Dragonet food?
- Thread starter stern
- Start date
smfoister
Member
Fish only tanks can sustain a Dragonet if it's well established and seeded with pods. If it's not already seeded then dropping food in the tank for it is going to be really tough, there's too much competition for food floating in the water or sitting on the sand. I have a green dragonet in a tank and he has been thriving for nearly 10 years. He spends his entire life exploring the rock for pods and that is his only source of food. He has never, ever come to the surface to feed or grabbed anything out of the water column.
smfoister
Member
I think where Jay's experience and mine differ is that he likely started feeding brine and mysis to his dragonet early on. Where as I spent a lot of time on the back end trying to seed my tank and kind of never went out of my way to feed the guy. So there you have it, two totally different options for raising the same fish. I think we're done here. 
Sorry for my ignorance, (newbie) but what is pods, some sort of reef? or something I can add to my rocks? how long with it take to grow before I think about purchasing a Drag?I think where Jay's experience and mine differ is that he likely started feeding brine and mysis to his dragonet early on. Where as I spent a lot of time on the back end trying to seed my tank and kind of never went out of my way to feed the guy. So there you have it, two totally different options for raising the same fish. I think we're done here.
Thanks guys
smfoister
Member
Pods is short for copepods. I seeded and grew my population of pods until I saw them collecting them in my filter sock. Then I would just collect them in a small glass container from my kitchen and dump them back in the display tank. Basically, once you start seeing them collect in your filtration you know you have a pretty good sized community.
They're basically small shrimp looking things. Also sometimes referred to as sand bugs or sand fleas by the uninitiated.
I think it probably took 4-6 months for my tank to start breeding them well and another few months for them to start showing up in numbers I was comfortable with.
Don't rush it please... be patient. This is a life long hobby for some of us, this is not something that will satisfy you as a passing fancy. Some fish are hard to keep, some take preparation. There's a reason why people walk into my house and say "DAAAMN!" when they see my saltwater tank, but don't even notice the fresh water tank.
Risk vs. Reward
They're basically small shrimp looking things. Also sometimes referred to as sand bugs or sand fleas by the uninitiated.
I think it probably took 4-6 months for my tank to start breeding them well and another few months for them to start showing up in numbers I was comfortable with.
Don't rush it please... be patient. This is a life long hobby for some of us, this is not something that will satisfy you as a passing fancy. Some fish are hard to keep, some take preparation. There's a reason why people walk into my house and say "DAAAMN!" when they see my saltwater tank, but don't even notice the fresh water tank.
Risk vs. Reward
jay0705
Well-Known Member
You are correct, frozen foods start the day I get them lol. Knock on wood ive never had one refuse frozen. The biggest thing is gettin them to realize its food. This is why I bag feed. Most lfs dont feed them the way they should, so I know I have a hungry fish. So if it wont eat rt away iam in for a fight lol. Since I started doing it, all eat in the bag.I think where Jay's experience and mine differ is that he likely started feeding brine and mysis to his dragonet early on. Where as I spent a lot of time on the back end trying to seed my tank and kind of never went out of my way to feed the guy. So there you have it, two totally different options for raising the same fish. I think we're done here.
Now some say u dont want to pollute the bag water, indeed I agree. But 3-4 shrimp is totally fine. Especially when they get eaten rt away lol.
The one exception is prawn roe, they just eat it. It must be something in nature they know to eat
pegasus
Well-Known Member
How you go about in preparation of feeding a dragonet can be determined by the size of your tank. IF you have a large enough tank (75+ gallons), you can raise enough pods to feed a single mandarin without any supplemental feeding. This will take months of advanced preparation before purchasing the fish. I bought 7000+ pods (amphipod and copepod mix) over a period of six months before I bought my first mandarin dragonet. I was absolutely positive that I had a very large and healthy population of pods. Once established, there is little-to-no upkeep. Anything smaller than a 75G tank will require additions of pods on occasion. Anyone who buys pods knows this can get expensive really fast. If your tank is less than 55G, you'll want to train your dragonet (this is nothing like "how to train your dragon") to eat prepared foods.
The beauty of having a dragonet in a large tank is that once the pod population has been established, your fish is "plug-and-play". You acclimate it, drop it in the tank, and you're done. The fish will feed itself from the bounty the tank (and a little previous help from you) provides. Your work is done, so you get to sit back and enjoy the show. A small tank requires you to physically feed the fish on a regular basis. If your fish is properly trained to eat prepared food(s), then this won't be much different than feeding most fish. It all depends on it's preferred diet as to how much prep work goes into each feeding.
The beauty of having a dragonet in a large tank is that once the pod population has been established, your fish is "plug-and-play". You acclimate it, drop it in the tank, and you're done. The fish will feed itself from the bounty the tank (and a little previous help from you) provides. Your work is done, so you get to sit back and enjoy the show. A small tank requires you to physically feed the fish on a regular basis. If your fish is properly trained to eat prepared food(s), then this won't be much different than feeding most fish. It all depends on it's preferred diet as to how much prep work goes into each feeding.
jay0705
Well-Known Member
I agree a single in a large tank. Loaded w rock and pods is a mandys delight. However in most cases, draggonets are not the only fish in your tank that eats pods, add in how many folks will spend the money to add/ raise sufficient pods. This is why there considered hard to keep.
I'll give u myself as an example. One of my tanks is a 56 column. Prob 60-70lbs of live rock. In the tank are a 6line wrasse(podhunter) ,clown, fire fish, purple pseudo, yellow watchman goby, a pair of green mandarins and a pair of scooter blennys. I have no pods lol, all devour frozen foods tho. I trained them to do so. Once trained there a fantastic fish. Mysis, brine, prawn roe, cyclopese. All good food options
I'll give u myself as an example. One of my tanks is a 56 column. Prob 60-70lbs of live rock. In the tank are a 6line wrasse(podhunter) ,clown, fire fish, purple pseudo, yellow watchman goby, a pair of green mandarins and a pair of scooter blennys. I have no pods lol, all devour frozen foods tho. I trained them to do so. Once trained there a fantastic fish. Mysis, brine, prawn roe, cyclopese. All good food options