rtelles February 25, 2015 Share February 25, 2015 And I'm probably a bit too excited about it. I've been attempting to spot feed her since I got her a few weeks ago, essentially spraying enriched brine shrimp and/or reef frenzy into the area right in front of her and she seemed to give me the same quizzical look that my cats give me when I try to give them a french fry. I guess she picked a bit off the sand while I was away and decided she liked it because I spot fed her yesterday and she straight up inhaled a piece of reef frenzy, followed by a whole piece of brine shrimp. I didn't think a little gal like her would attack it with such gusto. I'll continue to supplement her tank daily with pods from my main DT to ensure her health (she's in a nano), but I'm pretty happy about this. Side Note: I'm pretty sure it's a female due to the lack of stripe on her pectoral fins, but I would be happy to be corrected if this isn't the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowsingle February 25, 2015 Share February 25, 2015 Good luck.....that is a beautiful fish...I saw a bunch in SoCal when I lived there.....hopefully you can have long term success.... Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTricia February 26, 2015 Share February 26, 2015 Ohhh. Nice! Sam (L82RISE) has a pair. Hope his follow suit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles February 26, 2015 Author Share February 26, 2015 Yeah. Seeing his pair in person was the impetus for my own interest in ruby beds. They're really neat, colorful little fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w February 27, 2015 Share February 27, 2015 I'm excited to follow your progress because I'd like to breed them. What size is your nanno? I was thinking to isolate pairs in very small tanks, like 3 gallons or so. Do you think that is an appropriate size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles February 27, 2015 Author Share February 27, 2015 That I couldn't answer. Right now they're in a 12 gallon edge. I spot feed twice a day and move chaeto from my main to the nano to transfer pods, and i started supplementing with pods purchased online this week so that they have plenty to eat. L82RISE actually has a breeding pair, so he might be a better resource. Mine just met. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b February 28, 2015 Share February 28, 2015 I have a pair of them that I hope will spawn soon. Beautiful little suckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles February 28, 2015 Author Share February 28, 2015 They really are beautiful, intereting little creatures. Mine haven't paid each much attention, aside from my female chasing around the new male a little bit. He's a little thin, as was expected, but I'll fatten him up a bit over the next few weeks and hopefully they decide that they like each other. Maybe he'll be smart and bring her flowers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w March 1, 2015 Share March 1, 2015 Do they eat adult brine shrimp, or is that too big for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE March 1, 2015 Share March 1, 2015 (edited) Congrats! Glad they're doing well for you. I agree with you that it is a female. They also love reef frenzy for me. LRS is really doing awesome things with their food. Dave, why would you want to isolate them in small tanks? I think the larger the tank the better for these guys. They are constantly moving about and exploring/eating and like to have a decent amount of room for mating (including height). Edited March 1, 2015 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w March 2, 2015 Share March 2, 2015 L82rise, I'd like to isolate pairs, and there are only so many bigger tanks to go around. Also, I like bare bottom tanks unless they need sand for shelter or caves. But if they don't have enough swimming space in a small tank and they're not happy enough to breed, then I'm being too clever by half aren't I? By larger setups, how big do you think their tank should be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE March 2, 2015 Share March 2, 2015 pairs can go together in the same tank and all will still mate (or you can go with the single male, multiple females). I have not done it but have read about others who have. Ruby Reds do not need a sandbed, but some of their close cousins do (such as morrisoni) because they sleep in it. The problem with no sand is that there will be less Pods to eat. In terms of tank requirements, I estimate that you need about 15- 20 pounds minimum of well established LR per fish, however if you supplement pods you can obviously do much less. For tank size based on their swimming habits/ size, I would say a 10 gallon is as small as I would go, but again they definitely like moving around all of the LR in the tank, so bigger is better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles March 2, 2015 Author Share March 2, 2015 I have my pair in a 12g Edge, which