davidkonicek
Member
can i put a Mandarin Dragonet - Spotted in my 14 gallon reef tank??? i heard that they're very hard to keep alive in small tanks...any opinions?? thx a lot
Mandarin Dragonet - Spotted
- Thread starter davidkonicek
- Start date
aquaguy24
Active Member
how long have u had the tank running..they need well established tanks..might be okay to have him if its by itself or one other small fish..but the hard part is feeding him..u might bet lucky and get one that eats frozen food but u still need to feed him natural foods...natural meaning copepods... u either set up a refugium or u can throw some copepods in ur tank and let them multiply for a while then put the mandarin in.
earlybird
Active Member
I really don't think it will be possible in that size tank. I wouldn't put one in my 29g with 45lbs of rock. You would have to have a very large supply of copepods and your rock wouldn't be able to create the population needed. It is very rare but some are able to get their mandarins to eat other foods but it's hit and miss. You would have to constantly purchase copepods or have another tank to harvest them to supply your 14g.
clay12340
Member
If you can get it eating frozen it's not much harder to keep than any other fish. That is a big "if" though. Many of them will just not take to frozen foods and wilt away unless they have a very large constant supply of pods. I doubt that a 14 gallon tank can hold enough rock to supply a food source long term, if the mandarin won't go for frozen.
davidkonicek
Member
what do you think about him being in a 29 with 25-30 lbs of live rock
legoalie31
Member
I feed mine brine shrimp(sea monkeys)
katiev
Member
Honestly, you could go through many mandarins before finding one that will take to frozen food. I do not think you could meet a mandarin's feeding requirements with that small of a tank. Also, that's great that Legoalie's mandarin is eating brine shrimp, but brine has little to no nutritional value -- I wouldn't recommend feeding it regularly, or in place of other foods. Cruise through the old posts here with the search engine, and you will see that this situation will most likely not work. The mandarin will simply starve to death -- which is very sad thing to see indeed, for such a beautiful fish.
nygel
Active Member
spotted ares more known to accept frozen than greens, in the research I've done (though not as accepting as a scooter dragonet). I havent tried a spotted though, but ime, i've got all three of my dragonets to eat. the only thing i would say to help is get em young. and i gave away the dragonet and kept the two scooters, but one scooter died (only had him for about a week... he was like half an inch, smallest scooter i've ever seen.)
