# Red Dragonettes preparation



## MPreston

I was looking into introducing and culturing pods but am unsure of the best/recommended brand.
I would like to ensure they have a healthy selection of pods to munch on when they go into the tank- I don't know about you but nothing says home like a good meal.

With them still on order, with the expected landing date of next week, it gives me some time to prep for these little beauties. I have come across some details and info but Google can only take you so far so i wanted to ask what Dragonettes owners suggest?

Thnx in advance
mp


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## darkangel66n

Canada Coral's sells bottles of tiger pods. It is what I am using for my red and two mandarins. So far so good, but I am going to look into culturing them.


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## MPreston

*Simple and easy*

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/2/breeder


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## Robbie_boy16

Are you getting some of these red dragonets??


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## MPreston

Robbie_boy16 said:


> Are you getting some of these red dragonets??


I plan on getting 2. A male and a female- just have to find them lol


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## tom g

*dragonette*

good luck on these man I hope they can sustain in your system ,fairly new livestock that are deff one of the most beautiful out there . keep us informed look forward to seeing pics .
cheers


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## darkangel66n

Mine is doing great 3 weeks in. He eats frozen and I have been adding pods. Still a fat little guy. SUM has something similar but a little different for $65 each.


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## Robbie_boy16

MPreston said:


> I plan on getting 2. A male and a female- just have to find them lol


I know big als Mississauga has one for $70 I think


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## uniboob

I just got 3 of these in, a bit different then photo posted.


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## Robbie_boy16

^^ those are not the same dragnettes


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## altcharacter

Didn't he just say that?

Jerry, are you bringing those to London?


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## uniboob

If there are any left I will  

Hoping to get some more as they are neat fish. 

These are red scooter blennies/dragonnette.


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## uniboob

@mpreston mine are eating frozen cyclopeeze at the moment, they are around 3/4"-1" in size so small.

When you do find some like the previous photo posted, if they are small prepare to have small food like cyclopeeze/ small type of pod on hand incase it's finicky.


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## sooley19

Big als Mississauga has them for sale but I think I seen a price tag of 79 or 89.. That's extremely steep I think


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## MPreston

*red dragonettes*

That is a bit steep. 
I think I'll wait it out and continue to let the tank mature.

I like the red guys but how can they justify selling the mandarins for 20 a piece but sell the red guys for 80 a piece? I know it supply and demand but DAMN!


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## altcharacter

Up until Christmas time these fish had never been seen in the gta. Although there was one shipment 2 years ago of 3 fish


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## Robbie_boy16

Sea u marine has them right now for $85


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## tom g

*draggonettes*

i think these are a amazing looking fish , I don't mind paying a little higher price but I have not heard too many success rates that these fairly new fish in the Toronto area are surviving .just my opinion I will hold off a bit till I see them a little more frequent ...


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## notclear

They were sold for between $35 ~ $40 during xmas time. I bought two but they went missing not soon after.


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## liz

tom g said:


> i think these are a amazing looking fish , I don't mind paying a little higher price but I have not heard too many success rates that these fairly new fish in the Toronto area are surviving .just my opinion I will hold off a bit till I see them a little more frequent ...


I had one and was told it was it was eating mysis - wrong! 
I tried feeding everything that I could think of and in the end it did not survive.
So, if anyone is thinking of getting one of these I would treat as if it were a mandarin with high pod eating needs. 
If you don't have a very mature tank with a high pod population than please don't buy one as they won't live.


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## tom g

*dragonnetes*

+1 for what liz said as much as the beauty gets u , I don't think they are sustaining ....anyone else who has these that are doing well or not ...


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## manmadecorals

or you can buy some of these Canada Corals sell these for $24.99 a bottle i believe.

You can then culture them and have an *UNLIMITED *amount of copepods!!!!


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## MPreston

*Landed*

They have arrived. My contact got 12 of them... Minus the two I am going for now  I will post pics
Big als brampton 57 a piece. Happy hunting.


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## MPreston

*pics*

Boys and girls there is 6 left


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## immafool

wow looking good MP!


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## fury165

MPreston said:


> Boys and girls there is 6 left


Looks like two males.. They destined for the same tank?


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## MPreston

*dragonettes*

Fury- don't tell me that. I stood at the frag table for like a half hour trying to get a male and a female. Yes they are destined for the same tank. I have them on observation at the store so I can switch one if they are two males but from what I read the female has a smaller fin. Any suggestions how I can distinguish the male and female? I tried to go with the two largest eand healthiest but if they are both male, I'm screwed. 
Suggestions please
thnx for the heads up


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## fury165

MPreston said:


> Fury- don't tell me that. I stood at the frag table for like a half hour trying to get a male and a female. Yes they are destined for the same tank. I have them on observation at the store so I can switch one if they are two males but from what I read the female has a smaller fin. Any suggestions how I can distinguish the male and female? I tried to go with the two largest eand healthiest but if they are both male, I'm screwed.
> Suggestions please
> thnx for the heads up


The two you have in the bag have dark green/black banding on the fins - indicating males. Females don't have the banding nor the ornate top fin. I have posted in a number of threads about sexing them.. But check this one out

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?p=483225#post483225

Hth


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## MPreston

*male and female*

Fury you are correct, they are both males. 
Problem is it looks like the whole shipment was male- what are the odds.

