Carpets and mandarin dragonet?

[pfan151]

Possible or anemone food?

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by pfan151

Possible or anemone food?

anemone food

[pfan151]

That's what I figured. Thanks

[NYCBOB]

i have one with a haddoni carpet. so far, the mandarin is still kicking. its really 50/50 imo.

[Cliving1]

If at all possible try to avoid any low dwellers I would say. Just in case.

[davocean]

I had a pair of mandarin's in my 150g and I had a hadonni at one time, though I swapped that out for a natural host nem after 4 months, but in that time my manderin's seemed to know better, but 4 mo is not considered long term success.
Size of tank may be a factor as well, proximity, swim space.

[pfan151]

Well all of my anemones are high in the rock work so maybe it could work.

[D-Nak]

Originally Posted by pfan151

Well all of my anemones are high in the rock work so maybe it could work.

I don't think that makes a difference, Mandarins tend to climb into the rockwork. The problem is that they hop around, and will eventually get to close to the nem.

[ThRoewer]

My mandarins do just fine with the gigantea that I have in their tank. That gig is high up in the rocks. During the day the mandarins get close to it but seemingly know to avoid it.
The issue with mandarins and carpets comes at night.
I always find my mandarins on the bottom of the tank during the night, so I think as long as the anemone is high enough in the rocks the mandarins should be fine. A carpet on the ground on the other hand is a death trap for bottom dwelling fish without a defined home.

[pfan151]

I grabbed one to try. One of my gigs did decide that it likes the bottom of the tank just about the sandbed better than high up in the rocks tough. Hopefully the mandarin realizes the danger.


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[ThRoewer]

Leave a night light on until the Mandarin has settled in and picked a sleeping spot/cave.

I would think that due to their thick slimecoat they have a decent chance to get away even if they come to touch the gig as long as they flee in the right direction.

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[pfan151]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Leave a night light on until the Mandarin has settled in and picked a sleeping spot/cave.

I would think that due to their thick slimecoat they have a decent chance to get away even if they come to touch the gig as long as they flee in the right direction.

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Hope so. It's been almost a week. So far the mandarin has been very reclusive. It's a 90g tank and I've been convinced it was eaten a few times already but then it pops up. I'll grab a male to go with it if this once manages to not get eaten.

[NYCBOB]

My mandarin became food last week.

[pfan151]

Originally Posted by NYCBOB

My mandarin became food last week.

What type of anemone?

[NYCBOB]

Haddoni.

[WatDatThing]

I think every fish is a potential carpet nem food, including a sick clown.

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by WatDatThing

I think every fish is a potential carpet nem food, including a sick clown.

By that logic everything is also potential food for the CUC.

Anemones are part of the life on the reef and associated sand zones and most fish know to avoid them.

The fish that usually fall victim to carpet anemones are disoriented, usually at night or sick.

The one anemone I would consider particularly dangerous is the haddoni due to it being a sand zone anemone that usually has to be placed on the bottom of the tank.

Giganteas that are placed higher in the rocks are far less of a hazzard. I may have lost a couple of gobies to my giganteas. It usually happens when the fish get startled during the night and swim around disoriented.
I also found one Banggai cardinal in one of my giganteas, but that fish looked like it was dying a few days before so the anemone just caught the floating carcass (or the clowns dragged it in.) In the end the anemone spat it out again.

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[marc price]

Very tempted to try one of the Biota captive-bred blue mandarins popping up on LA Divers Den in my 40B which contains an S. gigantea carpet anemone at the sand/rock interface.

[pfan151]

Originally Posted by marc price

Very tempted to try one of the Biota captive-bred blue mandarins popping up on LA Divers Den in my 40B which contains an S. gigantea carpet anemone at the sand/rock interface.

Mine is still going strong so far. I like those captive bred ones on DD but a hundred a pop is more of a premium than I'm willing to pay.

[marc price]

Originally Posted by pfan151

Mine is still going strong so far. I like those captive bred ones on DD but a hundred a pop is more of a premium than I'm willing to pay.

They are expensive and it seems LA DD has capitalized the market on them.

The thing is, I've been keeping saltwater aquariums since 1980 and ever since captive-bred fish became available I have been very OCD only wanting captive-bred despite how limiting it has been in the past. The numbers of available CB species is not bad now, finding them at the LFS, not so good.

Practically never but occasionally I'll make an exception and purchase wild-caught fish that are essential "workers" for my tank which aren't available captive-bred.

[OrionN]

My pair of mandarin have been doing well in my 320 for the last 1 year. Very fat. I have 1 haddoni, 4 Gigantea and 2 Magnifica in that tank.

[ThRoewer]

Of all host anemones, I found haddoni to be the greatest hazard to fish. One factor is certainly that they are generally on the bottom where bottom-dwelling fish are more likely to bump into it. But I think another factor is that the tentacles of haddoni are so short that many fish don't see them as the threat they are. Waving tentacles of other anemones are a more obvious thread.

Aside from some panicking gobies and jawfish, I didn't lose fish to giganteas over several years. But I actually lost quite a few fish to haddoni in a short period of time. Even a bluestripe pipefish who normally know how to navigate reef anemones.