Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[jamescstein]

The ruby reds are spawning every few days. The greens tend to spawn late at night and we've only 'caught' them a few times. Still having trouble getting them past day 7.

Do do have 6 tiny Banghi's right now and another mouthful in the hopper.

 

Banghi's are doing well and we are trying to get them to eat something other than freshly hatched brine.

[JoeDigiorgio]

The ruby reds are spawning every few days. The greens tend to spawn late at night and we've only 'caught' them a few times. Still having trouble getting them past day 7.

Do do have 6 tiny Banghi's right now and another mouthful in the hopper.

 

Banghi's are doing well and we are trying to get them to eat something other than freshly hatched brine.

Try skipping to frozen bbs as soon as the are released from the dads mouth. I've seen that it seems to help transition over to other frozen stuff if they never get too used to live.

[JoeDigiorgio]

So today I took a good look at both of the mandarins in quarantine that had the bumps all over them. The female looks almost totally clean and the male has much fewer bumps at this time. It's only been a few days of treatment so we will see. I'm very optimistic.

[pgrVII]

So today I took a good look at both of the mandarins in quarantine that had the bumps all over them. The female looks almost totally clean and the male has much fewer bumps at this time. It's only been a few days of treatment so we will see. I'm very optimistic.

Fingers crossed joe!

[JoeDigiorgio]

I just tried decapsulating my own brine eggs today. Never done it before I always just bought the EZEggs by brineshrimpdirect.

 

Right now I'm trying to hatch a small portion of what I did to see if it worked right. Fingers crossed because the mandarins and pipes like them both hatched and just as decapped cysts on the bottom. Quick easy snack for everyone on the run for sure.

[pgrVII]

I just tried decapsulating my own brine eggs today. Never done it before I always just bought the EZEggs by brineshrimpdirect.

Right now I'm trying to hatch a small portion of what I did to see if it worked right. Fingers crossed because the mandarins and pipes like them both hatched and just as decapped cysts on the bottom. Quick easy snack for everyone on the run for sure.

Very cool Joe,feed them fatties!

[JoeDigiorgio]

Very cool Joe,feed them fatties!

Yessir, "Spoil your fish" is my motto.

[BulkRate]

Joe, I also had good luck with algagen's decap'd brine. Makes a great "squirt a pipette into the tank" quick feeding in the mornings before I go into work.

[pgrVII]

Yessir, "Spoil your fish" is my motto.

I agree 100% keeps everyone in my tank happy seems like more heavily fed tanks to me any way are more chilled out,not everyone getting crazy over food AND territories.

[JoeDigiorgio]

Joe, I also had good luck with algagen's decap'd brine. Makes a great "squirt a pipette into the tank" quick feeding in the mornings before I go into work.

Totally! I love it. I got one of those Hatch 'n Feeders too so I can just release bbs slowly during busy weeks once I start my new job.

 

This dragonet tank I'm getting ready to stock here soon is filtered only by ZooMed PowerSweeps with sponges over the intakes. No sump or anything, just sponges, macros and biological, plus big water changes...so uneaten cysts will just hatch and feed the pipes (and possibly dwarf seahorses) while the cysts on the bottom are appreciated by the dragonets and amphipods I've stocked already.

 

The tank just got its first residents today, a proven pair of banggai. Once the mandarins in quarantine are clean and clear, they'll meet the already quarantined spotted pair I have living with my baby clowns and all go in together. Very excited about all of these fish and the breeding possibilities.

[Nstocks]

I'm happy to report that Mr. Mandy is finally eating!

 

I bought some Lobster eggs and put some in a shot glass. Within minutes he was popping his head in and out, really cute

 

 

[JoeDigiorgio]

I'm happy to report that Mr. Mandy is finally eating!

 

I bought some Lobster eggs and put some in a shot glass. Within minutes he was popping his head in and out, really cute

 

 

Awesome news. Once he's confident with your feeding strategy and routine, start mixing in frozen adult brineshrimp and eventually mysis.

[pgrVII]

So joe,I put an algae sheet in the other day before work,I was suprised to find the ruby would take passes at it,before the angel chased him away

[JoeDigiorgio]

So joe,I put an algae sheet in the other day before work,I was suprised to find the ruby would take passes at it,before the angel chased him away

I love rubies because they are so easy to feed lol

 

My mandarins in quarantine are looking great! Fewer and fewer bumps on my male and everyone is looking healthy and chunky! About 10 more days and hopefully into the display for breeding!!

 

Speaking of the display, I put a pair f cardinals in there without quarantine because they came from a friends house and were spawning there so I took the gamble. I'm an idiot. Both have cloudy eyes. Gotta get that sorted out now too. FML.

[rafastank727]

Got this ruby 2 months ago.

