The Mandarin Goby (Synchiropus Splendidus) is quite simply one of the most breathtaking marine fishes ever to hit the hobby. Its entire body is made up of blue, orange and green alternating line. They commonly go by the name, mandarin goby, despite not being a true goby at all. Its seldom called true name, is the mandarin dragonet.
This fish is heavily collected mainly from the Indo-Pacific. Unfortunately they do poorly in captivity despite their popularity. We will see why later on.
They are a very peaceful fish. They are aggressive only towards other members of the genus such as the scooter dragonets. If you're interested in a pair of mandarin dragonets, buy a female and a male (elongated first dorsal spine) and introduce them together in the tank.
These fishes can attain lengths of up to 4 inches. Technically, they require a tank no smaller than 30 gallons, that is, if they're feeding. Getting them to eat prepared foods is a real challenge. Copepods in the wild are all they eat. Therefore, they need a tank full of live copepods, something like a 75 gallon established aquarium. This way, you'd never have to feed them. The copepod populations in the tank will sustain them.
If you don't have a tank that large but are still keen on a mandarin fish then you need to train it to eat prepared foods.You'll need live adult artemia to accomplish this task. Getting them to eat live brine is easy enough, they're receptive to live artemia. Next, you're going to mix in some frozen brine shrimp with the live ones during feeding. Once they begin eating frozen brine shrimp you can breathe a sigh of relief, but its not over yet. We need to slowly get them to accept a more nutritious food like mysis shrimp.
As before, slowly introduce some mysis in with the frozen artemia. The deed is done once they start taking mysis shrimp. Offer them some krill and a good pellet after that.
But wait, thats just one problem out of the way. They are extremely slow eaters. Every single one of their tank mates will eat twice as fast as a mandarin. There are three solutions to this problem. You could feed a lot more, thereby ensuring some food will be left for the mandarin and in the process, foul up your tank. Or, you can spot feed it with the use of a pipette. Lastly, you can find a bottle with an entrance only big enough for the mandarin and stuff some food in there.
All three options can work, but its up to you to choose one.
About the Author:
Roman Veaila is a hobbyist that has kept numerous reef aquariums. In his spare time he writes guides on marine fishes. Visit his hubpage for more detailed guides on Mandarin goby as well as the always popular Flame Angelfish.
Get all the information and photos:: http://coringa.info/pets/the-stunning-mandarin-dragonet-their-care-and-requirements
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