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The many methods of training Dragonets


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JoeDigiorgio

It's easy and cheap to buy a reefs2go pod package before vacation (and in general a few times a year for good measure) to cover all of your fish for a while while you're gone. I get them every few months just as a CUC addition and snackie snack for the kids in addition to other foods.

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I will have a fuge with chaeto and a (yes one) piece of LR for pod breeding but hypothetically this would be in my IM 16 where the fuge is not very large. I would devote one whole fuge column in the back to this but it would still be minimal. I am not counting on the pods from this to be a very large portion of the diet obviously but am definitely hoping it supplements nicely. As mentioned before I would also give it variety in the form of frozen/live food as often as possible but my job will, at times, call for trips of 3 days in several consecutive weeks. So I can't just throw in some pods every time and unfortunately the pods from my fuge and pellet food would make up the food for those days.

 

This is a long shot I know and I am in no way settled on even attempting this. I am actually still leaning more towards it not being possible and would want to have a very good feeling about it before putting a mandarin's life in my hands. I would optimally purchase one that is at least partially trained while giving myself a few weeks before traveling for the first time to perfect the auto feeding.

 

Just gathering feedback let me know what you think with as many details as possible as I try to continually increase my understanding of all things nano-reef and if the answer is "no that will not be sufficient for a mandarin" then that's fine

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anyone?

 

It seems risky. If I skip 1 day of feeding.. my mandy's belly will be noticeably a little bit less plump and I have a 20g fuge. I think 3 days on and off is a lot.

 

I think in this situation you are best to set up an actual sump/fuge of a decent size, maybe at least 5g of pod space and use cheato and pod/piles to switch in extra pods when you leave for trips as well as some being shot up through the pump.

 

If you are limited on space, you could do a fuge without baffles. Bigger is always better.

 

I would still be worried the mandy may not keep weight over time. 3 days here 3 days there adds up for a fish that needs to eat constantly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If i buy a mandarin i confirmed is eating prepared foods like pellets could i keep it in a 24 gallon without worrying about it starving

 

You would need to target feed it twice a day and make sure no other fish or shrimp steal the food. Some also claim that without pods as part of their diet that they have a shorter life span.

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  • 2 weeks later...
SmorgishBorg

Just wanted to add of the part about having a fish that will already eat frozen food. Today was my 3rd day with the mandarin and I couldn't get it to eat frozen the first two days. I tried again today with frozen mysis, my fuzzy dwarf lion saw me trying to feed the mandarin and swam right next to him. The lion saw me shoot some mysis and he ate it, apparently the mandarin got the idea and took one for himself! He only are about 3 shrimp but at least it's a start.

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I purchased a mandarin yesterday and have him in a breeder box with plenty of flow. I have been try to feed him various types of food and I finally saw him eat the brine out of my smorgasbord.

 

Now that I have seen him eat the frozen brine should I let him out, or continue to train?

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I purchased a mandarin yesterday and have him in a breeder box with plenty of flow. I have been try to feed him various types of food and I finally saw him eat the brine out of my smorgasbord.

 

Now that I have seen him eat the frozen brine should I let him out, or continue to train?

 

Brine isn't nutritional enough to keep him alive long term. You need to get him eating other foods (mysis, ova, cycop-eeze, ect) and eating them well.

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I am feeding a mixture of frozen brine, mysis, and bloodworms. I am trying to enrich the food as well by soaking it in selcon, reef plus, and garlic. He is now eating the bloodworms too. I hope I'm on the right track since they can be difficult to care for.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
lessergeneration

You would need to target feed it twice a day and make sure no other fish or shrimp steal the food. Some also claim that without pods as part of their diet that they have a shorter life span.

i dont think pods are the reason they would have a shorter lifespan, it would be the proteins and fats that pods contain that may not be in prepared food that would maybe shorten lifespan

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i dont think pods are the reason they would have a shorter lifespan, it would be the proteins and fats that pods contain that may not be in prepared food that would maybe shorten lifespan

 

Well, thats basically what I meant :P Most likely because some people have trouble getting mandarin's to eat variety or just the quality of some fish food sucks even brand by brand.

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lessergeneration

Well, thats basically what I meant :P Most likely because some people have trouble getting mandarin's to eat variety or just the quality of some fish food sucks even brand by brand.

Just wanted to clarify for some of the beginners in this thread lol

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  • 1 month later...
SantaMonica

Although this thread is about manual feeding, if it has not been said before, as your rocks become covered with thicker and thicker periphyton, pods will start multiplying by the thousands in it and the mandarins will spend more and more time eating from these rocks (and under them).

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

Hi all, I have had my mandarin since sunday and just had a few questions. The shop were feeding him brine shrimp and I watched them feed him. I feed my fish once a day, I feed them brine shrimp and a mixture of other frozen foods. He lives amongst all my live rock so I make sure all the food goes above it and then settles on the rock and in all the caves. I see him regurlarly cruising around striking the rock and the sand, sometimes he even rolls into the sand then strikes the stuff that lands. Is this him feeding? How long would he last if he wasnt feeding? Just that currently I watch him for hours just to make sure he's ok, and interested in knowing when I can stop worrying if I am doing everything to feed him. Cheers

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  • 3 months later...

My little red scooter male jumped. He was the coolest fish, I had him trained to eat frozen and he would sit in my hand. When I found him he was all shriveled, stiff, and smelly already. :(

 

Don't know if I will get another again, it's heartbreaking to train a fish and watch them so intently to be sure they get enough food every day and then have them die.

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  • 4 months later...
SquishyFishy

Sorry Halo....today at my lfs there was a ruby available (not eating frozen) for only $30....I almost jumped on it but so afraid to lose another....my mandy only lived in my tank for about 1 month. :(

 

I had to laugh when the lfs guy said I needed at least 100 gallons to keep dragonettes. I didn't tell him about all the peeps here who have much less and have kept them successfully, albeit not as long as maybe those with larger tanks. I may just go back and get him...he's so cute......I remember only a year ago people were paying $100 and up for them.

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  • 1 year later...
SquishyFishy

Has anyone tried Hikari's Bio Pure Frozen Cyclopods for their dragonettes?

 

I need something for my new, and very small young red scooter Blenny. Can't find Cyclopeez nor Ova.

 

This sounds like it may work. I have seeded tank with new pods, old pods are now grown too large for him. This is cheap like 6 bucks a pkg, but overnight shipping is 30! Going to get my lfs to order for me.

 

Anyone out there know this product?

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