# Mandarin dragonet.



## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Hey guys. Well it eats Frozen foods, and i have Live BS for emergencies.  Hope u like him. Working on chubbing him up atm. They can never care for these properly.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Beauty of a specimen! Also congrats on feeding him frozen foods!


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Thanks! I am going to feed him every chance I get through the day. I would like to eventually breed them once I get some good experience keeping this one. Pita, but worth it no doubt. 

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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Totally, I had one about a year ago and he went thru my whole pod community within a week and I couldn't seem to get him to eat anything else. Is he in your 10g nano?


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## Duke (Dec 22, 2012)

Nice picture, I have found frozen food just isn't enough to keep them happy, I culture tiggerpods for mine. I have a breeding pair in my tank and i have managed to get the larvae to 4 or 5 days post hatch iirc. mine spawn a few times a month. Tough to raise to maturity living where we do, most anyone successful is using wild caught plankton from the oceans I believe.

They don't really pair like other fish, in the wild they only meet up to spawn and the rest of the time they never cross paths. Mine only tend to hang out as the lights dim down and at night, during the day they both do their own thing.

The Pair










Spawning










Few hours post hatch










Sorry to hijack your thread, Your male looks like a very nice fish! good luck with him!


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Yeah he is the only fish I will be having in the 10. When I eventually get my 180 rolling ill think about a female. 

Oh I don't mind at all, any information is good lol. I do have live brine but I know that's not nutritional enough. I want to get live mysis going. 

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## Duke (Dec 22, 2012)

Tropicana said:


> Yeah he is the only fish I will be having in the 10. When I eventually get my 180 rolling ill think about a female.
> 
> Oh I don't mind at all, any information is good lol.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


if you have the space, I culture more that enough tiggerpods throughout the summer months that all my fish go crazy for, its very easy to do. Is it ok to post links to other forums here?


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Duke said:


> if you have the space, I culture more that enough tiggerpods throughout the summer months that all my fish go crazy for, its very easy to do. Is it ok to post links to other forums here?


Yeah that's fine Duke, I'd be interested in culturing them too if I could get a seed culture.

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## Duke (Dec 22, 2012)

Tropicana said:


> Yeah that's fine Duke, I'd be interested in culturing them too if I could get a seed culture.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


its nice and easy to do, you just need to buy a bottle of reef nutrition tiggerpods.

Heres my thread about it on a different forum.

http://www.thefragtank.ca/forum/index.php?topic=2528.0


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Thanks Duke! Ill definitely look into it. Some more pics.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

It's just my opinion but I'm with Duke when it comes to feeding them pods. They're more of a "cow of the sea" type of creature and tend to just graze on the little guys. A 10g is pretty small for a mandarin...just my opinion though


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Haha, well i have never heard of the larger pods(you can buy) until Duke, I plan to culture them the same way he does. Much like I have with brine shrimp, which i have growing in a 5gal in my window. It will do quite well. You just wait and see... . everyone is so skeptical about how to feed them. Some people just do frozen(Brine, mysis, cyclops), they live, and breed on that. I really dont think it is that difficult with my experience growing hundreds of fish in the past and feeding them tiny creatures. Raising pods isnt going to be that hard either.

Anyways If there is a will there is a way.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Beautiful fish. Do you think it would end up fighting with a yellow watchman goby?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Mine never fought. They just both grazed all day. Well the goby just sits there on a rock most of the day


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Ah, good to know. Kelly, if you were closer I'd donate some of mine. I got a sixline wrasse just to knock their population down a notch or two


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Thanks Kooka, I actually am experimenting with him, he ate a meal worm head(soft white one ) this morning. So he is not that picky. But I would love to get a culture going haha. Maybe I'll buy some reef pods from big als if they have any. 

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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I can't wait to see when you get tired of your FW stuff and go straight SW!!! It'll be nice to see that 180g reef up!!


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Haha alt, Im selling things off..


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