Mandarin and Scooter Dragonets

Mandarin dragonet, Synchiropus splendidus
Scooter blenny, or scooter dragonet:

• common - black and white - Synchiropus ocellatus,
• red, Synchiropus stellatus.

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Mandarin Dragonet

Disclaimer: everybody is entitled to have their own opinion. Your experience may be different.
My short summary: Not worth the troubles, and one can get stuck with them, as some are with damsels.

Lured, like many of us, by its reputation for being one of the most beautiful, startling and remarkable fish, delicate and difficult to keep (as if keeping it alive makes one an expert, the challenge), not for beginners (as if it has anything to do with creating the special conditions for the fish), and so on.

Fish, that is wonderful to look at in the store, in the tank with no place to hide, but they disappear from sight in the home tank.

Dragonets: problem with weaning

The main listed problem with Dragonets, mandarins or scooters, is that they may or may not accept non-live food. Depending on this, just as any other fish in this situation, they will live or die, and improper diet may lead to malnutrition.

I had two scooters and two mandarins (and a couple of red scooters from another store, who died on the second day, for unknown reason).

Both pairs accepted the frozen food. Scooters much earlier than mandarins (8 days for mandarins).

By the way - I don't want to be involved in arguing - it seems that the body fullness is a good indicator of eating, and the early sign - chewing jaw movements, just like a cow.

Until mandarins started to eat frozen food, it was a pain to see the rapidly sinking belly.

Average fish

Nothing of being delicate was noted (other than graceful movements - when not attacking the younger fellow), not as sensitive to the water quality as the lionfish (either volitan or mombasa) or valentini puffer. From what I had seen in my tanks, it is an average fish, just like clown or chromis.

The real problems

No other particular requirements or problems, except the aggressiveness to their own kind of the same sex. This is quite nasty, with the only way out being to remove aggressor (set another tank, or return it to LFS).

The strange thing is, that both - two scooters and two mandarins - didn't display the signs of aggression, being with their own kind in LFS. Both my pairs - mandarins and scooters - were housed in the same tanks in the store. Of course, scooters - from one, and mandarins - from another.

The frayed fins of the younger male, that was mistaken for female in the store.

What is worse, he was on a verge of a nervous breakdown - terrorized, he was beating himself hysterically on the glass wall, trying to get out. Painful to see, had to remove one of them. Would have been better to remove the aggressor, but wasn't able to catch him.

Same terrorized behavior - with two female scooters, when the larger, but starved to a dried state (bought 2 weeks later than the first, from the same tank), was constantly hunted down, like the the male mandarins do it, with the only difference that, instead of damaged fins, the eye was damaged, lost eyesight, and the wounds on the back.

The wounded weaker scooter, one eye is damaged and not functioning properly.

I was sure, that both kinds of dragonets have no body parts, capable to inflict such damage, but no other fish was involved with either mandarin or scooter, own kind only. Not the hermits, fire shrimps, porcelain crab or snails.

The initial phase of the attack, but they are too fast moving for my camera.

Had to do something. Separating them in different tanks solved the problem of aggression and created the problem of too many tanks, requiring good filtration and skimming, to compensate the constant presence of the frozen food in the tank. Another unmentioned problem.

90g tank is not big enough for two dragonets of the same sex. Anyone who wants to argue - see disclaimer above.

What is interesting, they have no problems with other dragonets, other than their own kind, despite the direct food competition. Mandarins never attacked scooters, before weaning or after. See the picture on the top.

Next page: Pairing and sexing