Synchiropus splendidus: Mandarin Dragonet
The Mandarin Dragonet can simply not be confused with any other fish. It has arguably the most unique and colorfull pattern of any commonly kept fish. The blue green body with orange wavy lines across it. The bright red tail with blue edging.
Commonly called gobies they in fact are not, but rather belong to the family known as dragonets (callionymidae).
They originate from the phillipine area and westward to Australia. Found in groups or pairs, often on sandy bottoms between reef crests.
Sad to say that mandarin's are one of the most commonly sold fish (I bieleve because of their coloring) yet they are unfortunately one of the most likely to perish in the average reef tank. The reason for this is because of their finicky feeding habits. Many mandarins will eat only live amphipods and copepods which are found in sufficient numbers only in larger and well established tanks. I would not put them in anything smaller than a 30 gallon tank. I would also not put them in any tank not set up and running for a minimum of 7-8 months.
They are a very non aggressive fish. Other fish in the tank also seem to pay little to no attention to this fish.
I have heard and read that it is very rare to get a mandarin to take prepared food. The one thing I have heard that works well is to make a "pod pile" this is a small stack of rocks that you can insert a small piece of shrimp in every 2 or so days. this gives a sheltered place for the pods to eat and reproduce.
If kept in a mature and heavily enough pod populated tank, the mandarin is actually a quite hardy fish!!!
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Originally Posted by graphixx
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