Does anyone know if I take one male and put him in a nano, can I introduce a female afterwards? 
Will the male accept her or will he become violent/territorial? 
**The nano is a 6.6 and will be only temporary until they "beef up" ****


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## fury165

MPreston said:


> Fury you are correct, they are both males.
> Problem is it looks like the whole shipment was male- what are the odds.
> 
> Does anyone know if I take one male and put him in a nano, can I introduce a female afterwards?
> Will the male accept her or will he become violent/territorial?
> **The nano is a 6.6 and will be only temporary until they "beef up" ****


You should be fine


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## mrobson

Robbie_boy16 said:


> Are you getting some of these red dragonets??


Burlington reef shop has these guys in stock $60 if I remember correctly


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## manmadecorals

$40 due to their size


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## wchen9

For those who are culturing tigger pods, what brand phyto are you using?

Thanks!


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## MPreston

*Culture*


After a visit to Canad Corals, Dollarama and Big Als the culture table is complete for this little guy.

Currently I have: 
Tigger pods, baby brine- phyto enriched and none phyto enriched.

On a seperate thread I have posted his new home and will be starting a thread on the culture table.
Unlimited food for under 50 bucks 

**if anyone wants to trade cope pods, let me know- I have room for 2 other cultures in the current set up****

Thanks mike


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## Jiinx

*want to learn from you *

I'm pm'ing you to learn!

sarah


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## Letigrama

fyi to all, AK mississauga had at least 4 of them. One for $55 and two for $100. They are gorgeous, and 2 of them were big. I just couldnt take a chance after my six line wrasse harassed my mandarin badly.


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## wchen9

Letigrama said:


> fyi to all, AK mississauga had at least 4 of them. One for $55 and two for $100. They are gorgeous, and 2 of them were big. I just couldnt take a chance after my six line wrasse harassed my mandarin badly.


I saw these a couple days ago and they were all pretty good size, biggest I've seen in the last couple months. I was told they were all males.


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## notclear

Last Saturday when I left Reefquarium, they still have 2 males of good size. $35 each.

At London Fragfest, they were sold for $40.


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## MPreston

*red dragonettes*

I am on the hunt for a female. 
Not in any rush, but still want a mate for my male.

This guy is so cool! More times than I can count, in the morning- lights off I see him fully extended, swimming along, loving the current. During the days, he has a little patch of cheato he hangs out on. Sneeky bugger. No need to search for food, let it come to you  
Definitely happy I got him and that he is enjoying the environment.


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## MPreston

*female dragonet*

Just got word from a buddy from BA Brampton, they just received a shipment. Mixed, male and females. 
I am heading over there after work.
I will report size and look/health.
With pics ***


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## george

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/20/a2agu3av.jpg[/IMG]







here is what i got.

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## darkangel66n

Just visited both Big Al's in Mississauga and AK and bot had them. Big Al's are $60 with 25% off, AK is selling at $60 each or two for $100. Big Al's also had red scooter blennies for $33.


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## TBemba

Have they been tank bred? I thought you needed a harem? Anyway good luck to you they look fantastic


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## Norco

Is anyone feeding phyto?


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## MPreston

*phyto*

I'm feeding my male phyto enriched everything Lol
baby brine and tiggers but do not feed the tank straight phyto.


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## Norco

MPreston said:


> ...but do not feed the tank straight phyto.


That's what I'm doing now! What's the reason you don't recommend dosing phyto?


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## MPreston

*phyto*



Norco said:


> That's what I'm doing now! What's the reason you don't recommend dosing phyto?


- I used to dose my display with phyto but found it had I'll effects in my phosphates

- The tank the dragonet is in is a 6.6 gallon without filtration, only a variety of macro algea.

Not to say that I wouldn't recommend adding phyto to the tank, for my set up, it wasn't worth the risk.

I do a 3 stage phyto enriching process for the brine and pods. 
- culturing or hatching of the pods and brine eggs
- phyto enriched bubble- 1 week 
- clean saltwater bubble rinse- 48 to 72 hours

The dragonet gets the benefits of the nutrient enriched live food where the water of the tank doesn't.

This is what works for me, not to say it's right or wrong, just what I have found with phyto.

I hope this helps
Thnx
MP


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## Norco

Obviously what you're doing is far more superior than dosing the DT, but it's beyond my capabilities at the moment. 

I have been dosing 5ml phyto per 10G every night for about 2 weeks now and it always clears up by morning with the filtration set off for the night. I do have to clean the glass more often and I'm getting just a bit more algae on the rock, which is still just enough to feed the CUC so that's not a concern of mine, but since I've been dosing the water is just not as crystal clear as it was before I started with these stuff. Maybe it's just the glass or maybe the carbon filter becomes exhausted quicker with the phyto in the system. I'm going to dose what I have for another month or so and then decide whether it's worth the trouble or not to continue dosing the DT. 

It's still to early to make any conclusions, but no major ill effects so far.


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