The most expensive fish ever....Mandarin Dragonette

[fishez4alivin]

When I first started the tank, it was going to be a team effort between the wife and myself....so when I decided it was time to buy our first fish, she came along. While I was choosing which B&W Clownfish I wanted, she decided on a Mandarin Dragonette. She got it bagged before I had a chance to tell her no....I explained all the reasons for not getting it...small tank...not established...live food eater..copepods...the lfs employee says,. don't worry, we sell copepods...When she heard that it was all over, just buy it the food....The bottle was 20.00 for around 250 copepods.

 

I knew my BC14 was teeming with pods, they were swarming the live rock and all over the back and side walls. But I also remember reading about how mandarins graze feed and how they would wipe all your pods out.

 

So the journey begins...I tried everything, frozen, hatching brine shrimp....nothing worked, he was very content grazing amongst the rockwork picking away. By the end of the first week, it was obvious the pod population was diminishing by the lack of them on the sides of the tank.....So I went and bought 6 bottles of tiggerpods and tossed 1/2 in the BC and the other half in the refugium of my 33 Oceanic. No predators in the Oceanic, I was going to let it cycle for a few more weeks. So every week I would go and buy 120.00 worth of tiggerpods and put half in one and the other 1/2 in the other tank. I knew the Mandarin was doing well because he had a caved belly when we got him, and his belly seemed pretty filled up now.

 

Well fast forward to today. I was looking at him and he is actually got a fat belly, where it's hanging, I really noticed him grazing and eating, non stop...it's the way the fish eat, non stop grazing when the lights are on. I had the pow wow with the wife and she just loves the fish, she loves how it hovers upside down and picks the rocks for food. The fish swims happily with two B&W clownfish and that will be all I have in the 33G. He is definitely an expensive and high maintenance animal, but I made a promise to do everything I could to keep him very happy and healthy.

 

So here is the cost run down for myself to keep this fish, feeding him the food he was designed to eat. I bought him on 12/28, and he is very happy right now, very round and fat, but for a price, so far I have spent 470.00 in tiggerpods for the thing, but good news, I also found this supplier who sell tiggerpods for 129.99 for a 30,000 ct quart. I ordered it from him and will find out if its the real deal...supposedly they are gut loaded pods So the Mandarin Dragonette is the fish that keeps on spending....as of today 599.00 for around two months ...however, I probably wont need to keep purchasing the pods like before, I haven't bought any this week, and he is happily munching away aS we speak...if you want to buy pods in bulk this is the best price I found its at Oceanpro Aquatics, Inc....we'll see when I get them how great of a deal they are...So if anyone asks if they can put one in their nano tank, refer them to this thread.

 

It is obvious to me that the fish doesn't eat the big red tiggerpods, he eats their offspring, so tiggerpods aren't the immediate answer, you have to stock and stock until they begin to reproduce, and you start getting a population that the fish can eat. He is small, ~1.25", and I've seen him graze over the big pods, and then he picks and eats something I can't see. Hopefully I have enough spawners to keep up with his feeding habits.

 

The above price doesn't include a brine shrimp breeder, and premium eggs, the oyster eggs, flying fish roe, selcon soaked brine shrimp, after trying to get him to feed on all the above along with formula 2, flake, and getting a "wtf is that you're serving me look" I came to the conclusion, that "our" fish wasn't trainable.

[Shortie]

Wow.

 

Does the fish make you coffee in the morning or anything?

 

Love is expensive.

[121a]

Why would you keep it? If it is costing you so much money? You could have got metal halides, a skimmer, and an ATO for that price. Or hell you could have upped to a 150g tank and then after a year get a mandarian.

[masterbuilder]

Why would you keep it? If it is costing you so much money? You could have got metal halides, a skimmer, and an ATO for that price. Or hell you could have upped to a 150g tank and then after a year get a mandarian.

 

 

Maybe he likes a small tank with a Mandarin, although he is trying to blame it on his wife (the oldest trick in the book). If he can afford it, why not? I guess the same reason you have a custom starfire tank, T-5, icecap, custom sump, super cool ato, hydor's, custom stand, throwing away T-5 for MH, skimmers, etc...... because you like it.

