Mandarin Dragonets

Nature 2 Minutes

The mandarin fish is the most beautiful member of the genus Synchiropus. It is also one of the most breathtaking marine fish ever found in our oceans. It looks more like an intricate painting than it does a fish, with its entire body made up of wavy alternating lines of orange, blue and green.

While commonly known as the mandarin goby and the mandarin fish, its true name is the mandarin dragonet. It is similar to the scooter blenny (Synchiropus ocellatus) in this respect.

Mandarin Dragonets Have Particular Needs

Due to its natural beauty, this fish is heavily collected from throughout the Indo-Pacific. I’ve visited wholesalers with tanks upon tanks filled with mandarin fish, with the vast majority sure to perish within a month.

Sadly, these fishes do very poorly in captivity. They have special dietary needs that are not met by the vast majority of hobbyists. Most pick one up and simply assume they’ll get by like the rest of their fish. This could not be further from the truth. Most hobbyists cannot provide the mandarin with the proper food, and they end up starving to death.

Tank Size

Mandarin dragonets reach a maximum of 4 inches in length. They require a tank no smaller than a 30-gallon if they are accepting prepared foods.

If they are not eating anything you offer them, then you need a large established aquarium with a lot of live rock at a 75-gallon minimum per mandarin.

Temperament

Mandarins are peaceful fish that are well-suited to community tanks. They are only aggressive towards conspecifics, i.e., other mandarins and dragonets like the psychedelic dragonet and the scooter dragonet.

Diet

Getting a mandarin to take prepared foods is one of the most challenging tasks for a hobbyist. In the wild, they are carnivores that constantly scan live rock for small crustaceans such as copepods and munnid isopods. This is all they eat in the wild, and this is where the problem lies. They just don’t eat prepared foods.

Thankfully, there are solutions.

Use a Large, Well-Established Tank

The easiest solution is to house them in a well-established 75-gallon or larger aquarium that is full of copepods. This, then, requires no feeding as the mandarin will simply graze on the existing copepod populations. Smaller tanks cannot have large enough populations to feed a mandarin long-term. They’ll be wiped out in a matter of weeks.

Train Your Mandarin to Accept Prepared Foods

For this, you need frozen and live brine shrimp, preferably adults.

First, get them feeding on live brine shrimp, which is simple enough to do.

Then, mix in frozen artemia with the live ones. Once they start feeding on frozen artemia, slowly scale back on the amount of live brine shrimp you feed.

Eventually, you’ll be able to feed them exclusively on frozen brine shrimp.

But your work isn’t over yet. You need to get them on something nutritious like mysis shrimp, krill and a good pellet.

Start mixing in mysis with the frozen brine.

Do the same for all the other foods.

Breeding

Mandarin dragonets have been bred in captivity. They are pelagic spawners, which means the male and female both rise up into the water column to release eggs and sperm. Raising their larvae is a tough job that requires live rotifers, live brine shrimp and phytoplankton cultures.

Identifying Males and Females

If you want a pair of mandarins, buy a male and a female and put them together. The very first dorsal spine in males is very elongated and can be seen clearly. Females lack an elongated spine.

SOURCE: PETHELPFUL

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Published by pat frederick

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167 thoughts on “Mandarin Dragonets”

    1. Morning! It’s been 31 since last night – front porch looks wet but I didn’t step out to see if it’s actually icy. Haven’t looked out back yet. Predicting possible mid-40’s next week! I can already see the drifts getting lower so it is melting underneath. I think by then I’ll be able to get my truck out and moving again.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. f this shit…excuse the language. these people are so damn INTOLERANT of their “host” countries. NO THEY DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE TO SUIT YOU. YOU need to go somewhere else

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Who here did NOT know it was the NRSC??? At a minimum, we knew it was at the dictate at the national GOP level!!! He wouldn’t have done it otherwise!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. interesting theory on tcth…

      dutchman

      January 25, 2024 2:36 am

      Reply to Robert Pilchman

      How many times has PDJT complimented his enemies, like Ronna McDaniel or even Mitch or Kevin?

      Recall she recorded that conversation,…of COARSE she is ‘pretending’.

      She gaines NOTHING and looses much, by publically bad mouthing the head of the Republican Senate Campaign committee, even AS she is running FOR the U.S. Senate.

      After all, she already sent her message back to the “East Coast interests” 10 months ago.

      “WORK with me, get BEHIND me cause I’m a winner,..otherwise ya might as well KILL me, cause I ain’t backing down!”

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Ah, man! Yet another episode of being jerked one way and then the other! I am soooo sick and tired of these fricking games!!!

