Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[metrokat]

She ate live brine today. I had to throw the rest out. My R2G order is shipping today so in the meantime I have BBS ready to feed. Yesterday she was interested in the OVA I fed Draco and she may have had some of that plus frozen copepods but only by accident. They are still not hanging out together but I did notice that they ate in the same general area (only because it had the food) as opposed to avoiding each other at meal times. I guess the way to the heart is through the stomach as they say.

[Nanoboss4]

She ate live brine today. I had to throw the rest out. My R2G order is shipping today so in the meantime I have BBS ready to feed. Yesterday she was interested in the OVA I fed Draco and she may have had some of that plus frozen copepods but only by accident. They are still not hanging out together but I did notice that they ate in the same general area (only because it had the food) as opposed to avoiding each other at meal times. I guess the way to the heart is through the stomach as they say.

Are you going to train her? if so, im following, thinking about trying to train a scooter dragonet sometime soon:)

[metrokat]

Are you going to train her? if so, im following, thinking about trying to train a scooter dragonet sometime soon:)

I have to, I don't have a choice and I refuse to loose sleep over her wondering if she's got pods to eat or not.

 

When I first got Draco I was really worried and he came to me eating frozen so go figure. But I started a Tisbe culture for 3 months for him.

 

Old picture of Draco

[JoeDigiorgio]

What is that low growing macro under Draco in that pic!? I love it!

[Nanoboss4]

Good luck, hopefully she'll learn from Draco:)

[metrokat]

What is that low growing macro under Draco in that pic!? I love it!

It is a caulerpa variety, not prolifera as the leaves are small but puts out runners. Easy to peel off rocks. I can send you some.

[JoeDigiorgio]

I'd love some! But unfortunately I have to hold off for a couple of weeks because I just wiped out my Paypal account on pods, macros and some frags LOL

 

Im always shocked at how plump they get when they are offered live artemia. They all have that uncomfortably full appearance to them right now lol The female picturatus, I call Ms Piggie, looks like a marble.

 

PS Kat are you able to track your shipment from R2G? My tracking number comes up empty. This has happened before and everything turned out to be fine, just curious.

 

 

 

 

[Jstn]

I have to, I don't have a choice and I refuse to loose sleep over her wondering if she's got pods to eat or not.

 

When I first got Draco I was really worried and he came to me eating frozen so go figure. But I started a Tisbe culture for 3 months for him.

 

Old picture of Draco

 

When I got my female she was scary skinny, after a week of getting acclimated she learned from my male very fast. I find the females smarter than the males when it comes to training, I would not be terrible concerned, but pods are great insurance.

[JoeDigiorgio]

I've definitely noticed that female mandarins are quicker learned than males too. It seems like females just figure it out on their own while males make you work for it lol

[metrokat]

I'd love some! But unfortunately I have to hold off for a couple of weeks because I just wiped out my Paypal account on pods, macros and some frags LOL

 

Im always shocked at how plump they get when they are offered live artemia. They all have that uncomfortably full appearance to them right now lol The female picturatus, I call Ms Piggie, looks like a marble.

 

PS Kat are you able to track your shipment from R2G? My tracking number comes up empty. This has happened before and everything turned out to be fine, just curious.

 

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Ms. Piggie looks amazing, her color is beautiful. Yes I am able to track my shipment, it arrives tomorrow, although tracking right now shows this for yesterday. Usually there is like a minute by minute update but it's stuck at:

10:37 pm

At local FedEx facility

TAMPA, FL

 

Also, the BBS culture crashed, left it in too long I thought I could "grow" them, boy was I wrong. so I've got 24 hours with no live foods. Bella is happily zooming around in a few corners of the tank, mostly the back where Draco also hangs out. They did not sleep together last night but at least he is not darting at her fins flared up. I hope they're not going to ignore each other for too much longer.

[metrokat]

Okay. I take that back, he's still charging at her.

[Nanoboss4]

does it look like hes trying to harm her?

[oldSWseamomma]

Kat I have been following this topic like a soap opera ! I hope Draco finds Bella irresistible ! :0) I brought home a red mandarin about 2 mths ago and it was eating brine, pellets, just about anything I would put near it and doing great until my Coral Beauty decided he didn't like him and killed him about 5 days after I brought him home ! ugh! I should have known better than to have a Coral Beauty in a 35 gal anyway it just took over all the LR. To say the least the Coral Beauty found a home in my friends 125 gal and is low man on the pecking order list now. I have been thinking about going back to my wonderful LFS and getting another mandarin as they won't sell one unless it's eating and also not just to anyone. You have really given me hope that I can have another one. The other 5 fish in my tank come out more now that the wicked CB witchy fish is gone so maybe it's time to try again. I'm also going to start up an Oceanic 14g biocube - maybe I should wait until that tank is 6 mths old and then just have one Mandarin in that ? Any advice? My current tank is an RSM130D.