 

Mark

 

p.s. nice tank 121

[fishez4alivin]

Why would you keep it? If it is costing you so much money? You could have got metal halides, a skimmer, and an ATO for that price. Or hell you could have upped to a 150g tank and then after a year get a mandarian.

 

I have metal halides a skimmer and ATO, but I don't have room for a 150 or want to spend the money to get it running right now, I did it because my wife likes the fish, and compared to mother hobby of sportfishing....boat...offshore rods/reels/tackle....it is relatively nothing in comparison. And I have to think that when I drop that shipment of 30,000 copepods in the refugium, I won't have to worry for awhile...500-600 for a couple of months is nothing, a crackhead smokes that up in a day, then has to prostitute their mouth for sunday's fix...btw..if I took it back to the lfs, it would have met it's demise...big super aquarium store..get resold to someone who didn't hve the means and let it get eaten by their CUC

[syntax_error]

May be this might help you.

[JonathanS]

When I first started the tank, it was going to be a team effort between the wife and myself....so when I decided it was time to buy our first fish, she came along. While I was choosing which B&W Clownfish I wanted, she decided on a Mandarin Dragonette. She got it bagged before I had a chance to tell her no....I explained all the reasons for not getting it...small tank...not established...live food eater..copepods...the lfs employee says,. don't worry, we sell copepods...When she heard that it was all over, just buy it the food....The bottle was 20.00 for around 250 copepods...I knew my BC14 was teeming with pods, they were swarming the live rock and all over the back and side walls. But I also remember reading about how mandarins graze feed and how they would wipe all your pods out....So the journey begins...I tried everything, frozen, hatching brine shrimp....nothing worked, he was very content grazing amongst the rockwork picking away. By the end of the first week, it was obvious the pod population was diminishing by the lack of them on the sides of the tank.....So I went and bought 6 bottles of tiggerpods and tossed 1/2 in the BC and the other half in the refugium of my 33 Oceanic. No predators in the Oceanic, I was going to let it cycle for a few more weeks. So every week I would go and buy 120.00 worth of tiggerpods and put half in one and the other 1/2 in the other tank. I knew the Mandarin was doing well because he had a caved belly when we got him, and his belly seemed pretty filled up now. Well fast forward to today. I was looking at him and he is actually got a fat belly, where it's hanging, I really noticed him grazing and eating, non stop...it's the way the fish eat, non stop grazzing when the lights are on. I had the pow wow with the wife and she just loves the fish, she loves how it hovers upside down and picks the rocks for food. The fish swims happily with two B&W clownfish and that will be all I have in the 33G. He is definitely an expensive and high maintenance animal, but I made a promise to do everything I could to keep him very happy and healthy...so the time I've had this guy was like 12/28, and he is very happy right now, very round and fat, but for a price, so far I have spent 470.00 in tiggerpods for the thing, but good news, I also found this supplier who sell tiggerpods for 129.99 for a 30,000 ct quart. I ordered it from him and will find out if its the real deal...supposedly they are gut loaded pods So the Mandarin Dragonette is the fish that keeps on spending....as of today 599.00 for around two months ...however, I probably wont need to keep purchasing the pods like before, I haven't bought any this week, and he is happily munching away aS we speak...if you want to buy pods in bulk this is the best price I found its at Oceanpro Aquatics, Inc....we'll see when I get them how great of a deal they are...

nice story

[Ryan_H]

I won't have to worry for awhile...500-600 for a couple of months is nothing

 

if i promise to be your friend, will you send me a check for $500 every month?

 

good job taking such good care of it though.

 

try soaking frozen mysis shrimp in garlic guard by seachem and some marine zoe by kent. that's how i've gotten most mandarins that come through my store to eat frozen. he will still need a lot of copepods to make up the bulk of his diet, but the frozen will help a little.

