Ruby Red Dragonet

[Slyler]

I just picked these two up at the LFS yesterday. They are hopping around and seem to hang out together all day and saw them together overnight. I am wondering if they are looking healthy, and if there has been any great luck in training them to eat pellets, or flakes or mysis that I could use. Thanks for all the advice in advance!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

mini mysis, baby brine, brine shrimp and fish eggs. Hopefully there enough bugs and pods in there to keep em going.

 

[Lazys Coral House]

I get these in quite often and 9 out of 10 learn to eat prepared foods unlike mandarians where 1 out of 10 do. They are great hardy fish

 

[Supurderek]

As long as you see them peck at something, I take it as a good sign. If they are just window shopping around, may need to tempt them with the foods listed above!

 

[Slyler]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I have seen one peck at the rock work. Didn't get to watch them as much as I was hoping tonight. Was doing a water change and scraping the glass and hit on my radions and it fell in the tank. Trying to dry that out has taken most of my time tonight. Hopefully it dries out more overnight as it doesn't seem to want to work yet.

 

[Supurderek]

You can take it apart fairly easy and place in rice. You may have to wait a few weeks. Hopefully salt didn't get exposed to terminals on the board. It may start to work but corrosion may set in quickly.

 

[becks]

Mine eats frozen, as soon as my feeding tube to spot feed her enters the water she swims over, or if my hand is in the tank she comes over too. I still have a good pod population which i also top up and add phytoplankton. Mine arrived with a pinched stomach and she is now getting fat and she gets a bf end of the week.

 

[eatbreakfast]

They'll usually take frozen, but are less eager to take flakes or pellets.

 

[becks]

Oh I spot feed mine twice a day and sometimes three times if I'm home

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You can take it apart fairly easy and place in rice. You may have to wait a few weeks. Hopefully salt didn't get exposed to terminals on the board. It may start to work but corrosion may set in quickly.

Electronic contact cleaner
Bummer.

 

[MaiReef]

mini mysis, baby brine, brine shrimp and fish eggs. Hopefully there enough bugs and pods in there to keep em going.

+1

 

[Harris3005]

I managed to get my mandarin dragonet to eat normal pellets, I made a secluded section for him in the back corner of my tank and now whenever he's hungry I see him swimming up and down in the corner waiting for me to drop some in. I do have a huge pod population that he eats too but he likes pellets at least once a day. I have a video of him eating them but not sure how to upload it!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I managed to get my mandarin dragonet to eat normal pellets, I made a secluded section for him in the back corner of my tank and now whenever he's hungry I see him swimming up and down in the corner waiting for me to drop some in. I do have a huge pod population that he eats too but he likes pellets at least once a day. I have a video of him eating them but not sure how to upload it!

Like cats the mandy's are!
Well done.

 

[Harris3005]

Thanks! This might sound crazy but I'm sure the reflection of himself from the glass in his corner has made a difference, he'll chase his own reflection for a while before eating them usually. Maybe worried about competition and another male stealing them first? I'm probably overthinking it and I just got lucky though!

Edit: I uploaded a wee video of him eating the pellets of anyone would like to see it:

 

[Adamc13o3]

That's awesome!

 

[Slyler]

Thank you for the video! that is amazing! The Mandarins are awesome, I had researched the Ruby red and heard they were a little hardier and wold accept pellets or frozen easier so I went with them instead. Your Mandarin is beautiful!

 

[danschoenherr]

I've had 2 pairs of the Ruby Red Dragonets and they have been great to have in my tanks. I had them eating frozen right away and even saw them eat some small pellets on occasion. I would add some pods to my sump periodically to make sure the population kept up. They would always be seen "picking" on the rocks. They were fine with other fish, except for one occasion when I actually saw my diamond goby pick one up in his mouth and carry him to the other side of the tank and spit him out. I made sure to get a male and female and each pair ended up mating and the female looking pretty plump with eggs. They would continue with the mating "dance" most evenings which lasted for weeks.
Things were going great for both pairs and we were waiting for the female to drop her eggs, but that never happened. The females just "disappeared" first, and a few weeks later, the males. Both pairs each lasted only about 18 months, but appeared healthy at all times. I have read there is little information on this species, so I wonder if these fish may not have a long lifespan??? Hopefully I am wrong as I really enjoyed these fish.

 

[Slyler]

Had these guys for a month and a half now... took a picture today because I want to know if it's just me, or does the back look a little sunken? I really like these guys and saw that the back sunken in can mean they don't have enough to eat. I still see them pick at the rock or the sand every few seconds just wondering what other think of the health.

 

[LetItReef]

mini mysis, baby brine, brine shrimp and fish eggs. Hopefully there enough bugs and pods in there to keep em going.

Mini mysis, baby brine and fish eggs- where to get these in SD?
Thanks

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Mini mysis, baby brine and fish eggs- where to get these in SD?
Thanks

Aquatic warehouse, AquaSD. The fish eggs are capellini roe, my baby brine are Hikari brand, same w mini mysis. AW also has the legendary Nutramar Ova prawn roe.