Acclimating Dragonets?

lorab

lorab

Member
Hello, Total Novice here... I just got my first shipment today and one of my two dragonets is not moving, breathing, etc. I am wondering if it arrived DOA! It is covered in a clear slime trailing off the body and will lay in any position that I place the bag - even flat on it's back. It has been doing this for two hours now. The other one is sitting up on its front fins and swimming around. Did it die? I will perform the acclimation procedure after the fish I know are alive are out of the bucket. I don't want the other fish to get that slime on them. Any advice? How long should I wait until I know the fish is dead or alive? thanks!
 
arsen_36

arsen_36

Member
how big is your tank, how old is your tank, and how much live rock you got in there? how many dragonets did you get? and how long have you had them in the bag for?
 
lorab

lorab

Member
I have a 55 gal tank, no live rock, tank has been established for 2 months with two black mollys to cycle the water. The dragonet has been in the bag for 1.5 hours, since I took them out of the FedEx box. Shipped yesterday from Florida.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by LoraB
I have a 55 gal tank, no live rock, tank has been established for 2 months with two black mollys to cycle the water. The dragonet has been in the bag for 1.5 hours, since I took them out of the FedEx box. Shipped yesterday from Florida.

You will not be able to keep them alive then. They only eat pods, and you need to have 100lbs of LR and a very established (1 year) tank to have enough pods. Also, unless you have a male and a female, they will kill each other.
 
lorab

lorab

Member
Okay, I will try to keep the one alive with live worms and live brine. I won't replace the mandarin dragonet that appears to have died. Also, I wasn't planning on adding any other fish for at least a month. thanks for the replies.
 
vanquish

vanquish

Member
Originally Posted by arsen_36
good luck with the dragonets
! i love the color but i only have 29g

I have one in a 20, its doing just fine. dragonets do better than people give them credit for, and yes they do eat frozen brine, although live brine is better and pods are the best.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
VERY few dragonets will eat anything other than pods. Frozen brine is also worthless because it has no nutritional value. You can't say "yes they do eat frozen brine" this makes it sound like they all accept it and they DON'T.
Anyway, good luck with it.
 
vanquish

vanquish

Member
Originally Posted by alyssia
VERY few dragonets will eat anything other than pods. Frozen brine is also worthless because it has no nutritional value. You can't say "yes they do eat frozen brine" this makes it sound like they all accept it and they DON'T.
Anyway, good luck with it.
Oh I know, I should have been more specific. Many do eat brine, but you are correct its some may not accept it and even if they do it is not very good for them, but still its better than nothing if you are say without pods and need to get more. I was just trying to lay out a "good-better-best" deal. My comment that they are not as difficult to care for as people think just meant that imo they are not difficult to care for as long as you know what you are doing. Sorry for the ambiguity.
 
arsen_36

arsen_36

Member
Originally Posted by alyssia
VERY few dragonets will eat anything other than pods. Frozen brine is also worthless because it has no nutritional value. You can't say "yes they do eat frozen brine" this makes it sound like they all accept it and they DON'T.
Anyway, good luck with it.
does frozen myses(spelling) have a better nutritional value than brine?
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Yes it does, but still will not be enough for a dragnet
You will most likely have to get it to eat other food, (fat chance) or buy pods all the time if you don't have a fuge, but I never heard of any dragnet living without LR for long.
 
arsen_36

arsen_36

Member
Originally Posted by puffer32
Yes it does, but still will not be enough for a dragnet

you mean it "wont" be enough? lol
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
I know that is not what you wanted to hear. I love those fish, took me 20 yrs and these boards to figure out wny i couldn't keep one alive. For the sole reason of my love for mandrins, I got a large tank, plenty of LR and a fuge. I would take the one survivor to your lfs and see if it will take him in trade for another fish. Good luck
 
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