[nanoty]

When I first started the tank, it was going to be a team effort between the wife and myself....so when I decided it was time to buy our first fish, she came along. While I was choosing which B&W Clownfish I wanted, she decided on a Mandarin Dragonette. She got it bagged before I had a chance to tell her no....I explained all the reasons for not getting it...small tank...not established...live food eater..copepods...the lfs employee says,. don't worry, we sell copepods...When she heard that it was all over, just buy it the food....The bottle was 20.00 for around 250 copepods...I knew my BC14 was teeming with pods, they were swarming the live rock and all over the back and side walls. But I also remember reading about how mandarins graze feed and how they would wipe all your pods out....So the journey begins...I tried everything, frozen, hatching brine shrimp....nothing worked, he was very content grazing amongst the rockwork picking away. By the end of the first week, it was obvious the pod population was diminishing by the lack of them on the sides of the tank.....So I went and bought 6 bottles of tiggerpods and tossed 1/2 in the BC and the other half in the refugium of my 33 Oceanic. No predators in the Oceanic, I was going to let it cycle for a few more weeks. So every week I would go and buy 120.00 worth of tiggerpods and put half in one and the other 1/2 in the other tank. I knew the Mandarin was doing well because he had a caved belly when we got him, and his belly seemed pretty filled up now. Well fast forward to today. I was looking at him and he is actually got a fat belly, where it's hanging, I really noticed him grazing and eating, non stop...it's the way the fish eat, non stop grazzing when the lights are on. I had the pow wow with the wife and she just loves the fish, she loves how it hovers upside down and picks the rocks for food. The fish swims happily with two B&W clownfish and that will be all I have in the 33G. He is definitely an expensive and high maintenance animal, but I made a promise to do everything I could to keep him very happy and healthy...so the time I've had this guy was like 12/28, and he is very happy right now, very round and fat, but for a price, so far I have spent 470.00 in tiggerpods for the thing, but good news, I also found this supplier who sell tiggerpods for 129.99 for a 30,000 ct quart. I ordered it from him and will find out if its the real deal...supposedly they are gut loaded pods So the Mandarin Dragonette is the fish that keeps on spending....as of today 599.00 for around two months ...however, I probably wont need to keep purchasing the pods like before, I haven't bought any this week, and he is happily munching away aS we speak...if you want to buy pods in bulk this is the best price I found its at Oceanpro Aquatics, Inc....we'll see when I get them how great of a deal they are...

 

 

 

I'd like to read it but I have a fear of huge paragraphs.

[andrewkw]

another cheaper option for you would be to buy macro from reefers, some will probably even give it to you for free. It will be more time consuming but I know every time I take a bunch of cheato out I can shake out dozens if not 100s of pods.

[nanoty]

Thought your fish was expensive.

[DogfoodEnforcer]

my gf really wants a mandarin. after she saw the one in my dad's tank in bangkok she wanted one even more. everytime we see one at the LFS she's all, "awwww....look at it...it's so cute...when can you get one?"

luckily once she learned that they need pods to eat, and that not many of them will eat frozen foods, she backed off, but still wants one.

 

my suggestion to her? let me get a bigger tank. that went down like a fart in a spacesuit.

[KEdwards]

This is a good one to link noobs to when they ask about dragonettes. It can be done, but really.....its no joke or simple undertaking. I've got mine in a tiny tray and he is eating frozen stuff like a champ, but its attached to our giant reef. I dont know how well this is going to work in a tiny system with all that dead stuff flying around..... this guy did it the ONLY way it really should be responsibly done in a nano. Congrats!

 

 

....... but you do spend in one month more than it costs to maintain a horse for half a year! So much for "eating like a horse" try "eating like a F$%#%^&* dragonet"

 

What you've done is crazy in an admirable kind of way!

[fishez4alivin]

This is a good one to link noobs to when they ask about dragonettes. It can be done, but really.....its no joke or simple undertaking. I've got mine in a tiny tray and he is eating frozen stuff like a champ, but its attached to our giant reef. I dont know how well this is going to work in a tiny system with all that dead stuff flying around..... this guy did it the ONLY way it really should be responsibly done in a nano. Congrats!

