Feeding Ruby Red Dragonet Blenny

[Aquatic Dreams]

So I got this Blenny a little over a week ago and put it in my Biocube. I was shown at the LFS that he was eating LRS Fish Eggs before I brought it home. It seems to be doing fine so far and I've fed several different types of food including the fish eggs.

I see him moving all over the tank picking at things but am unsure if he's getting enough to eat. He's a bit nervous and generally scoots away when I try to put food in front of him. And when he comes back to where I've put the food he pecks a couple of times and then moves on. Yesterday I made a mixture of shrimp, scallops, rinsed brine shrimp, rinsed mysis shrimp, LRS Reef Frenzy, LRS Fish Eggs and some Reef Roids in the blender. Made sure all the pieces where nice and small. They Blenny seemed to come back to eat some but again didn't stay for long.

I'm just wondering if I should get some Tigger Pods to supplement the feeding until I know for sure that he's taking the frozen food. My Biocube doesn't have a skimmer and with needing to feed the Blenny a couple times a day I'm greatly increasing the bioload in the tank. I was thinking that if I incorporated the pods I could only feed the frozen once a day while ensuring he would still have other things to eat throughout the day.

I know that everybody says to look for a sunken belly on them but I can't tell by looking at him if his belly is sunken or not. He's certainly very active and scooting all over the tank in search of food. Although I've read that if they don't get enough to eat they will slowly starve to death over months. Any suggestions from those of you experienced with dragonets would be appreciated.

Here is a pic from the net of the same species that I have. Mine doesn't seem to want his picture taken.

Thanks ... Dave.

 

[EricTMah]

Pods are always a good idea when you introduce a fish like this. It's a great way to supplement his diet until he is more comfortable in the system to take prepared foods.

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

Pods are always a good idea when you introduce a fish like this. It's a great way to supplement his diet until he is more comfortable in the system to take prepared foods.

OK ... Thanks Eric. I've never used pods before. My Biocube does have a little refugium area under the filter. I have a piece of Red Bush and Chaeto macro algae in there with an LED light on them 24/7. (There's a window in the back of my Biocube) There is obviously some flow in there but the algae doesn't really move around at all. Would you suggest adding some pods to the tank and some in the refugium compartment as well?

 

[EricTMah]

Yes. I'd split it 50/50
I always drip accimilate the pods as well to ensure the highest survival rate. Also, I always introduce pods in my system with lights out and flow shut off to ensure they make it to the rock work and not just eaten or filtered out.

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

Yes. I'd split it 50/50
I always drip accimilate the pods as well to ensure the highest survival rate. Also, I always introduce pods in my system with lights out and flow shut off to ensure they make it to the rock work and not just eaten or filtered out.

OK ... Awesome. Thanks for the advice Eric. I'm assuming that the pods won't increase my bioload by much correct? I was reading that the pods need to be fed Phyto-Feast as well. Is this necessary or will they get enough nutrients from the tank? I unfortunately do have a decent amount of algae in the tank.

 

[Nick James]

My first fish purchase 8 years ago was a Mandarin.. My tank was brand new but I used some really good live rock from an established system. I bought pods to increase The population. I watched him get nice and plump which made me realize he was probably a bit skinny when I bought him. He was with me for a year before I sold that system in order to renovate/finish my unfinished basement. I never fed him directly and never saw him eat prepared foods. As long as you keep your pod population healthy he will stay healthy. Maybe add some live pods/ phyto once a month or as often as you deem to be required.

Maybe always put the eggs in the same spot whether he is near or not. Then he will learn to come get em.

 

[Nick James]

OK ... Awesome. Thanks for the advice Eric. I'm assuming that the pods won't increase my bioload by much correct? I was reading that the pods need to be fed Phyto-Feast as well. Is this necessary or will they get enough nutrients from the tank? I unfortunately do have a decent amount of algae in the tank.

A small dose of live phyto now and then will help lower nutrients I believe. The phyto absorbs the nutrients and then the pods eat the phyto. Then your fish eat the pods, poop and make more nutrients.

 

[Luke.]

I went down this road and spent well over $160 in pods I find the tisbe would be your best bet because they are bottom feeder pods and a lot smaller so your other fish won't eat as much because they are harder to see .

 

[jeffopentax]

I went down this road and spent well over $160 in pods I find the tisbe would be your best bet because they are bottom feeder pods and a lot smaller so your other fish won't eat as much because they are harder to see .

I agree. I added one bag (8 oz. I believe) of algagen tisbe pods to my 135g and it kept my 4" mandarin and cbb fat and healthy for months until i sold them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

I'd read about the Tisbe Pods but I'm not sure where to get them locally. I can easily get the Tigger Pods so I'll likely start with those and ask around about the Tisbe. I've been doing some research and apparently keeping a colony of pods is fairly simple. So I'll likely give that a try in the near future too.

 

[shamous113]

@David Caplan is the man to talk to about pods

Here is his site http://copepods.ca/

 

[AdInfinitum]

Unless your tank is newly set up or you have a lot of predators already, how are your tanks not swarming with fauna? Or perhaps it is and that is what he's constantly picking at.....

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

I've had the tank for just over 3 months however it was running when I went to get it. It went through a cycle with the move but except for some algae seems to be doing fine now. I believe the previous owner had it running for at least a year or so. I have seen little things scooting around the tank on occasion but I doubt there's enough to keep the blenny in constant supply.

About a month ago I added some macro algae to the refugium area under the filter. So there may be a few pods breeding in there. When I get more pods I'm going to dose the tank and the refugium area. Then depending on how that goes I'm thinking of starting a pod culture so I can have them on hand. I did see a cool idea about a 'POD HOTEL' on YouTube. A guy put a few holes in a small round clear plastic container, turned it upside down with some Chaeto in it and pushed it into the substrate. Sort of a safe haven for the pods to reproduce. And they could enter and leave through the holes in the container.

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

So I just got my Tigger Pods and am letting them get warmed up. I figure that when it's lights out I'll turn off pumps/skimmer and put a small squirt in my 46 gal. (Lots of rock in there) and split the rest between the main part of my 29 gal. Biocube and the small refugium at the back. This is the correct way to dose ... use the entire bottle I assume?