From Bob Fenner, the author of The Conscientious Marine Aquarist.
Quote:
"The predominantly offered genus is Synchiropus. Synchiropus splendidus is the Blue, and Synchiropus picturatus, the Green or Spotted Mandarin. These two have one of the most dismal survival records of captive marines. Almost all perish within a month of wild capture... most often due to simple starvation.
Related FAQs: Psychedelic "Gobies"/Dragonets/Mandarins & their Relatives 1, Mandarins 2 , Mandarins 3, Mandarin Identification, Mandarin Behavior, Mandarin Selection, Mandarin Systems, Mandarin Compatibility, Mandarin Feeding, Mandarin Feeding 2, Mandarin Disease/Health, Mandarins/Blennies/Gobies & Crypt, Mandarin Reproduction,
Related Articles: Gobies & their Relatives,
/The Conscientious Reef Aquarist
Mandarins, Psychedelic "Gobies", Dragonets, Scooter Blennies....YAH! Family Callionymidae
By Bob Fenner
Synchiropus ocellatus
Often going by the common name "gobies", the Dragonets actually occupy an adjacent Suborder (the Callionymoidei). "True" Gobioids vary from them in a few obvious ways: placement and shape of pelvic fins (anterior to the pectorals in Callionymids, posterior and suction-like in Gobioids), the opening of the gills (small apertures up behind the head in Callionymids, larger in gobiods) .The fourteen genera and about 186 species of the family Callionymidae are typified by small gill openings, by having broad, depressed heads, and scaleless bodies with two dorsal fins... Living on the bottom with a characteristic "scooting" type of locomotion.
The predominantly offered genus is Synchiropus. Synchiropus splendidus is the Blue, and Synchiropus picturatus, the Green or Spotted Mandarin. These two have one of the most dismal survival records of captive marines. Almost all perish within a month of wild capture... most often due to simple starvation.
Selection:
The principal selection criteria for picking out healthy dragonets are their fullness of body and activity level. Suitable specimens should not be skinny, and should be out and about, investigating their environment. For sure you want to see the specimen/s eat.
Selection: (Andy Bulgin input/corr.)
The principal selection criteria for picking out healthy dragonets are their fullness of body and activity level. Suitable specimens should not be skinny, and should be out and about, investigating their environment.
For sure you want to see the specimen/s eat. [If the specimen/s is not actively hunting for food and/or is skinny, do not buy it.]
Above, an okay "index of fitness" Green/Spotted Mandarin and one that is too characteristically thin (note, "line" along body midline).
Habitat:
Some species of mandarins offered in the trade are found on nothing other than sandy bottoms, but the Green/Spotted and Blue/Psychedelic species are almost always located in and amongst (mainly Acroporid) coral rubble, which they only venture out past sunset to feed and interact with their own kind.
Foods/Feeding:
As stated over and over, feeding, or rather a lack therein is THE common cause of loss of these animals. They spend many hours seeking out small live invertebrates living in/on live rock and substrates. If these are not present or otherwise supplied, you will see your mandarins sides sink in and its vigor wane. Live foods can be bought on a regular basis, cultured in separate vessels, in an attached fishless refugium. Starter cultures for these organisms can be purchased from companies that you can find on the Internet using the search terms: "live plankton fish food".
Do not fall into the trap of offering nothing but adult live brine shrimp, suffused with supplements (e.g. Selcon) or not. It’s not unheard of that a dragonet will accept (with training) frozen/defrosted foods in place of live, but it is rare that non-live foods sustain them. Whatever other writers have stated, Mandarins almost never accept enough of anything other than live foods that are omnipresent in their system to sustain themselves. A nutrient rich live rock reef tank, read that as one heavily populated with hard substrates, with substantial interstitial crustacean and worm, and other small sessile invertebrate life of about 100 gallons will support one individual. And this assumes you have no similar food-competing tankmates.
In the wild their food choices are principally small crustaceans and worms. You can culture these "incidentally" in a large main/display system with lots of substrate and/or live rock, but adding a live fishless refugium will go an immense distance in assuring your mandarin/s receive sufficient live food. These fishes cannot live on dried-prepared or frozen/defrosted, or chopped meaty foods."
I hope that helps a little. You will read anecdotally of people keeping them on frozen mysis etc. But long term and the odds are against us.