[JoeDigiorgio]

Little update:

 

My sick mandarins in quarantine are looking absolutely amazing. Tonight they get their last 7day chloroquine dose and they'll be medically cleared.

 

Did you sense a 'BUT' coming on? Because there is.

 

I acquired a spawning pair of banggai last week, skipped quarantine like a real idiot, and put them straight into the new display I made for the mandarins. Should have been a sure bet that they'd be fine. They came from a healthy looking tank where they'd been spawning successfully for some time. "It'll be fine" I said. "They're clean" I said.

 

Both are dead. They almost immediately came down with cloudy eyes and heavy breathing. No other fish had ever been in the tank and it was cycled for 5 weeks. Now I'm stuck. Either drain, dry and start over or run fallow for 2 months or more. Dilemma. I want my mandarins out of quarantine so I can get another set of rubies to quarantine. This is yet another a huge set back.

[pgrVII]

Sorry bout the string of bad luck joe :/

[JoeDigiorgio]

So I have a theory. I said before that both banggai were dead. I exaggerated. One was actually alive but knocking on deaths door when I wrote that and I had planned to euthanize him.

 

He was removed from the tank and placed into a fishbowl and pickled in quick cure over night with his mate in a last ditch effort to save them. She died that night and he looked terrible so I counted him out. That morning I replaced all the water in the bowl with new salt water and went to work. That was a few days ago. I haven't fed him in there yet but he actually looks vastly improved today. Not saying he's clean and clear but a single overnight in formalin wouldn't cure a fish.

 

The theory now is that there really was no disease present but that there is something off in the new tank that caused some sort of illness. The guy I got them from still has no signs of disease in his tank and to be honest this tank here never got crystal clear even after cycling for 6 weeks now. It's hazy when I look at it. Instead of drying and restarting, I'm going to do a 100% water change and put a fluval canister filter on it to act as a media reactor. I'm going to do a chemical scrub on the tank with carbon, gfo and purigen for a week or two and then return the hopefully still living cardinal and observe and report. If he does well for another week or two from then, I'll add in my mandarins and continue to pray. Updates to come.

[metrokat]

So I have a theory. I said before that both banggai were dead. I exaggerated. One was actually alive but knocking on deaths door when I wrote that and I had planned to euthanize him.

 

He was removed from the tank and placed into a fishbowl and pickled in quick cure over night with his mate in a last ditch effort to save them. She died that night and he looked terrible so I counted him out. That morning I replaced all the water in the bowl with new salt water and went to work. That was a few days ago. I haven't fed him in there yet but he actually looks vastly improved today. Not saying he's clean and clear but a single overnight in formalin wouldn't cure a fish.

 

The theory now is that there really was no disease present but that there is something off in the new tank that caused some sort of illness. The guy I got them from still has no signs of disease in his tank and to be honest this tank here never got crystal clear even after cycling for 6 weeks now. It's hazy when I look at it. Instead of drying and restarting, I'm going to do a 100% water change and put a fluval canister filter on it to act as a media reactor. I'm going to do a chemical scrub on the tank with carbon, gfo and purigen for a week or two and then return the hopefully still living cardinal and observe and report. If he does well for another week or two from then, I'll add in my mandarins and continue to pray. Updates to come.

My thoughts are silicone poisoning on reading this. Where did the tank come from? Was it used for anything else or had problems prior to you experiencing fish problems in it?

[JoeDigiorgio]

Nope. This is the tank I had my caribbean biotope in that I broke down specifically for this project. It held fish just fine for over a year prior to this.

[pokerdobe]

So my clowns started spawning and my male mandarin has discovered cast off clown eggs... He likes them to the point it seems like he is ignoring his usual food?

 

How do I bring him back to what he was eating before?

[JoeDigiorgio]

So my clowns started spawning and my male mandarin has discovered cast off clown eggs... He likes them to the point it seems like he is ignoring his usual food?

 

How do I bring him back to what he was eating before?

He'll eat his regular foods again once he can't fill his belly with other options anymore. Consider it a good thing lol clownfish eggs are highly nutritious. Maybe if he likes those a lot you can get him to eat the frozen capelin roe products that are out there and cheap.

[pokerdobe]

He'll eat his regular foods again once he can't fill his belly with other options anymore. Consider it a good thing lol clownfish eggs are highly nutritious. Maybe if he likes those a lot you can get him to eat the frozen capelin roe products that are out there and cheap.

 

Any recs as to where to get them, undyed?

[pgrVII]

Love this thread so helpful on a finicky fish

[metrokat]

 

Any recs as to where to get them, undyed?

Dr Gs has reef caviar, Ocean nutrition has ROE.

Doc eco eggs also is an egg product.

I buy roe from the japanese supermarket and rinse and soak the portion i am about to feed for a little while to get the dye out.