does a mandarin dragonet need live sand?

[Fuzzy]

im thinking of getting one but i read they need live sand? is this true? i read there a carnivor but if they need live sand wouldnt that make them a bottom feeder?
also can they eat frozen brine and frozen worms? from what ive read they only mention live brine and worms.

thnx for any help

 

[spanair]

Hey lionfish,

Madarin fishes are quite hard to take care of. People dont add them to their system after 1 year plus ofd maturing . Reason for this is they eat copepods, and even if they eat brine shrimp it's not going to sustain them for long.

They are bottom feeders, and will eat from the live rock, and the substrate. As I said they eat copepods, abnd even if they eat brine it wont sustein them alive with just brines.

I was going to buy one, but now that I know more about them I wont for a bit, my 2 red scooters eat brine and copepods and will be fien with just brines and a sorted mix of foods. madarin's will usually ignore everything else but copepods.

 

[Navarre]

Theey are better suited to Live rock to be honest. In all honesty you need ALOT of liverock to keep a healthy mandarin (unless its feeding on frozen). A mandarin can easily demolish pod populations in 50kg of live rock . I want a manadarin but wont even atempt it until i build a refuguim with gravity feed so pods can breed in safety and return to the tank. This will give the mandarin a constant supply of live food.
If however you can go to your fish shop and see one feeding on forzen food then go for it!

Try and find one that doesnt feed on Brineshrimp as its it totally lacking in nutrition. Krill or Mysis shrimp is better.

 

[Fuzzy]

ok i dont think ill get one then. thnx for the help.

 

[hyrookin]

yeah, I would say you need a well established, large amount of live rock
to sustain a mandarin long-term. its a shame to see so many in lfs's,
because 90% of them end up starving within a year in peoples tanks.

 

[Navarre]

Agreed, they are slow feeders as well so usually lose out badly when they are fed with frozen food.

Good for you Fuzzy, nice to see you are thinking long and hard about the fishes wlefare before you purchase.

 

[impur]

ok i dont think ill get one then. thnx for the help.

Good choice. I personally wouldn't add one unless i was cultivating a large stock of copepods. Even the ones that take frozen food aren't as lively and don't have the colors. Its a shame, but i think these fish only belong in the wild