Manderin Dragonets - who has attempted to keep these?

[Playdope]

I recently read that Green/Striped Manderins (Synchiropus splendidus) and Psychadelic Manderins (Synchiropus picturatus) may be eaten if kept with an anemone. I was wondering if it would be a problem if they were kept with a Rose BTA.. and if only larger/more aggresive anemones (like carpets) should be avoided?

I'm also looking to learn differences between the two above Dragonet species. So far all I have found is that the Psychadelics seem to eat brown flatworms. What about behavioral differences, etc..?

Lastly, for those who have attempted or are attempting to keep a Manderin, will you please share if it died or is declining ... or if it is still doing well (please include how long have you had it).

Thanks

 

[Jolieve]

Jon.. these fish really need systems that are designed with their care in mind. A refugium for copepod growth is helpful, because they seem to be obligate copepod feeders. A large (75 gallons or more) aged system is a must (a year at least, two is better), so that an established copepod population is present for them to feed on.

Even if they do take prepared foods, often the nutrition in these is insufficient to keep them healthy long term.

I... am considering taking the dive and getting a mandarin for my system, I'll do some more research, but.. I don't have an anemone, and no plans to add one in the near future.

Success with mandarins is.. well.. to be honest, I don't like to hear success stories in terms of months, I would rather hear them in terms of years. These fish can live a long time in the wild, six months in a reef tank isn't what I'd call a success story.

That's everything I know about them in a nutshell, I hope some of it is useful.

J.

 

[reefer madness1]

I tried one a couple of years ago. Ive got a 120 with about 180 lbs live rock, 30 gallon refugium with pods everywhere. It lasted less than a year and Ill never try again.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had a mated pair for a little over 4 years. In my opinion they need a good sized refugium and/or 100 pounds of live rock each and no food competitors like a six-line.

I do not have an anemone in the tank they are in. They would be easy prey for a Carpet, I don't know about a BTA.

 

[zonkers]

I've got to tell you-- call me silly, but its because of a Mandarin that I saw in a LFS shop that I took the plunge & went marine. I read everything I could on them & configured the tank with their care as the primary goal.

I have a 72 gal bowfront with a 10 gal fuge, running for just about a year now. There is currently about 75lbs live rock in the main tank with another 20 in the fuge. I ran this tank for about 4 months before adding a Mandarin. Some may think this is way too early, but my qualifying (rationalizing? ) condition was when I couldn't look anywhere in the tank without seeing some bugaboos.

When I 1st picked her up, she was definitely on the thin side, sides sunken in somewhat. I put her in quarantine, & put in some rock from my fuge. She began working the rock right away, but I was concerned that she would decimate the small population in them too soon. After about a week (which is still really way too soon for a proper quarantine), I began getting really concerned about her being able to feed, & having not observed any ich or anything (stil no guarantee), I took a chance & added her to the main tank. That was 7 months ago.

Bea (short for Beatrix, as in Kiddo ) is now fat & happy, & I still can always find plenty of critters. Amphipods, isopods, & copepods are definitely her mainstay. I have never seen her eat any granular food, or even frozen mysis shrimp. If it ain't alive & kickin', she ain't interested.

Each new addition to the tank is always researched & selected for passive temperament & not too competitive for the bugaboos so there's more for her. I don't run an ozonizer or UV sterilizer, as I understand they can wipeout the planktonic stages of the critters she feeds on. Anemones are not a consideration for me.

I think in many regards I took my chances & got lucky. I wouldn't count my experiences as normal, but they're experiences nonetheless. Hope this helps

Pete

 

[Anonymous]

I have a year year old manderine in my 75G. I have a refugium and no other pod eating fish.

Mine manderin does eat a little bit of frozen formula one when I feed that. He also surprisinly eats spirulina flakes.

I don't think that he is sustained by his occasional munching of foods that I feed the other fish. He get's his sustainance from the rock, which I have over 120 pounds of.

I added pods and a fuana kit when I first set the tank up. I wanted to make sure I had plenty for him to eat.

Can't help with the anemone part as I leave them in the ocean.

Louey

 

[reefmongrel]

I keep my Mandarin in the refugium - 20g on a 90 display. Seems to be plenty of small critters for him/her to eat. I keep live rock and chaeto in the refug. When I harvest the chaeto I notice many pods/critters running about. The Mandarin seems fine- hasn't slimmed out in about 5 months.

The only competition in the refug are a couple of Emerald crabs, a few scallop-like snails.

Craig

 

[fishfanatic2]

Psychedelics and Green mandarins have different color patterns. I THINK that the one in zonkers' picture is a Green, but I'm not positive-maybe its the other way around.

 

[Anonymous]

My wife wanted one for our 55. I told her it would be hard to do with only 60 lbs of rock and no possibility of a decent refugium. We ordered a detritivore kit, and about 4 months after set up there were pods everywhere.

the pod population exploded, but then it went into decline, and after about 8 months you had to sit quite a while before you would see one.

I kept putting off buying one and am glad I did, because now its even harder to find any pods.

So, no mandarin for me

 

[Anonymous]

I'd love one too...but I have a hawkish and several wrasses in my 180, so it's a no go.