[metrokat]

Bella looked at frozen copepods today. Cocked her head this way and that. Silly fish.

Kat I have been following this topic like a soap opera ! I hope Draco finds Bella irresistible ! :0) I brought home a red mandarin about 2 mths ago and it was eating brine, pellets, just about anything I would put near it and doing great until my Coral Beauty decided he didn't like him and killed him about 5 days after I brought him home ! ugh! I should have known better than to have a Coral Beauty in a 35 gal anyway it just took over all the LR. To say the least the Coral Beauty found a home in my friends 125 gal and is low man on the pecking order list now. I have been thinking about going back to my wonderful LFS and getting another mandarin as they won't sell one unless it's eating and also not just to anyone. You have really given me hope that I can have another one. The other 5 fish in my tank come out more now that the wicked CB witchy fish is gone so maybe it's time to try again. I'm also going to start up an Oceanic 14g biocube - maybe I should wait until that tank is 6 mths old and then just have one Mandarin in that ? Any advice? My current tank is an RSM130D.

If you get one that is eating then any tank is a good one IMO. Seed with pods before you get the mandy home.

does it look like hes trying to harm her?

No, he just charges at her.

[oldSWseamomma]

Will do ! Thanks ! I think I'm going to try putting it in my RSM again now that the bully fish is outta there :0)

[JoeDigiorgio]

Okay. I take that back, he's still charging at her.

She will let you know without question if his behavior is getting to be too much. The fact that she's out and about and going about normal business is all that matters. Have you tried frozen brine yet? I can't wait to hear how it goes.

 

My pods came today BTW! Im always impressed with what they send for the price. I was bouncing around LFSs today and obviously forgot to buy black worms when I saw a handsome male picturatus that matched Ms Piggie's size perfectly. Who could resist at $10!?

 

 

 

 

And the pods settled in:

 

[metrokat]

How did you get pods before I did?! Did you pay for faster shipping?

[JoeDigiorgio]

I probably got them first because they are based out of Clearwater, Fl, only like 2 and a half hours from me. I usually get in state packages the next day when using priority shipping.

[Nanoboss4]

I love the new picturatus:) is he eating frozen? Did you name him yet?

[JoeDigiorgio]

Haven't fed him yet. When I got home with him, the pods box was there too. The excitement of hunting down live food took like 3 hours to die down so everyone stayed pretty full without feeding. I'll keep everyone posted. Picturatus usually take to frozen with little or no effort on my part, unlike splendidus.

[metrokat]

My pods arrived. Boy these amphipods are huge, not sure little bella will be able to fit them in her mouth but I threw a good amount in the tank and the rest in the fuge. I hate amphipods. My designer zoanthids are in mortal danger.

[Tamberav]

My pods arrived. Boy these amphipods are huge, not sure little bella will be able to fit them in her mouth but I threw a good amount in the tank and the rest in the fuge. I hate amphipods. My designer zoanthids are in mortal danger.

 

My mandarin is pretty small and I am surprised by what he fits in his mouth. Giant pods seem to be no problem.. he once even mistakenly grabbed a snail half buried in the sand.. he had a very surprised look on his face once he pulled it out of the sand.

[JoeDigiorgio]

Did you put the sponges they came on in the fuge or remove them from the pads first? It was massacre when I dumped them in my tank. Poor pods lol attacked from all directions, the cards from above and the mandarins from below. It was almost hard to watch LOL

 

Those sponges are filled with little tiny baby amphipods too. And you'd be surprised what an excited hunting mandarin will take down lol and those huge ones that really are just too big are your breeding reserve. Miss Piggie was chewing on one for a solid 2 minutes! You'll probably never need to buy them again though

[metrokat]

2nd batch of BBS also crashed. So I separated the eggs from the salt in the 3rd batch and it's percolating. sigh. When are they going to be buddies so that she can learn?! I don;t have frozen brine to feed her, only frozen mysis and Draco doesn't eat those. I will try it later.

Did you put the sponges they came on in the fuge or remove them from the pads first? It was massacre when I dumped them in my tank. Poor pods lol attacked from all directions, the cards from above and the mandarins from below. It was almost hard to watch LOL

Those sponges are filled with little tiny baby amphipods too. And you'd be surprised what an excited hunting mandarin will take down lol and those huge ones that really are just too big are your breeding reserve. Miss Piggie was chewing on one for a solid 2 minutes! You'll probably never need to buy them again though

I swirled the sponges in the water and let the pods swim out. Fish went crazy. I let the sponges sit in the fuge for a bit and swirled and shook them in there. water was cloudy for sure with pods.

[Nanoboss4]

 

Haven't fed him yet. When I got home with him, the pods box was there too. The excitement of hunting down live food took like 3 hours to die down so everyone stayed pretty full without feeding. I'll keep everyone posted. Picturatus usually take to frozen with little or no effort on my part, unlike splendidus.

really? That's good my first mandarin is going to be picturatus:)