new dragonet - Page 2

BLAKEJOHN · 11-06-2009, 11:54 PM

I have a 12oz clear container that I grow pods in. Nothin fancy just water,a little macro algae and feed some flakes to the water every so often. No light no heater and they reproduce every 20 days. So every so often I pour half of it through a coffe filter and the swish the filter in my tank and continue growing more. With this simple dish I have a cloud of with bugs every month. I think Ocean pods was the name on the bottle I started with.

johnmaloney · 11-14-2009, 08:33 PM

should you ever find yourself stuck with a mandarin you don't have pods for...(pod populations can crash, amphipods can displace them, the fish can decimate the population, you could have bought them without knowing what they eat etc...) Most mandarins will eat live blood worms right off the bat. not a long term solution, but something to do in a pinch. if they are in failing health and getting thin, it is usually too late by then.

StirCrayzy · 11-15-2009, 09:50 AM

I would highly recommend making the assumption that you need to supplement the food source no matter what. It is very difficult to keep these fish healthy in most hobby tanks, even with lots of rock.
The only way you will know your pod population is not sufficient is when the fish starts to show its side ridges. By then its usually too late though, and only massive pod feasting will save them by then.
FIRST
Start hatching Baby Brine Shrimp. Maybe they will work maybe not, but you have nothin to lose by trying. Plus most of your other fish will love em anyway.
SECOND
Monitor its eating habits very closely. You should see near constant pecking at the live rock, try to make a diner where you can concentrate the BBS.
Watch for the side ridges, if the fish doesnt look plump, its not getting enough food.
Heres a video of my old mandarin as he was learning to eat BBS. Never once did it go in the tube, but always ate from around it.

MVI 1403 - ReefSpace

11-06-2009, 11:54 PM	#16 (permalink)
BLAKEJOHN Elegance coral Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: KINGSTON, I.L. Posts: 1,073 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: new dragonet I have a 12oz clear container that I grow pods in. Nothin fancy just water,a little macro algae and feed some flakes to the water every so often. No light no heater and they reproduce every 20 days. So every so often I pour half of it through a coffe filter and the swish the filter in my tank and continue growing more. With this simple dish I have a cloud of with bugs every month. I think Ocean pods was the name on the bottle I started with. __________________ 110 gallon acrylic 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Blue Tang, 2 Eng Gobies, 1 Six Line Wrasse, 1 Tomato Clown, 1 Lion fish RBTA, Longspine Urchin, Approx. 200 snails Red Monti, Purple Rim Monti, Leathers, Elegence, Yellow Polyps, various Zoa's, FrogSpawn, Ricordias, Greenbirdsnest, Pink Milli, Blue Milli, Bonzai, unknown Acropora's, Purple Digi, GSP, Bubble Coral, Staghorn, Slimer

11-14-2009, 08:33 PM	#17 (permalink)
johnmaloney Neon dottyback Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 600 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: new dragonet should you ever find yourself stuck with a mandarin you don't have pods for...(pod populations can crash, amphipods can displace them, the fish can decimate the population, you could have bought them without knowing what they eat etc...) Most mandarins will eat live blood worms right off the bat. not a long term solution, but something to do in a pinch. if they are in failing health and getting thin, it is usually too late by then. __________________ Here is a link to my sponsored forum on reefsanctuary. Here is a link to my website, we do clean up crews and macroalgae.

11-15-2009, 09:50 AM	#18 (permalink)
StirCrayzy Tuxedo Urchin Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: East Detroit Posts: 285 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: new dragonet I would highly recommend making the assumption that you need to supplement the food source no matter what. It is very difficult to keep these fish healthy in most hobby tanks, even with lots of rock. The only way you will know your pod population is not sufficient is when the fish starts to show its side ridges. By then its usually too late though, and only massive pod feasting will save them by then. FIRST Start hatching Baby Brine Shrimp. Maybe they will work maybe not, but you have nothin to lose by trying. Plus most of your other fish will love em anyway. SECOND Monitor its eating habits very closely. You should see near constant pecking at the live rock, try to make a diner where you can concentrate the BBS. Watch for the side ridges, if the fish doesnt look plump, its not getting enough food. Heres a video of my old mandarin as he was learning to eat BBS. Never once did it go in the tube, but always ate from around it. MVI 1403 - ReefSpace __________________ Josh, SW 40g tall http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...tml#post666037 60 lbs LR 30" JBJ Dual Actinic/10,000K Eheim Pro2 Prizm HOB w/ custom overflow FW 65g S.American Cichlids Hybrid Paludarium Project http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...aludarium.html Other Critters here http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g4...ayzy/Critters/ Dont complain about anything until you change 25 % every 2 weeks ! Thank you everyone for making mistakes for me!! If you can relate.... your welcome. Last edited by StirCrayzy : 11-15-2009 at 09:51 AM. Reason: video did not embed

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)