Ruby red dragonet starvation

[ItsJustLauren]

Hey guys! 

I have a Ruby red dragonet in my tank and he is the happiest fish, very plump and eating frozen like a champ. He is one of two survivors from the 8 we have had in our store these past few months.

 

The other survivor so far is a little female. I am tempted to take her home as well, since my current one is doing fantastically.

 

I have seen her eat frozen food and she always shows and interest during feeding times but she has to compete with a hoard of emerald crabs to get a bite, and I'm sure everyone knows what slow eaters dragonets can be. 

 

So, I have plenty to feed her and lots of pods for her to snack on and much less competition in my tank at home. However, my question is... Do dragonets all sort of reach a point of no return when it comes to starvation? She has been in the store over 2 months and is eating frozen but still has that sharply sunken gut of a starving fish. Do you think she'd perk up and survive if I brought her home or do you think her fate has been sealed and she's just going to slowly die anyway? I've heard of a lot of people saying once dragonets start to get behind on food it's hard for them to make it since they have too high of a metabolism to make up for the lost meals... 

[Hobbs]

It’s kinda true that some fish reach a point of no return but I think it would be worth trying to save, especially if it eats frozen.  I found this guide a while back that helps with feeding these finicky eaters and although I haven’t tried it yet, people swear by it. The other thing that works really well with mandarins is to put the frozen food in a shot glass or small bowl and turn off all the power heads. I’ve done this and it helps tremendously, they are slow lazy feeders and have a hard time chasing food.

 

http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/diy-target-feeder-mandarinfish-pipefish-2804/

[ItsJustLauren]

The issue with my tank is that it is very deep so if I put food in a glass I probably wouldn't be able to take the glass out very easily haha. I might try taking her home though... I'm sure competing with like a dozen emerald crabs and another fish probably doesn't make things any easier on her so maybe she'll do better with me and my little dude can have a girlfriend c:

[Nart]

I personally think they can be saved. Only if you ensure that it is eating high fat and high protein food.

One thing I learned from Paul B (an expert reefer) is that you can feed them white worms to help plump them up.

 

During my time of keeping a spotted Mandarin in a nano... I was culturing pods and feeding the tank, hatching baby brine shrimp twice a day and loading a feeding device, and feeding it white worms. I was able to plump up the spotted Mandarin, but in the end, it was too much work for me, so I ended up giving it away.

 

Old setup of my tank. Off to the left was my baby brine shrimp feeder device. I would shoot down the baby brine in the tube.

 

And the little pod hotel I had behind the rock.

 

You can also try this method with a glass jar.

Looks like Melev wraps an acrylic piece to it.

 

[Muraki]

I purchased a starving Mandarin from the fish store over a year ago. Could make out a lot of his skeleton. Took 4-8 weeks to train him to frozen, but was feeding him fresh hatched baby brine shrimp at first with excellent success. Afterwards I did what Nart did with a pod hotel to give him a solid hunting ground. Now he eats reef frenzy twice a day with all my other fish. The only point of no return is when they refuse to eat any live foods from my little experience. Just get her fat and keep her fat until she bulks back up. I used mixes of baby brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, live black worms, and frozen mysis to get my mandarin plumped up. 

[Archetype]

I have had luck with Masstick with ruby reds...they just park right next to where you stick the food and just peck at it.  Plus, you can add selcon and other stuff to it to make it more nutritious for them.