what kind of meat it was striking but the whole mixture is vitamin fortified
I still haven't seen them sitting flakes ill keep a watch and post if the hit flakes

I love my fish
Everyone
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