is a tall nano, with a fair amount of rock, and I spot feed twice a day into the rocks where they graze, though it's hurt my water quality a little. They share the tank with a clown and a yasha goby/shrimp pair. My female is the only one that has taken to frozen foods so far and has become very plump during the last month as a result, while the male I've had less than a week ignores anything except live food and is pretty thin, albeit very active and a healthy bright red color. The female has picked on him a bit, so he may just be acclimating, and hopefully he'll have a taste of the frozen mix and decide he likes it as well, but in the meantime I'll keep transferring and purchasing pods, despite the high cost. That said, I'll probably be moving them over to my old 40B when I upgrade later this month since, despite their diminutive size, they seem pretty cramped. I'd throw them in there now, but I already have a large mandarin who takes care of the many pods in that tank. I also may be over thinking things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w March 2, 2015 Share March 2, 2015 (edited) pairs can go together in the same tank and all will still mate (or you can go with the single male, multiple females). I have not done it but have read about others who have. Ruby Reds do not need a sandbed, but some of their close cousins do (such as morrisoni) because they sleep in it. The problem with no sand is that there will be less Pods to eat. In terms of tank requirements, I estimate that you need about 15- 20 pounds minimum of well established LR per fish, however if you supplement pods you can obviously do much less. For tank size based on their swimming habits/ size, I would say a 10 gallon is as small as I would go, but again they definitely like moving around all of the LR in the tank, so bigger is better. Thanks for this information. Many gobies live in harems, some don't. From what you're saying it looks like minimum tank size would be 10-15 gallons if it had lots of live rock. I don't mind them sharing a larger tank if larvae of both species are compatible. In other words, if one settles at 25 days and the other at 35, I don't need to be sorting out hundreds of tiny fish with different food reuqirements. In a worst case scenario, the larger fry would eat the smaller ones. Edited March 2, 2015 by dave w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w March 2, 2015 Share March 2, 2015 I have my pair in a 12g Edge, which is a tall nano, with a fair amount of rock, and I spot feed twice a day into the rocks where they graze, though it's hurt my water quality a little. They share the tank with a clown and a yasha goby/shrimp pair. My female is the only one that has taken to frozen foods so far and has become very plump during the last month as a result, while the male I've had less than a week ignores anything except live food and is pretty thin, albeit very active and a healthy bright red color. The female has picked on him a bit, so he may just be acclimating, and hopefully he'll have a taste of the frozen mix and decide he likes it as well, but in the meantime I'll keep transferring and purchasing pods, despite the high cost. That said, I'll probably be moving them over to my old 40B when I upgrade later this month since, despite their diminutive size, they seem pretty cramped. I'd throw them in there now, but I already have a large mandarin who takes care of the many pods in that tank. I also may be over thinking things. I don't think you're overthinking things. There is a lot of competition with the yasha for zooplankton in the 12gallon tank, and there is a lot of competition in the 40B with the mandarin. You'll need to keep up the pods to feed them all. You might consider a refugium above the tank where you can grow lots of turf algae and amphipods. As the amphipod population increases, they will be washed down into the main tank. Just an idea, nothing you need to follow. But you have a lot of pod eaters in your space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles March 2, 2015 Author Share March 2, 2015 Yeah, I spend more time thinking about pods than is probably healthy, since the species that rely on them are unfortunately my favorites. My ideal tank would have a pair of mandarins and a harem of ruby reds cruising the rocks all day, but my living situation precludes anything larger than a 4ft tank for a few years and I already spend way too much on supplemental pods as it is. I've had mixed results with baby brine supplementation ala Paul B's feeder, though I'll keep trying to incorporate that as well. I currently have a HOB refugium on my 40 that was stocked with pods for 6 months before I added the mandarin, and from which I transfer pods to the nano. The 40 has about 65 lbs of LR and has been established for a few years. The mandarin is about to be moved to a 4ft tank with a large refugium in a few weeks, and the ruby reds will go in the 40B, leaving the pig