 

[zonkers]

Right, mine is Synchiropus Splendidus, the 'Green', or 'Psychedelic' Mandarin, as opposed to Synchiropus Picturatus, the 'Picture' or 'Spotted' Mandarin.

Here is a good link on them--

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mandarins.htm

Be advised, WetWebMedia is strongly against keeping of these fish, because they usually starve to death.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got to tell you-- call me silly, but its because of a Mandarin that I saw in a LFS shop that I took the plunge & went marine.

my sentiments exactly!
that is, other than where i first saw one.
i first saw a pic of one in a beginners manual... Shimek i think.. "how to keep your marine fish happy"... not so sure, could have been another.
anyway, i wasn't sure i wanted to take the time to do a saltwater tank and picked up a couple cheap books to investigate... i remember the mandarin photo and showing it to my wife and saying "look at that!"

i kept mine for over 5 years.
it was a female and i kept it in 46 gallon tank.
i think i got very lucky. it was one of the first marines i bought.
i put it in my brand new tank with the beaslbob special substrate and some dead coral and watched it lay on the bottom for a few days scared witless.
i went to library and read some fish books and found that they didn't live well in aquariums without LR so off to the reef shop i went.
as i said i think i was very lucky as i only put 8# of rock in the tank and this fish was happy as a lark.
something happened at the reef shop... i saw real reeftanks as opposed to the petco hack tanks..
i kept adding rock and misc. inverts until it so happened that i had a full blown reef.
starting out i never intended to do a reef tank.. i really didn't have any interest in it. the rock for the mandarin got me into reefing.

 

[Ricordia]

I've had a Spotted Mandarin in my 150 gallon reef for almost three years now. I added it to my tank on 6/22/02. I don't have any anemones currently (aside from aiptasia) but I have had both a long tentacle and a bubble tip in with the Mandarin and obviously they got along. I have about 200 pounds of live rock, plus a 40 gallon sump/refugium. Copepods are everywhere; I could probably support a few more Mandarin but I don't see any reason to push it.

Ricordia

 

[EmilyB]

I've always kept anemones with my mandarins (BTA, LTA, Sebae).

My current male has been with me about four years and his new babe, about a year.

Each night they do their little spawning ritual and it is the greatest feeling in the world.....well, so they tell me.... :wink:

They are in a 230g with at least 200lbs of rock. They also actively feed on PE mysis.

 

[Mihai]

I have a pair of splendidus and a green BTA - no problems so far. However, I only had them for a few months, so I cannot comment on long term success. I also tried to maximize their chances of survival by eliminating the competition (no wrasses, no sand sifting gobbies), waiting 6 months before any fish in the system and a hefty 20 gal refugium. They seem to eat stuff all day and look plump, so I have good hopes.

I know that Wade had a pair a picturatus and several BTAs for many years, so it doesn't seem to be a problem.

M.

 

[Bojangles]

I had bought one from the LFS that was about 1" long and only cost $10. I didn't know anything about them but they were in my first 5 fish. I put him in my 200g with 100lbs of LR. Everything was cool for about 4 months then I noticed he was getting kinda skinny, so I started to suppliment with brine and bioplankton. He ate all with no problem and fattened back up.

About 2 months later the bottom piece feel off of my emperor 400 and he went up the tube, got caught in the propellor and was chopped up. That was 6 months ago and I wont try another until I am positive my 60g refug pod population is in no danger of dieing.

 

[Playdope]

Thanks for the responses.

Question... since I saw the manderin eat live brine at the LFS, should I pick some up regularly to feed it to him, or should I let it nose around in the reef for a while?

What steps should I take in trying to get it weaned over to possibly eating non-live food?

Also, does anyone have a recommended way to feed the manderin the live brine without getting a lot of it in the tank where it would just die off and add nitrates? The reason I'm concerned about this is because I have no other fish, just some scavengers, and I'm not sure they would get to all of it before it started decaying.

Thanks for tips.

 

[Anonymous]

the size of your tank is key here.

if it is large and brimming with pods then i would not worry much but if not then i would feed it.

i fed mine regularly as it would eat frozen brine, daphnia, blender mush, etc.
it was pokey about it and the other fish would get a better share of the food but i don't think feedings were the main nutrition for it anyway.
there was a food targeted at angelfish that i think had a very negative effect on the mandarin and it had sponge in it... after feeding it the mandarin looked very pale as they do in the morning when the lights come on.. it didin't kill it but i didn't use that food again.

 

[Anonymous]

I had one for several months then it developed an eye infection and died. My new tank is to small plus I have a wrasse.

 

[Anonymous]

I have one male in my 55g. He has been in their for a close to 2-1/2 years now? But I set up a big pile of rubble for the pods to breed and establish for 6 months before I put him in there. There is no other fish in the tank that would compete for food with him. You can't look in the tank at night without seeing hundreds of pods scurrying over the rock, but I also have some hair algae that only grows on the back wall of the tank, and I think the pods live and feed off of that too, so I just leave it since it doesn't seem to ever spread. He has actually started to eat cyclopeeze, after I drop some in the tank, he is so fat he looks like he is going to pop
sometimes. I turn off all the pumps but one small powerhead, so they move around, but not very fast and maybe he thinks they are alive. I have been thinking of adding about 10 more pounds of rubble and getting a female, but not sure about that yet.