ORA Captive-Bred Red Scooter Dragonet care requirements

Neros503 · Jan 11, 2021

Hello reefers, I've been looking to get a captive bred mandarin for my tank but I've read that scooter dragonets are easier to care for and I found one captive bred by ora. Don't know much about them so I have some questions:
1. How hard are they to keep?
2. From my understanding they are more likely to accept prepared foods than mandarins, true?
3. My current tank is a biocube 29 with refugium in central chamber, is this big enough to supply enough pods?

Sorry for all the questions, couldn't find any info on them. heres where I found them -> https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1500+5141+7227&pcatid=7227

Alchameth · Jan 11, 2021

1. Compared to other nano fish, hard. Feeding is the big challenge.
2. I've heard mixed results, but yes you should have an easier go of them taking other food sources. They are the humming bird of the fish world. They need to eat more frequently compared to other nano fish that are more acceptable in eating once or twice a day.
3. In a word, no. A tank that small will never be able to keep pods going in numbers to sustain a mandarin without supplementing. So, until you are sure it's eating other prepared foods, I've heard baby brine can work for some of the finicky ones, but expect to have to supplement with some reef stew or other means to renew the pods. I'm planning a mandarin in my 140G tank and I'll be cultivating pods to replenish them.

Phil D. · Jan 11, 2021

I kept my mandarin in JBJ 28g Nano cube for 3 years, (he ate frozen), with no issues.

xxkenny90xx · Jan 11, 2021

I would wait until your tank is covered in copapods and then make a baby brine shrimp feeder and supplement with brine shrimp daily. Plus feed frozen food. And maybe have a separate copapod culture going.

So ya, you can get one but it's a very high maintenance fish to keep

Neros503 · Jan 11, 2021

Alchameth said:
1. Compared to other nano fish, hard. Feeding is the big challenge.
2. I've heard mixed results, but yes you should have an easier go of them taking other food sources. They are the humming bird of the fish world. They need to eat more frequently compared to other nano fish that are more acceptable in eating once or twice a day.
3. In a word, no. A tank that small will never be able to keep pods going in numbers to sustain a mandarin without supplementing. So, until you are sure it's eating other prepared foods, I've heard baby brine can work for some of the finicky ones, but expect to have to supplement with some reef stew or other means to renew the pods. I'm planning a mandarin in my 140G tank and I'll be cultivating pods to replenish them.

Thanks for responding, thats what I thought. I'm going to do a lot of thinking and preparing before I decide to get one for now.

Neros503 · Jan 11, 2021

xxkenny90xx said:
I would wait until your tank is covered in copapods and then make a baby brine shrimp feeder and supplement with brine shrimp daily. Plus feed frozen food. And maybe have a separate copapod culture going.

So ya, you can get one but it's a very high maintenance fish to keep

Was planning to culture brine/copepods and hopefully get it to eat frozen, also I've heard that sometimes they'll eat pellet.