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Mandarin dragonett Sexing Help


Travler83

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50/50 IME

 

I wanna get a male and see how he does. I got her on a whim, she eats froze without being trained.

 

Could two frozen food eating dragonetts be in a 29G biocube?

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I wanna get a male and see how he does. I got her on a whim, she eats froze without being trained.

 

Could two frozen food eating dragonetts be in a 29G biocube?

 

What you guys think?

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heh, i say no.

 

even if they're on frozen, they have a high metabolism. so they pretty much need to eat pods 24/7 to stay fat and healthy. However, if you feed every single day, and you do lots of water changes, it should work. a guy on these forums had a pair alive, feeding, and breeding in a 28 gallon. However it rarely works out to have a pair.

 

good luck :)

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Tanks for your info. When you say it rarely works out to have a pair. Do you mean for them to pair up or to breed?

 

I have a protein skimmer and do a 5gal water change once a week.

heh, i say no.

 

even if they're on frozen, they have a high metabolism. so they pretty much need to eat pods 24/7 to stay fat and healthy. However, if you feed every single day, and you do lots of water changes, it should work. a guy on these forums had a pair alive, feeding, and breeding in a 28 gallon. However it rarely works out to have a pair.

 

good luck :)

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once they spawn they will do so every few days, they are broadcast spawners so you will need to collect the eggs and tumble them. they grow slow so the first few months its hard to feed them. i have seen where a few were basically raised in rot cultures. very little involvment was needed.

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Head on over to MOFIB and educate yourself there :) The Mandarin has been selected for the 2011 Breeders Challenge.

 

thats a awsome website lot of good info! thanks for sharing!

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I have a pair that just starting courting on the 14th... they are housed in a 24g nano, I would have never thought they would start doing this. I feed them 2-3x daily pellets and every other day NutraMar ova. Bought the male first and the female later on, female was very emaciated but she is slowly gaining weight.

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I commend you for your goal. Mandarins needs people to pay attn to them. Yours is a bit thin, note the ridge line running along the side...so I think you need to increase and vary its diet. Eating frozen brine shrimp is like eating lettuce for you and me....not good enough. Get her on cyclopeeze, fish or prawn roe, and feed multiple time. Once your fish is heavier and healtheir, then you can think about the next step. That fish is too thin, imho By the way, I have two mandarins, one green spotted and one blue, both living peacefully in my 29 long tank. It's two males, but for whatever reason, they are at peace, and obviously cannot spawn, at least in the traditional sense. They are also both very fat on the diet that I mentioned. Best. mike

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Isn't mysis high in protein? I feed her frozen mysis.

 

 

I commend you for your goal. Mandarins needs people to pay attn to them. Yours is a bit thin, note the ridge line running along the side...so I think you need to increase and vary its diet. Eating frozen brine shrimp is like eating lettuce for you and me....not good enough. Get her on cyclopeeze, fish or prawn roe, and feed multiple time. Once your fish is heavier and healtheir, then you can think about the next step. That fish is too thin, imho By the way, I have two mandarins, one green spotted and one blue, both living peacefully in my 29 long tank. It's two males, but for whatever reason, they are at peace, and obviously cannot spawn, at least in the traditional sense. They are also both very fat on the diet that I mentioned. Best. mike
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Oh, then I must have mis-read. Mysis is far better. But you need to pay attn to that ridge line running horizontally down its body length. A strong and well fed mandarin should NOT have this. It should be tubular and round. Give it more food while you look for a good mate. Is it an ORA fish? It looks a lot like my blue when I first got it many montsh ago. The exception is that mine has a long dorsel whip on top of its body, and yours does not seem to have one. So, my guess would be a girl. Good news with this....get her fat, and there are far more male mandarins in the aquarium trade than females. You can also call ORA, talk to the manager name Laura, find out a store near you that can get fish from ORA, and make arrangement for ORA to send to the store a definitive male...several options if you would like a pair. I definitely have two boys...both with very prominent dorsel whips. Best. mike

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I purchased some more food. Going to add cyclopze and arti pods to the diet like you said. Ill update the photos in a month to see the progression.

 

Thanks for the advice Mike

 

Oh, then I must have mis-read. Mysis is far better. But you need to pay attn to that ridge line running horizontally down its body length. A strong and well fed mandarin should NOT have this. It should be tubular and round. Give it more food while you look for a good mate. Is it an ORA fish? It looks a lot like my blue when I first got it many montsh ago. The exception is that mine has a long dorsel whip on top of its body, and yours does not seem to have one. So, my guess would be a girl. Good news with this....get her fat, and there are far more male mandarins in the aquarium trade than females. You can also call ORA, talk to the manager name Laura, find out a store near you that can get fish from ORA, and make arrangement for ORA to send to the store a definitive male...several options if you would like a pair. I definitely have two boys...both with very prominent dorsel whips. Best. mike
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Quick advice on the cyclopeeze. It comes in a red squared tube form. Leave it outside in room temp for about 15 min, cut off the top, squeeze the content out only as much as would get you about two weeks. Use a heavy kitchen knife and slice/chop off that section (like you would a section of butter). Push the rest back and tie the opening and freeze. The section you cut, you can then cube into much smaller pieces, store in a separate plastic bag or container. When you do feed this, use a small glass container, add some tank water, take one piece of cyclopeeze, maybe mix with a small chunk of frozen BB or Nutrimar Ova (I use both), stir, and use a small syringe and shoot the mix onto your mandarin's usual feeding spot only (hopefully your fish should be waiting for you there; both of mine wait there to be fed). Dont go shooting all over the place...all will be wasted and you will completely pollute your tank with no help to your fish. Best of luck. mike

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  • 1 month later...

looking better based on what others were saying, but i am by no means any kind of expert on these fish.

 

im following along as I love these fish as well and am hoping to add one to my BC 29 soon.

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looking better based on what others were saying, but i am by no means any kind of expert on these fish.

 

im following along as I love these fish as well and am hoping to add one to my BC 29 soon.

 

Yea shes great. Getting round.

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