 

 

....... but you do spend in one month more than it costs to maintain a horse for half a year! So much for "eating like a horse" try "eating like a F$%#%^&* dragonet"

 

What you've done is crazy in an admirable kind of way!

I am prepared to do it but the reason I posted was that for the last week and a half, I haven't added any tiggerpods, because he hasn't slowed down on grazing....I always could tell he was getting low, because he would have to graze all over, and I wouldn't see him picking, just looking. I felt I had finally stocked enough adult pods to keep the mandarin fed. For the first time, I noticed that he was contantly picking, the sand, the rockwork, just cruising around and I mean constantly eating..not in spurts, but he would just pick and pick the whole time I watched him. My mandarin is small, I have yet to actually see any pod he eats, he eats the little baby pods, not the big red adult tiggerpods I buy. I am hoping that after I seed the fuge with 30,000 pods, that I will be good for awhile, like I said, if he starts grazing but not picking, it means it's time to dump more pods. The tank isn't very old, I have it running for over two months, but from the first day I have been giving it weekly shots of 3 bottles of tiggerpods. Trust me, it was well worth showing the wife how much her mandarin has cost to keep him healthy. I will try to get a good picture of him, because I'm proud of his fat beer gut,

[fishez4alivin]

another cheaper option for you would be to buy macro from reefers, some will probably even give it to you for free. It will be more time consuming but I know every time I take a bunch of cheato out I can shake out dozens if not 100s of pods.

I have a football sized wad of it in my fuge, that is swarming with pods, small mysis etc...I have been dumping pods in there, and I believe the numbers are getting to a sustainable level...I will dump the 30,000 pods this week, and keep monitoring his feeding. I'm sure I have a record number of pods in a total 45 gallon system, thats a lil over 2 months old. I'm hoping that will be the end of the expense. The only time he stops eating is when he buries himself when the lights go out.

[BlackSumbel]

Dude... Order the "Snickn shrimp" from Noni at Seawater express. http://www.seawaterexpress.com/

[masterbuilder]

I checked out that place. Looks cool. Might be hard for a Mandarin to eat a 2.5" shrimp.

[HecticDialectics]

Why not add a big refugium? For $500 a month, you can afford to have your Oceanic drilled... and if it breaks during drilling, have it drilled again, and perhaps even a third and fourth time before breaking even.

 

Check out this for an example

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/totm/index.php

[fishez4alivin]

Why not add a big refugium? For $500 a month, you can afford to have your Oceanic drilled... and if it breaks during drilling, have it drilled again, and perhaps even a third and fourth time before breaking even.

 

Check out this for an example

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/totm/index.php

My tank is drilled, and the refuge is the biggest one I can have where the tank is located. I can't have some huge rubbermaid with a clip on light sitting between the tank and my plasma. Anyway, I am planning a new tank, it will be 36x24x16 and I will use a 40G for the fuge.

 

The tank was too new to buy the fish, the pod population wasn't established enough. I sped up the timeframe by weekly stockings of the tiggerpods. It seems that because of this, the tank has finally gotten enough reproduction that the fish is happily grazing and eating throughout the daylight hours.

 

I hardly think that I will have to keep spending ~250 a month to keep him happy, but I can't be sure, like I stated, I haven't had to stock anything the last week and a half, because he has gotten fatter, and there seems to be no shortage "of the sized pods" he prefers to eat. The only reason I just bought the 30,000 pods is to give the system one huge dose of pods, hopefully keeping the pod population at a state that I will never need to worry about the fish again. And that is what i have always wanted to create for the fish.

 

I know this was way over the top, but having a Mandarin in a huge reeftank isn't as enjoyable as having one in a 30G, because he doesn't get lost in the rockwork, we can enjoy him everyday, whenever we want to. In a large system, the fish could be lost in the massiveness of the system, and you would only get short glimpses of him.

 

And really once I get the population to the point that they can reproduce in numbers that will naturally sustain this fish. I won't have to buy another thing for him.

[HecticDialectics]

And really once I get the population to the point that they can reproduce in numbers that will naturally sustain this fish. I won't have to buy another thing for him.

