Skimmer for intermittent use

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Reefgoat

It's nice to hear of someone who has had long term success with a Mandarin. Far too many stories about them dying. Did he just start eating pellets eventually on his own or did you find that he would right from the start?

He was a juvenile when purchased & I was a newb so didn't know much about Mandarins at the time. It was before I learned of resources like forums & to research more prior to making a purchase. In any case, I suspect I got lucky he didn't starve because I probably introduced him a bit soon. Better likelihood of success with these when your system has been running for a year or so to get the pod population stabilised. What probably saved his butt was that my system was previously owned & the live rock was nicely matured. He was too young when purchased to have been trained to take prepared food. He simply figured it out on his own & I happened to observe him taking CycloPeeze granules off the sand one day. As mentioned he will also take pellets, (Omega One Small Marine Pellets). They're a little heavier than the CycloPeeze & are less prone to being kept circulating above the sand by the undertow of my VorTechs.

A year or so ago I purchased another small one as a mate for the original but turned out to be another male. Another mistake, this time not as a newb, but simply impatience in not observing the critter long enough at the LFS to confirm gender. They both actually did fine with only the odd skirmish, but I was fortunate to snag the new little guy one day & he has a new home. I've found the dragonet a great addition, disease resistant & actually very easy to care for provided they have sufficient food. Other fish don't bother with them & they simply cruise all day feeding.