Mandarin Dragonet

[sharuq1]

Selcon is a great idea. Where did you manage to find it? So far I have not seen it in any of the stores I've been to.

I have a mandarin as well. He was living in a pre-established setup for 2 years when I got him and has been with me for I think about 6 or 7 months now.

He eats pods and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs fed to him in a spice jar. I thought he was eating NLS there for a while, but turns out he was putting them in his mouth and spitting them out trying to get the eggs instead, lol.

I would not recommend a mandy to a beginner or a non-established tank setup. I was one of the few that got lucky as he came with the tank when I got it. Otherwise it is not a fish that I would have bought at this stage. I would have waited a year before attempting a mandarin in the tank, just to be on the safe side.

Also as a side note, some of these fish are still caught using the poisoning method and if so may never fully recover--hence not lasting long in the aquarium. Another thing to note when buying one; be on the safe side and get a fat one. Don't get a skinny one thinking you can nurse it back to health.

[hillbillyreefer]

sharuq1 I got the selcon from Kelly @ The Reef Shoppe. I was there on Friday and he had at least two bottles. Call him up, he'll probably ship it for you.

[andresont]

Do a search for a "Pod Condo"This is just a pile of live rock in the plastic net where pods can live multiply and hide

[nanoreefer]

ive had afew mandys and i used live brine enriched with selcon to wean them on to frozen food, i got a vary skinny beat up male that turned right around and looked grate after 4 months, i then got him a female and they lived just fine in a 10g for several months untile we had to move in the middel of winter, male got cotton like growths on his sides and died after a week and the female stopped eating anything even pods and died, i just got another one onto frozen and put him in the tank only to have him jump out after afew days after takeing three months to get onto fozen, if i do it again iam not growing my own brine thats for sure its a major PITA!,

[Puff]

everytime im in an LFS and see some mandarins i always ask if they are accepting frozen foods. the answer is always no, and im sure there are dozens of other ppl who ask the same thing. but i still get my hopes up lol

in thailand my dad has one in his tank (id say between 35 and 45 gallons). the thing is so healthy. at one point i noticed (via pictures) that it was getting skinny and harassed my dad about. he got his "fish guy" to dump a bunch more pods in there to reestablish it. now the mandarin is back to being plump.

[sharuq1]

Oh and idea for a pod pile that I did was just to have a ball of chaeto fishing-lined to a rock in the tank (my refugium is tiny in an ac110). It works.

[dabandit]

I bought one not knowing what they were poor guy ate my 14gal tank clean in a few days. Was watching one day and was very pleased to see my Clown teach him how to eat frozen food. He's now thriving on marine cuisine and the ocaisional batch of pods scooped from the refugium from my large setup

[BigA]

Originally Posted by sharuq1

Selcon is a great idea. Where did you manage to find it? So far I have not seen it in any of the stores I've been to.

Aquarium Enthusiasts in Edmonton has it. I was in there on Sunday and there must have been 10 or 15 bottles at least.

[Karen Marlin]

I had luck with getting my dragonet to eat those flying fish eggs...the kind they use for sushi rolls....I got them at T&T chinese supermarket at west ed
mall. These fall to the bottom and if the flow isn't too much...they find them and they're the right size...it makes a supplement anyway. I keep them in the freezer and just break off what i need. I tried the same roe from superstore, but found it to be of inferior quality and the fish didn't seem to go for it....K

[kwirky]

I know one guy who has 5 in his 120g tank and they're thriving, while another has tried to keep them in 5 year old 220g repeatedly to no avail. Tricky fish. Another animal that is kinda iffy whether it should be imported or not.