 

 

The problem with this is whether or not your tank can support the level of pods necessary to naturally sustain the fish. Is there a mass of algae and food for the pods? You gotta remember, it's a complete bio-system. Your tank can only support so many pods to start off with.

 

I just don't understand how you can claim to throw so much money at this fish, but not spend a smaller percentage of that money to just set it up right in the first place. That new tank sounds like it's going to be pretty sweet though, nice dimensions.

[fishez4alivin]

The problem with this is whether or not your tank can support the level of pods necessary to naturally sustain the fish. Is there a mass of algae and food for the pods? You gotta remember, it's a complete bio-system. Your tank can only support so many pods to start off with.

 

I just don't understand how you can claim to throw so much money at this fish, but not spend a smaller percentage of that money to just set it up right in the first place. That new tank sounds like it's going to be pretty sweet though, nice dimensions.

 

I understand what you are saying, what I have a 4" DSB with a bunch of Chaeto...the size of a football in the fuge, I started leaving the fuge light on 24/7, and started getting a little better growth. It's swarming with mysis and various copepods. That is another point I understand, the fact that I could have saved the money and set it up right the first time. To tell you the truth, I have a bunch of time off right now, but soon will be very busy, and I felt in the past couple of months, I could train the fish to feed on frozen. But everything I tried,,,I used a breeder net and had him in it trying to get him to feed....tried Selcon soaked brine shrimp, then I hatched brine shrimp, all the frozen foods available from formula 2 to finely chopped mysis, cyclopeeze, the list goes on. And I never saw it eat. His belly was not there and his lateral line was pronounced, so I let him out of the breeder net and he swam into the rockwork.

 

I kept as a habit, stocking the fuge with a few bottles of pods.

It just added up, and the other day I became aware of it. When I realized how much I had spent on food for him, and how much effort, I considered taking him to a smaller LFS nearby, and letting them have it for their huge display. I think some people get these fish and want to take them back, but when it comes time to collect them out of the tank its really tough. They are pretty fast and can dive into the sandbed at lightning fast speeds.

 

The only reason I even posted this was because even after the sticker shock of adding the receipts, when I saw him vigorously picking the rock, and saw how low his belly hung and how wide he is on the sides, I was pretty pumped up...

 

 

The problem with this is whether or not your tank can support the level of pods necessary to naturally sustain the fish. Is there a mass of algae and food for the pods? You gotta remember, it's a complete bio-system. Your tank can only support so many pods to start off with.

 

Yeah I turn the skimmer off for a couple of hours and feed the fuge phytoplankton

[dan3949]

Any update on the pod population? How did the large batch of pods work out?

[KEdwards]

any luck feeding frozen?

[fishez4alivin]

Any update on the pod population? How did the large batch of pods work out?

 

 

I haven't stocked the tank with anymore pods since that last batch. The fish is still so fat, her belly is so fat and tight, you'd think she was carrying eggs. Just constant grazing of the rockwork, and with no interest in eating frozen. My refugium is teeming with all different sized pods, every surface is moving with life, it's actually kind of nasty, like swarming ants., I monitor the Mandarin, to keep an eye on any signs of weight loss, if I see any indication of weight loss, I will get more pods. But so far, the fish has gotten wider, I mean from the head, along the sides, she is a solid brick of a fish, recently I noticed her tail really starting to fatten up, she is in outstanding condition.

[juin21]

I haven't stocked the tank with anymore pods since that last batch. The fish is still so fat, her belly is so fat and tight, you'd think she was carrying eggs. Just constant grazing of the rockwork, and with no interest in eating frozen. My refugium is teeming with all different sized pods, every surface is moving with life, it's actually kind of nasty, like swarming ants., I monitor the Mandarin, to keep an eye on any signs of weight loss, if I see any indication of weight loss, I will get more pods. But so far, the fish has gotten wider, I mean from the head, along the sides, she is a solid brick of a fish, recently I noticed her tail really starting to fatten up, she is in outstanding condition.

 

The Mandarin is what started my obsession............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have not gotten one.