My new Mandarin Dragonet!!!

puffer32

Active Member
She certainly looks healthy. I am glad you are taking the time to make sure she has the right foods, are you getting any pods breeding in your fuge?
 

ogredawg

Member
Thanks everyone! Yeah I poured a bottle of Tigger pods in the fuge, but I'm not sure if that did anything yet. I've been spot feeding her everyday because I didn't want her to eat all the pods, or at least give the pods time to multiply and I think it's been working. I just hope she starts taking something else besides brine, because I know even though the brines I feed her are "enhanced." I still don't think it has enough nutrition, and I heard arcti-pods are very nutritional.
It is very hard to keep mandarin in a nano tank though. I mean I didn't spot feed her for five days, and she got really skinny. So my guess is that if you have a small tank and you want a mandarin, you better make sure it eats prepared food and have time to feed them everyday. I have 50+ lbs of live rock and I don't think it's enough.
Thanks again for the response everyone, I'll keep updating hopefully every month.
 

topfins-mj

Member
Yes take care of her, mine died two weeks ago after I went on vacation for one week. They can go through pods so fast and whoever fed them while I was away did not spot feed the mandarin. They need to be babysat a lot. Only in large tanks will it be fine.
 

aveda6

Member
It's a lot work but definitely well worth it. Thanks for sharing your pics. I had a mandarin before I understood anything about them and he died rather quickly. I wish my LFS would have explained it before hand, especially as I asked if it would be okay to purchase. My LFS is not very well informed but there are not a lot of options locally. Now I know to research here first.
jim
 

darkorka

New Member
I was reading your post and I know this is from awhile ago, but if you ever consider getting a Mandarin again stalk your display tank with pods at least 4-5 months before adding the goby. That way you give them a chance to get a good population going. Some times water parameters can wipe out a pod population and then they slowly can come back or not at all. If you can see them on the glass or the bigger amphipods (usually at night they scurry around), then you have a good indication you have enough pods to feed the goby. One bottle of tiger pods will keep a goby feed for a week or two maybe. The best thing to do is get a little 10 or 5 gallon and throw those guys in and they will breed like crazy (they like colder temps so no heater required). I just throw my pods directly in (copeopods with a turkey baister because they are super tiny) Some people recommend waiting 9 months after adding pods to the main tank...I only waited 4 months but I also had a 10 gallon dedicated to just pods, my goby is doing great. Reefs2go.com has amazing pods and the best prices and you get two different types and they even have the macro algae packs that you can order too which they feed on.
 
Oh God so beautiful fish. I'm a newbie and I'm just learning how to create such gorgeous shots. I would like to have photo of this level on my Fixthephoto blog.
 
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