Any tips on where to obtain captive bred mandarinfish/dragonet?

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by naesco

In fairness to all who posted your OP:

1. that you tank is a 65 gallon
2. stats this is a start up tank but later says it is 1 year old.
3. fallow but pods are growing.??

Kudos to you for seeking out aquacultured.

Contrary to the other poster in the case of mandarins it does make a difference.
Mandarins feed on the reef and when someone approaches dive for the nearest hole. Fishers squirt cyanide in and they come out but half are dead and another half die by the time they reach the beach.
MAC taught the fishers to hook them but with MAC gone I do not know whether this continues.

Mandarins! Always buy aquacultured. Never buy a mandarin that you do not see actively eating in the LFS.

Never once did I state this was a startup tank, I stated my tank is currently fallow and I'm soon to be reaching the 7 week date. All of my fish that WERE in the tank are in quarantine and I want to add a mandarin to my display first and let him settle in, before I re-introduce my old fish. I said BEFORE when my tank was immature I had dreamed of trying a mandarin fish but decided to wait until the time was right and my tank was more mature (which is now, as my tank is currently 1 year and 1 month old). Sorry if that was not clear.

And maybe I am confused on what the term fallow means, I suppose I don't know the exact meaning but I was under the impression it was regarding your tank having all fish removed from it. I wasn't aware it also meant inverts/corals were not allowed to remain in the tank.... And if my tank has all fish removed from it currently (which it does) and only my corals remain, why would pods not culture and grow (which is what you are suggesting)??? Without fish to prey on them they have all the more advantage to grow and populate do they not?

[paddyob]

Actually you are coming across very rude.

I won't offer any further advice.

Originally Posted by mandyplo

This seems to always happen but no matter how much info you put in the original post, no one seems to read it and I always find myself repeating... Anyways, My 65 gallon is over a year old now and I have done endless reading on these fish since I started my tank because I've always wanted one. I have also purchased from reef nutrition the live tigger pods and the phytoplankton to feed the tiggers. I'm fully prepared to continue to stock my tank with pods for the mandarins if they refuse to eat prepared foods.

And I don't know where you got the idea that this would be my first fish... I have many fish they are just in quarantine right now, I have been a fish hobbyist for years and I have successfully kept other hard to keep fish such as certain anthias and butterfly fish. Sorry if I'm sounding rude I just feel that a lot of people jump to conclusions/makes assumptions when I have already stated the facts.