How bad of an idea is this, exactly?

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I have a 65 gallon 36" tank, and I was wondering if it would be advisable to add a dragonet, either a mandarin or a ruby red scooter. As my tank is only three months old, I'd wait at least another six months before adding one, of course. I find in my research that people generally have a refugium and at least 50 lbs of rock in order to succeed, though. I have around 40 - 45 lbs of rock total, and no refugium. I could modify my sump and add one in, but I would need to remove my skimmer in order to do that. I don't think that I could culture copepods or hatch brine shrimp for one on a regular basis, my schedule wouldn't allow for live feedings. I am currently only feeding once a day, but I could bump that up to twice if needed. Some of the information that I find suggests that scooter dragonets can go into tanks as small as 30 gallons, but others say their feeding needs are identical to those of a mandarin. Thoughts?

 

[bushdoc]

I have 6 month old mixed reef tank. Recently took a flashlight in the middle of the night and examined bottom and rocks. They were teaming with pods.
Add some pods, they will multiply in your tank and create food source for your mandarin or a ruby red scooter.

 

[slythy]

Id think youd be ok. It might be good to drop some pods in every couple months depending on how they are looking.

 

[Tamberav]

You won't know until you wait. Not every tank can support them, I have seen skinny starving ones in 100g. The pod numbers will stabilize to whatever available food there is. So if you don't feed the tank often, then you may not end up with as many pods unless you have plenty of algae or other stuff for them to eat. The pods literally will cannibalize each other.

I found that adding a bunch of display macro algae really seems to boost their numbers without having to dose phyto.

Please keep in mind there is generally a 'pod bloom' in new tanks... this is due to the influx of food sources like diatoms and such but the numbers tend to die off.

 

[Rickybobby]

If you see pods all over the glass you will know.

 

[i cant think]

I have a 65 gallon 36" tank, and I was wondering if it would be advisable to add a dragonet, either a mandarin or a ruby red scooter. As my tank is only three months old, I'd wait at least another six months before adding one, of course. I find in my research that people generally have a refugium and at least 50 lbs of rock in order to succeed, though. I have around 40 - 45 lbs of rock total, and no refugium. I could modify my sump and add one in, but I would need to remove my skimmer in order to do that. I don't think that I could culture copepods or hatch brine shrimp for one on a regular basis, my schedule wouldn't allow for live feedings. I am currently only feeding once a day, but I could bump that up to twice if needed. Some of the information that I find suggests that scooter dragonets can go into tanks as small as 30 gallons, but others say their feeding needs are identical to those of a mandarin. Thoughts?

I think you’d be okay however I’d stick to the Ruby scooter dragonet just to be safe

 

[srobertb]

I have a 65 gallon 36" tank, and I was wondering if it would be advisable to add a dragonet, either a mandarin or a ruby red scooter. As my tank is only three months old, I'd wait at least another six months before adding one, of course. I find in my research that people generally have a refugium and at least 50 lbs of rock in order to succeed, though. I have around 40 - 45 lbs of rock total, and no refugium. I could modify my sump and add one in, but I would need to remove my skimmer in order to do that. I don't think that I could culture copepods or hatch brine shrimp for one on a regular basis, my schedule wouldn't allow for live feedings. I am currently only feeding once a day, but I could bump that up to twice if needed. Some of the information that I find suggests that scooter dragonets can go into tanks as small as 30 gallons, but others say their feeding needs are identical to those of a mandarin. Thoughts?

“But I have bugs all over the glass!”

We all do (typically). They come and go as your tank balances over the first year or two. Imbalance happens, food goes up, bugs go up, food goes down, bugs go down.

You need a sustainable bug population. Not just a bloom. You can seed your tank, then add food and build up a population.

All that won’t really matter because Many many many (all?) fish will eat bugs. My copperband, peppermint shrimp, I think my Foxface Lo, and my tang will all pick at them. Wrasses, Anemones, and certain crabs too. Everything will happily eat them. Dragonets are the aquariums “C” students and are methodical, slow, and often timid.

Why not look into captive bred dragonets? They do require more work to feed but if you want one, this would be the way to go.

Point of fact: I did keep one in a heavy live rock (gulf live rock) 40B for a long time. He was fat and happy. The kicker was he was the only fish in the tank.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I think you’d be okay however I’d stick to the Ruby scooter dragonet just to be safe

Thanks! Are there any feeding differences between the target mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus) and the regular mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus)? While I do like the ruby red dragonet quite a bit, not much can compete with the patterns that the true mandarin dragonets bring to the table. Would I have better success with one of the true mandarin species if I swapped my skimmer out for a refugium? It would only hold about two gallons, but lots of people say that a refugium makes a huge difference in success. Whichever species I go with, I'd try to find one either captive bred or eating frozen.

 

[i cant think]

Thanks! Are there any feeding differences between the target mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus) and the regular mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus)? While I do like the ruby red dragonet quite a bit, not much can compete with the patterns that the true mandarin dragonets bring to the table. Would I have better success with one of the true mandarin species if I swapped my skimmer out for a refugium? It would only hold about two gallons, but lots of people say that a refugium makes a huge difference in success. Whichever species I go with, I'd try to find one either captive bred or eating frozen.

Honestly, both species have similar care. However, I wouldn’t throw the Ruby off the table in terms of pattern as a healthy, nice sized one does look stunning. And when you say ‘True’ Mandarin Dragonets, all 3 species are the True Mandarin Dragonets we just give them different names.
A refugium makes a difference yes but ideally you’ll want to keep your skimmer as they really are useful.