Mixinb Blennies, Gobies, Dragonettes?

[Ram_Puppy]

specifically, will a black sailfin blenny and a dragonette be ok or do come as con-specifics because their body types are so similar?

[GaryP]

I don't think many folks will recommend a dragonette under any circumstances. They will deplete your pod population and usually will eventually starve to death.

Gary

[Reef69]

well, i agree with gary..but, i came across a mysis eating machine mandarin goby, could say its my most priced posession. I doubt they would fight though...

[Ram_Puppy]

believe me i am well aware of the the requirements of a dragonette. The tank they will be going into (mated pair) is a 115 gallon cube w/ lots of live rock, and there will be a 40 gallon aprox fuge under the tank primarily dedicated to pod production. Also, if you aren't aware there is a product on the market now called seapods that is basically a bottle of living pods and a strip of algae, I believe one person has had an unopened bottle on the shelf for a few months and they are still kicking...

I am not worried about being able to keep dragonettes, the whole tank is infact designed with them as the key species.

[Reef69]

Hey..didnt know there sold pods in a bottle..hope you keep us posted, if you find a bottle, let me know..thnks

[GaryP]

I found the following home page for seapods.

http://www.seapods.com/index.php

Gary

[Reef69]

awesome, i think im going to order a couple of bottles to try it out..thanks for the link Gary.

[Instar]

Nice going GaryP, now people will think they can just buy that and keep dragonettes. :roll2: A dragonette needs more than just one bottle. Several bottles a day should do nicely though. Or a highly specialized tank, custom setup, cut out to breed pods in the tank as well as the refugium and good sized, well stocked, with multiple generations prior to getting the mandarin. Breeding pods means understanding how iodine really works in their life cycle, their food and the importance of good maint.

[GaryP]

Good point Larry. The seapods are $20/bottle plus shipping. I would never suggest being dependent on a mail order product to keep any critter alive. The health and well-being of the animals in your care are at the mercy of vendors that are more than likely to back order you for months. In addition, there is the cost. There are supposed to be 1000 pods per bottle. While Larry's estimation of how many pods a mandarin can eat a day may be a little high IMO, there is still going to be a very high cost to keep a single fish alive.

Just imagine what happens when their cultures crash, which is not uncommon in the mariculture of most things of this type.

Gary

[GaryP]

On another topic, I got 2 doz. grass shrimp from Fin-Addict that I have put in my new fuge. They are about 1/2- 1 inch long. I'm hoping they will reproduce in there. They are to big for mandarins, but would still make for a nice treat for my other fish.

Grass shrimp are basically the salt water version of the FW ghost shrimp some LFS (Texas Tropical in SA) sell. When I lived at the coast they were a common feeder product at the LFS's. They are great to use when you are going to be away and unable to feed for a while. I would put about 100 in my tanks when I was going to be away for a week or so for Xmas. My fish could simply graze on them while I was gone.

Gary

[Reef69]

thats the purpose on seapods, cultivations, whoever wants to feed a mandarin a bottle of that must be crazy, let alone two mandarins..luckly mine eats brine and mysis, so i wont be depending on the bottles of pods, just going to try to cultivate them

[Ram_Puppy]

As I said before, from the get go, the only fish I ever designed this system with the mind of keeping were Mandarin Dragonettes.

115 Gallon Cube
Sump
40 Gallon Refugium w/ various macro algaes in it.
* - Pod culture from 2 local sources, IPSF, and I am sure some from a live sand culture originating from over 80 different tanks across the US.
approximately 200 lbs of live rock that will cure in tank w/ heavy skimming and insane water changes to preserve as much life as possible.
Custom Skimmer (By matt if I can achieve it)


The refugium will have multiple grunge beds, and thanks to a great tip from blake, some little pod houses (cichild pottery caves), in other words, I am not attracted to the idea of a refugium for the miracle of nutrient export, I am attracted to it as the hippest pod orgy fest this side of the pacific.

I have even procured a phyto culture from instar not to feed clams and corals like most people (though I am sure both will benefit) but because phyto and bacteria make up the primary food of pods...

the question of whether i can keep a mandarin, or a mated pair, is not at issue here, I think anyone with experience can look at the setup I am planning and realize that with only two voracious pod predators (My current lot of PJ cardinals will be going to someone elses home when I break down the tank and move in december) that what I have is considered a succesfull setup by those that have kept mandarins in the past, AND, it exceeds all the minimums in those success stories.

The question is, can a black sail fin blenny and a mandarin peacefully co-exist. It is a hole in my research I haven't been able to fill to my satisfaction.. The best i have been able to find is a "Yes with extreme Caution" perhaps I should have been clearer in the asking, if anyone had any practical experience having dragonettes and blennies in the same tank.