      Liked by 1 person

  13. they were better to him, then he was to her!

    RadioGenoa
    @RadioGenoa
    She was Pamela Mastropietro, a beautiful Italian girl. She was only 18 years old when an African immigrant raped her, tortured her, killed her, chopped up her body, cannibalized her, locked her in a suitcase and threw her on the street. In a wiretap, the killer is heard calling an African friend and telling him: “I have a white girl to rape.” Today, finally, after 6 years, Pamela and her family got justice with a life sentence for the illegal immigrant.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’d prefer a death sentence, personally….I’m disgusted by the fact that taxpayer $$$’s are used to keep these animals alive!!! Fed, clothed, housed, entertained – ALL at the taxpayers’ expense when they should simply be eliminated from the face of the earth!!!

      Liked by 1 person

  16. guy qualifies in the 9th position to win a $15,000 grant for farmland in MN–only to be placed at the back of the line because he is a white male. he files a lawsuit.

    A Northern Minnesota farmer claims his race and sex placed him at the back of the line to receive a $15,000 grant for aspiring farmers to buy farmland.

    The case is Lance Nistler v. Walz, et al., filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota with pro-bono help from the nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation.

    The complaint says Lance Nistler was picked 9th out of 176 people in the grant lottery and met all eligibility requirements but was placed at the back of the list because the program prioritizes “emerging farmers” when awarding funds.

    “Emerging farmers” are farmers who can be categorized as racial minorities, women, or young, urban, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

    The lawsuit says the state first awards grants to all these groups and any remaining funding may be awarded to non-emerging farmer applicants in the order of their lottery placement.

    Nistler wanted to use the program, which offers up to $15,000 in grant funds to buy 40 acres of farmland in Beltrami County, Minnesota, to grow soybeans, oats and wheat.

    In 2023, The Minnesota Legislature appropriated $500,000 to create a grant program for eligible small farmers to receive up to $15,000 to buy farmland. Eligible residents must be Minnesota residents earning less than $250,000 annually in gross agricultural sales, provide the majority of day-to-day labor on the farm they planned to buy for at least five years and not have previously owned farmland.

    The lawsuit also targets Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. Gov. Tim Walz’s office hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment.

    Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Andrew Quinio said the program’s design is “unfair.”

    “Minnesota believes Lance Nistler is less deserving of a farm because he has the wrong skin color and sex,” Quinio said in a statement. “It is unfair for the government to advantage or disadvantage anyone for benefits based on immutable characteristics like race and sex. Lance Nistler seeks to be treated equally with any other prospective farmer.”

    https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/lawsuit-claims-unequal-treatment-minnesotas-farmland-program

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Nope – I’m here – just been busy reading, reading, reading….and dropping a pithy comment or two! I’m always grumpy when I wake up….which, considering that I am about THE least patient person on the planet, shouldn’t surprise anyone! LOL

      Liked by 1 person

  19. “OPINION: The true intent of the Democrats’ anti-militia bill is to infringe on firearm training
    This bill paints a target on the back of every law-abiding gun owner.”
    LEE WILLIAMS
    JAN 25, 2024

    EXCERPT: “As a law-abiding citizen of this great country, I can form my own militia if I so choose, appoint myself colonel, enlist my friends as privates or PFCs, and we can run around the woods until we all keel over from heatstroke or heart attacks — whatever comes first. It’s all perfectly legal, at least for now.

    We have the right to criticize our government. We can sit around the campfire at our secret militia base nursing our sore muscles and fire ant bites and talk about how Joe walks like a penguin, or how it would take Kamala a good 20 minutes just to tell you you’re on fire. It’s all perfectly legal and protected speech, at least for now.

    We have the right to train with our firearms. We can draw from a holster, shoot while moving, practice CQB and send as much lead downrange as our bank accounts will allow. It’s all perfectly legal conduct, at least for now.

    However, a new bill making its way through Congress known as the “Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act of 2024,” would make all of this illegal or at least suspicious enough to draw scrutiny from the feds. More importantly, it would paint a target on the back of every single American gun owner, which is the actual intent of this ill-conceived and extremely unconstitutional legislation.

    To be clear, if Joe Biden ever signs this bill, the second he puts down his crayon the feds will flock to local gun ranges in numbers that will make it nearly impossible for actual members to find a place just to park. This bill would give them license to investigate anyone who trains with a gun in order to determine whether they’re a militia member — and don’t think for a second that they won’t.

