Mandarin dragonet
Saltwater Fish · 0 live listings
Mandarin dragonets are small, brilliantly patterned fish from Pacific reefs that pick copepods from the rocks all day. Wild-caught mandarins often starve without a large, mature pod population, while captive-bred fish often take frozen foods.
At a glance
The tradeoffs, honestly
Mandarins need a steady supply of copepods, so a young tank will starve one. Captive-bred fish that eat frozen foods are much easier to keep.
Common questions
Is it eating frozen food?
Ask to see it eat. Captive-bred mandarins trained on frozen foods are far easier than wild fish that only eat live pods.
How mature does my tank need to be?
Most keepers wait at least six months to a year, with a healthy copepod population and ideally a refugium.
What should I check before buying, and should I quarantine?
Look for a rounded belly, not a pinched one, and active hunting. Many keepers quarantine mandarins in a tank seeded with pods or feed frozen foods during quarantine.
Ask the seller for these. Documents on Everybarn are on file for your own checks; we don't check them with the issuer.
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