Cantusaurus
Well-Known Member
Not sure if I will get answers here or if anyone knows the answer. But I just want to voice my frustrations, and experiences.
I'm not sure I can stand behind keeping wild Dragonettes anymore. It's ridiculous the amount that are caught and how so many do not survive. But. I see "healthy looking" Dragonets in stores all the time. I've seen them at wholesale places, and LFS holding tanks with a bit of liverock and sand. I have tried to keep many in the last 2 years. I did research and provided a good habitat for them along with food. I did not Quarantine the first ones I tried (1 Ruby Red, then a pair of Ruby Reds). Both did not make it long term. But they had plenty of pods in the tank, and I constantly fed live baby brine. I tried Regular Scooters much later after this. And despite QTing, AND eating frozen food greedily. Both times they didn't make it more than a month in my DT. There were still plenty of pods though, and I spot fed frozen. I really do not understand. The scooters would never seem to fatten up despite having plenty of food. I would even soak Metroplex in the food. My tank is 32 gallons, but has plenty of Live Rock, hiding spaces, and live microfauna for them to eat.
I've gotten all of scooters from different places.
But are these scooters caught with cyanide or something? And can they handle copper?
I have heard mixed things about copper and dragonets, and some of the places I received them were running copper. (I did not use copper when QTing, but used various other medications)
I recently got another and dipped him in Methelyne blue before adding him to my DT.
He looks super healthy but is still pretty skinny after about 2 weeks. There are soooo many pods in my tank, and I have fed live BBS. I'm probably going to do a long prazi bath and short methelyne blue bath, and then put him in a breeder box (make sure he's eating frozen), and then give him a bath again after a week to ensure there are no internal worms.
I'm not going to lose another Scooter again despite looking perfectly fine other than never fattening up. Not sure what the problem is. But I am just shocked. I have gotten basslets and gobies from these places, and dipped them in Methelyne blue (and no issues).
Are scooters just super sensitive? And does this just cause bad affects that cannot be reversed?? Or at least not able to be fixed by someone like me.
If anyone is reading this still, and wants or is thinking of buying a scooter or dragonet.
Either buy one that is very fat/taken care of a place that took super good care of them and they're super healthy.
Or
BUY A CAPTIVE BRED DRAGONET!
^ I should've done this. The amount of money I've spent on them is crazy, and with captive bred ones you don't really have to worry about obscure issues.
I know that many fish die and this is the case with the aquarium hobby. But I'm just so annoyed by this. Certain fish and animals should not be imported on such a large scale since they are destined to die (not necessarily dragonets, but I'm mostly talking about other species). I feel there's a huge difference between a wild seahorse and a wild Moorish Idol. A seahorse kept under appropriate conditions and if they were handled properly can do well in an appropriate tank. But other fish like moorish idols I have heard cannot be kept by 99 percent of people.
I'm not sure I can stand behind keeping wild Dragonettes anymore. It's ridiculous the amount that are caught and how so many do not survive. But. I see "healthy looking" Dragonets in stores all the time. I've seen them at wholesale places, and LFS holding tanks with a bit of liverock and sand. I have tried to keep many in the last 2 years. I did research and provided a good habitat for them along with food. I did not Quarantine the first ones I tried (1 Ruby Red, then a pair of Ruby Reds). Both did not make it long term. But they had plenty of pods in the tank, and I constantly fed live baby brine. I tried Regular Scooters much later after this. And despite QTing, AND eating frozen food greedily. Both times they didn't make it more than a month in my DT. There were still plenty of pods though, and I spot fed frozen. I really do not understand. The scooters would never seem to fatten up despite having plenty of food. I would even soak Metroplex in the food. My tank is 32 gallons, but has plenty of Live Rock, hiding spaces, and live microfauna for them to eat.
I've gotten all of scooters from different places.
But are these scooters caught with cyanide or something? And can they handle copper?
I have heard mixed things about copper and dragonets, and some of the places I received them were running copper. (I did not use copper when QTing, but used various other medications)
I recently got another and dipped him in Methelyne blue before adding him to my DT.
He looks super healthy but is still pretty skinny after about 2 weeks. There are soooo many pods in my tank, and I have fed live BBS. I'm probably going to do a long prazi bath and short methelyne blue bath, and then put him in a breeder box (make sure he's eating frozen), and then give him a bath again after a week to ensure there are no internal worms.
I'm not going to lose another Scooter again despite looking perfectly fine other than never fattening up. Not sure what the problem is. But I am just shocked. I have gotten basslets and gobies from these places, and dipped them in Methelyne blue (and no issues).
Are scooters just super sensitive? And does this just cause bad affects that cannot be reversed?? Or at least not able to be fixed by someone like me.
If anyone is reading this still, and wants or is thinking of buying a scooter or dragonet.
Either buy one that is very fat/taken care of a place that took super good care of them and they're super healthy.
Or
BUY A CAPTIVE BRED DRAGONET!
^ I should've done this. The amount of money I've spent on them is crazy, and with captive bred ones you don't really have to worry about obscure issues.
I know that many fish die and this is the case with the aquarium hobby. But I'm just so annoyed by this. Certain fish and animals should not be imported on such a large scale since they are destined to die (not necessarily dragonets, but I'm mostly talking about other species). I feel there's a huge difference between a wild seahorse and a wild Moorish Idol. A seahorse kept under appropriate conditions and if they were handled properly can do well in an appropriate tank. But other fish like moorish idols I have heard cannot be kept by 99 percent of people.
