Alright, so I figured out a way to get my target to eat frozen food and now he loves it. He even steals food from my plate coral and brains when I try to feed them. He has developed quite the belly in the last month and I was wondering if that was ok. I have always heard and read that the hard part is getting them to eat but now I am worried he might be eating too much.. Also, if it is safe for him to eat that much, is there a market for weaned dragonets out there?

BTW my avatar is a picture of my target about a month ago before he really started chowing down.

Wow... can u share your secret???? It will be breakthrough in the nano-reef world!!!

As someone once said, moderation in all things. Feed it regularly. It's not going to explode or anything if that's what your wondering, but overfeeding can have a detrimental impact on your water quality and grow algae as well.

A lot of people have successfully weaned mandarins onto frozen foods. Many eat well, at least at first. It's the time period between 6-9 months that you need to watch out for as many tend to waste away during that time frame. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies. I have been keeping an eye on my water quality so I will do water changes PRN.

I would assume that it's an animal that won't self-moderate, but the issue isn't how much you're feeding overall, it's how much the fish eats in one sitting. Look up some decent images on bloating and you'll learn what you need to in order to tell if the fish is eating well or overeating.

What kind of frozen food is he eating?

He's eating brine and mysis. I tried mixing nori in but he only picks out the meaty stuff.

Which he should. They are carnivores, after all. Try changing it to mysis and cyclops and treat it with selcon or vitachem. That's probably the best combo right there for you.

I made a garlic extract by mashing garlic and filtering the juice through a coffee filter. I also added a little brightwell vitamin and trace mineral supplement to soak the food in. He seems to like, and he has no signs of diseases.