Family Callionymidae
Mandarin goby, Synchiropus splendidus
Introduction:
Closely related to gobies and commonly erroneously
called gobies, dragonets are a peaceful, reef friendly,
playful, benthic fish that is a greatly prized and
highly desired fish. Unfortunately their own unique
beauty comes at a high price as they are very fussy
eaters and often parish from starvation within the
captive environment. Although physically hardy and
disease resistant, the feeding requirements for members
of the Dragonet family make them a poor choice for most
aquariums, especially new or small tanks.
When
choosing a dragonet for your tank, it’s extremely
important to ensure that you pick only the healthiest
specimens you can find. Often they are brought into the
LFS with sunken stomachs, poor or excessively bright
colouration or damaged fins, which should be avoided at
all costs because the likelihood of recovering the
specimen is very slim.
Habitat and
Behavior:
The skin of a dragonet is scale
less, to compensate for that they have a think slimy
coating. This slime coating is used as protection
against parasites and has a foul taste, and is
potentially poisonous to protect them from being eaten
by other fish. In addition to this slime coating, most
dragonets have a spine on the front of the operculum for
additional protection.
Dragonets best kept in a
mature reef tank type environment with plenty of live
rock and a sandy bottom. Most dragonets prefer to spend
most of their time on the sand and will often burry
themselves when startled or at night. Provide plenty of
places for the Dragonet to hide from other fish. They
are reef friendly and will not pick on any corals or
larger invertebrates.
Although Dragonets
generally remain on the bottom of the tank, if startled
they can jump out of the tank, make sure the tank is
well covered.
Dragonets are benthic creatures
that occupy a very small territorial range in the wild.
They are very protective of their small territories
against the invasion of another dragonet and will only
venture outside their usual range for breeding purposes.
Due to their territorial nature only one dragonet should
be kept in a tank unless it’s a very large tank, in
which case a pair consisting of one male and one female
will be acceptable. Having two males in the same tank
will result in aggressiveness and territorial disputes,
possibly resulting in the death of one or both fish.
Feeding:
These slow fussy eaters are one of the hardest types of
fish to feed within the trade. A disproportional number
of dragonets perish due to slow starvation. They require
a mature tank, at least one year old, with a
self-sustaining population of small benthic crustaceans,
mainly pods, and worms. There should be a minimum of 80
pounds of live rock per individual dragonet along with
no other tank mates that will compete with them for the
pods within the tank. A refugium should also be
considered essential to insure a sustained population of
pods for the dragonets to feed upon.
Occasionally
there have been reports of some dragonets adapting to
feeding on live baby brine shrimp or frozen and prepared
foods, however this is very rare and the diet still wont
provide enough nutrition to sustain the dragonet over
the long term. Dragonets will also occasionally graze on
algae off of the live rock, however algae alone wont
sustain them.
Disease:
Dragonets have a thick slimy coating that helps protect
them from external parasites. However should they become
infected, they are extremely sensitive to copper,
metal-based or formalin based meditations. The best way
to treat a dragonet is through environmental controls
such as temperature increases and salinity alterations.
Breeding:
Males can be told apart from females from their larger
size and much longer dorsal fin. Captive raised
dragonets have not yet been accomplished although there
have been a lot of reported spawning. The difficult part
of rearing dragonets is similar to that of all marine
fish, the fry go through a planktonic stage that is
nearly impossible to sustain in our current tanks. Common Species:
Callionymus
C. lyra
This fairly drab
looking dragonet is referred to as the Common dragonet.
It's commonly found in sandy areas of the east Atlantic
and Mediterranean. They grow to a maximum of 2 inches in
length.
Dactylopus
D. dactylopus
Commonly called the Finger Dragonet, it
is not often seen in the trade however is slowly
becoming more popular. In the wild they are one of the
few species of dragonets that are commonly found in the
tall sea grasses and among coral reef areas. They grow
to a maximum of 3 inches.
Synchiropus
Scooter Blenny S.
ocellatus
Often referred to as a Scooter Blenny or
scooter dragonet. They are fairly common in the trade.
Blends in with the rockwork really well, don’t live long
in captivity unless in a well established tank. They
grow to 2.5 inches in length
Green Spotted Mandarin
Goby This is the most difficult of the group, it
needs a large mature reef tank so that it will have
access to sufficient food.
S. picturatus
This is
the second most popular Dragonet commonly referred to as
the Green Spotted Mandarin Goby. Often seen in the
hobby. Males have elongated dorsal fin. Only keep one
male per tank.
Mandarin Goby S. splendidu
The most
popular of all the Dragonets, commonly referred to as a
Mandarin goby. They are most commonly exported from the
Philippines. Occasionally red colour morphs are found as
well. They grow to about 2.5 inches in length
Red
Scooter Blenny, S. stellatus
Commonly referred to as the Red Scooter Blenny. Common
name often causes confusion when it comes to the captive
care of these bottom dwelling species. Requires live
food. Often dies of starvation in a tank.
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