    The FBI recently investigated law-abiding Americans whose sole transgression was shopping at a Cabela’s or a DICK’s Sporting Goods. Evidently, the FBI, the country’s so-called premier law enforcement agency, wasn’t aware DICK’s stopped selling guns and ammunition eons ago. Nowadays, the most dangerous thing on their shelves is a pickleball paddle….”

    https://thegunwriter.substack.com/p/opinion-the-true-intent-of-the-democrats

    Liked by 1 person

  20. “Texas Versus DC at the Border Is the Most Important Political Battle in Decades. We take a stand here or not at all.”
    JD RUCKER
    JAN 25, 2024

    EXCERPT: (DiscernTV)—Hyperbole has never been my style. I balk every four years when I hear how THIS presidential election is the most important of our lifetime. Passionate political commentators have said that about every election since Bush-Dukakis.

    I cringe when I hear about this or that being the most important battle in generations… except for now since I’m the one saying it. The battle between Texas and the United States government, between Governor Greg Abbott and Joe Biden, really is the most important political battle in ages. It’s not just our sovereignty at stake with a border invasion in progress. That alone is huge. It’s also the constitutional debate over state’s rights. It’s also the incessant question about judicial supremacy.
    ————–
    We have a unique opportunity to kill three birds with one stone. We can slow the border invasion, assert states’ rights, and send a strong message about judicial supremacy by backing Governor Abbott and others who will follow suit. Some are already showing that support, including the truckers who are on their way.

    But we need more than just protests. We need legislative action at both the state and federal level. Obviously we cannot apply enough pressure to get Capitol Hill to pass anything meaningful until constitutional conservatives have control of both chambers. That’s not going to happen any time soon. But at the state level we can encourage and even pressure legislators to pass laws that will reassert the states’ responsibility to defend its people, especially when the federal government works against them.
    —————
    What can be done? We need Texans to rally behind Abbott. We need other states to rally behind Texas. And this just may be a time when the people need to find a way around an obviously unconstitutional Supreme Court ruling.

    We absolutely MUST respond by backing Greg Abbott and anyone else fighting not only the invasion, but also federal overreach and judicial supremacy. The outcome of this battle will reverberate for generations.”

    https://jdrucker.substack.com/p/texas-versus-dc-at-the-border-is

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Roll Tide in NC
    January 25, 2024 10:03 am

    This is one of the organizations facilitating the invasion of our country. Guess who sat on their board before our illegitimate president appointed and senate confirmed…no other than Mayorkas.

    https://hias.org/statements/hias-congratulates-board-member-alejandro-mayorkas-dhs-nomination/

    HIAS congratulates Board Member Alejandro Mayorkas on being named by President-Elect Joe Biden to be the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. If confirmed, Mayorkas would be the first Latino to head the department that implements and manages U.S. immigration policies.
    A Cuban-born immigrant who arrived in the United States with his parents as a refugee, Mayorkas served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2016 and was director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during President Obama’s first term. Mayorkas was also a primary architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. “Trudeau’s Red Diaper In A Twist Over The Return of President Trump”
    By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives–January 25, 2024

    EXCERPT: “Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pondering about what Donald Trump’s “possible” return to the White House—and what it would mean for Canada if Trump defeats President Joe Biden in November is testament to how glaringly out of touch he is with the outside world.

    It is not Canada that would most matter if Trump doesn’t return to the White House— but the fate of the entire Western world. Self-centered, out of touch Trudeau doesn’t recognize the fact that ‘Without America there is no free world.’

    “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week a “Team Canada approach” to prepare for the “uncertainty” another Trump administration would bring. (TownHall, Jan. 24, 2024)
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2024/01/24/heres-how-trudeau-is-preparing-for-a-possible-trump-return-to-white-house-n2634103
    “We don’t know exactly what he is going to do,” the prime minister said. “We made it through the challenges represented by the Trump administration seven years ago, for four years, where we put forward the fact that Canada and the U.S. do best when we do it together.”

    Just when, pray tell, was it when Canada and the U.S. did their best when “doing it together?” Canada does not align with the U.S., but only with the accursed World Economic Forum (WEF), to which Trudeau recently ceded its sovereignty.

    “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that he has assigned two cabinet ministers to lead a new “Team Canada” to ensure the country and his government are ready for all possible outcomes from this fall’s U.S. presidential election. (CBC, Jan. 23, 2024)

    Returning to Trump bashing, Trudeau stated:…..”

    https://canadafreepress.com/article/trudeaus-red-diaper-in-a-twist-over-the-return-of-president-trump

    Liked by 1 person

        1. no…we had some issues this morning.
          hubby’s done with the steroids and antibiotics they sent home with him, so he’s not feeling like superman in the morning–so he feels like he’s going backwards when he really isn’t.
          and some mornings are tough for him.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. yeah he’s a little upset but i started reading him some things from medical sites–pneumonia can take months to feel better from –and he had cv (so they said) with it and he has asthma–so his lungs are tired and he needs to rest. but he thinks he’s 20 and should be recuperated already. sigh

              Like



  34. “An attendee poses with three corn dogs prior to Donald Trump’s “Save America” rally in Des Moines, Iowa in October. Two venders were in charge of feeding the thousands of attendees that showed up for Trump’s rally. The made-to-order shirt is his own creation.”


    Liked by 1 person

  43. “Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro sentenced to 4 months in prison after defying Jan. 6 subpoena: Although the House select committee is no longer functional, its effects are still being felt.”
    By Madeleine Hubbard. Published: January 25, 2024 7:31am, Updated: January 25, 2024 12:50pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ JustTheNews: “Former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Thursday was sentenced to four months in prison following his conviction in September on two counts of congressional contempt after he defied a subpoena from the former House select committee that probed the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

    Both counts carry mandatory minimum sentences of one month in prison, but prosecutors said in a filing last week that the amount of time “is insufficient to account for, punish, and deter the Defendant’s criminal offense,” according to ABC News.

    Prosecutors asked federal Judge Amit Mehta to sentence Navarro, 74, to six months in prison for each charge, running concurrently, and fine him $200,000, which is $100,000 for each count, per CNN. The judge ultimately ordered Navarro to pay a $9,500 fine.

    “The Defendant, like the rioters at the Capitol, put politics, not country, first, and stonewalled Congress’s investigation,” prosecutors also said. “The Defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”

    Although the House select committee is no longer functional, its effects are still being felt. For example, former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon was convicted in 2022 on two counts of contempt and sentenced to four months in prison, but the sentence is suspended pending an appeal as he attempts to overturn his conviction.

    Meanwhile, the select committee is accused of deleting more than 100 encrypted files days before Republicans took the majority.”

    Liked by 1 person

  44. “Texas Border Standoff—Timeline & Background information”
    CODEMONKEYZ
    JAN 25, 2024

    EXCERPT: “Background —

    In a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have been granted the authority to cut or remove razor wire installed by the state of Texas aimed at curbing illegal border crossings. This Supreme Court directive reverses the earlier decision made by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had temporarily restricted CBP agents from taking such actions barring medical emergencies.

    The case, DHS v. Texas, emerged from Governor Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star,” an initiative to fortify the state’s response to undocumented immigration along the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border. Part of the state’s strategy involved installing razor wire on private property to deter illegal crossings.

    Texas presented legal arguments to halt CBP agents from altering the state-led border security enhancements. Texas officials claimed that the federal agents not only lacked jurisdiction to destroy or tamper with state property but also accused them of facilitating illegal entries into the U.S. by removing the barriers. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contended that the injunction hindered its agents’ federal responsibility to apprehend, inspect, and process migrants as mandated by the Immigration and Nationality Act.

    On January 22, 2024, the prevailing opinion from the Supreme Court vacated the injunction with a narrow 5-4 majority, allowing federal agents to resume their duties unimpeded. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the majority, while Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

    Following the court’s decision, Texas officials, including Governor Abbott, reiterated their commitment to securing the border, citing the federal government’s failure to effectively address the issue. The Texas National Guard and the Department of Public Safety were reported to have continued erecting razor wire barriers, with official statements and social media posts reflecting a sense of defiance and upholding Texas’ rights to defend its sovereignty….”

    https://www.unseenwar.com/p/texas-border-standoff

    Liked by 1 person

  45. “Meanwhile, In the Real World—They built you a new “bad guy”
    JIMYCHANGA
    JAN 25, 2024

    Slava the Latest Thing….

    He won’t let Wall St carry out their plans to plunder and mark-up Russia’s assets and natural resources. He provides an excuse to expend decades of old weapons inventory and ink lucrative government contracts for replacements, BUT…There’s really just one reason Browder, Nuland and the Neocons, WEF’fers, and the crowd that brought you the steadily accelerating global VAXXOCIDE cull hate Putin. He’s in their way….”

    Liked by 1 person

  49. Frank DeScushin
    @FrankDeScushin
    “As much as I am Irish,” says hijab-wearing Ala Buisir as she complains about the Irish.

    That’s the problem, Ala, you’re not Irish and never will be. Irish is an ethnicity, not just citizenship, and Irish ethnicity includes the jovial demeanor you want to abolish.

    Liked by 1 person

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