of a yasha to pick at whatever's left in the 12G on top of her normal feedings, though I will stop supplementing pods to the 12G once I move the ruby reds. I also have a 10G that is filled with chaeto and some pods from my reefs2go order that I add phyto to and will hopefully be a nice supplement, though I won't rely on it. In the meantime, I'll be ordering 2K pods every 2-3 weeks until I'm comfortable with the amount of available food. It's definitely an expensive option for keeping 3 fish, but I'd like to have them for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w March 2, 2015 Share March 2, 2015 Yeah, I spend more time thinking about pods than is probably healthy, since the species that rely on them are unfortunately my favorites. My ideal tank would have a pair of mandarins and a harem of ruby reds cruising the rocks all day, but my living situation precludes anything larger than a 4ft tank for a few years and I already spend way too much on supplemental pods as it is. I've had mixed results with baby brine supplementation ala Paul B's feeder, though I'll keep trying to incorporate that as well. I currently have a HOB refugium on my 40 that was stocked with pods for 6 months before I added the mandarin, and from which I transfer pods to the nano. The 40 has about 65 lbs of LR and has been established for a few years. The mandarin is about to be moved to a 4ft tank with a large refugium in a few weeks, and the ruby reds will go in the 40B, leaving the pig of a yasha to pick at whatever's left in the 12G on top of her normal feedings, though I will stop supplementing pods to the 12G once I move the ruby reds. I also have a 10G that is filled with chaeto and some pods from my reefs2go order that I add phyto to and will hopefully be a nice supplement, though I won't rely on it. In the meantime, I'll be ordering 2K pods every 2-3 weeks until I'm comfortable with the amount of available food. It's definitely an expensive option for keeping 3 fish, but I'd like to have them for a while. Can I make you a recommendation that might save a lot of money? Pick up a culture of tigriopus pods from one of our sponsors and keep them in the back of your utility room in the largest container you can hide from your wife. Trash cans are perfect. Tigriopus are about the largest copepods out there and they will live on inert food as long as you don't feed them too much. Give them good aeration. It should save you a lot of money in the long run. On the other hand you may be talking about amphipods, which are expensive because they're hand counted instead of poured with the water. Amphipods can also be easily cultured. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles March 2, 2015 Author Share March 2, 2015 Def not talking amphipods. The reefs2go pods are a mix of amphipods and smaller pods, but I started out by adding a few bottles of tisbe to my refugium a few months ago. Haven't considered setting up a large container, but will look into it. My questions would all revolve around how to harvest them. The problem I've noticed when trying to research pod breeding in the past is that nobody actually illustrates their setups, nor posts any videos from start to finish, and the pods are so tiny that it'd be hard to track them. The reason I assume my current transferring of pods to the 12g is successful is that the ruby reds immediately begin picking at the rocks and sand whenever I shake a bunch of chaeto from my fuge. I like the idea, though. Also, no wife, but I'm very much space-constrained in my apartment. Might be able to squeeze something into the closet, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w March 3, 2015 Share March 3, 2015 (edited) With no wife then the sky's the limit. Enjoy it while you can. Heck, you can use the coffee filter for pods one day, rinse it, then use it for coffee the next morning. Nobody will know any better! There are many ways to harvest copepods. Most harpacticoids only enter the water column at night, so you can filter them out of the water then. During lighted periods you'd have to try and scrape them off the sides, which is not fun. In fact, many people culture harps in permanent darkness. You'll need a fine mesh bag, put it in a bucket and then flow water with a variable speed powerhead. Turn the impeller speed as slow as possible. Harps don't have long antennae to get ripped off by the pump like calanoids do. Harps can be grown in high density and while most are benthic during the day, some have specific life stages as naups or while mating which brings them into open water during lit hours. Actually the amphipods bring much more bang for the buck so I'd recommend them more highly than copepods. Edited March 3, 2015 by dave w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles May 23, 2015 Author Share May 23, 2015 Quick update: the male dragonet disappeared after I transferred the pair to my main about a month ago. I don't have any particularly territorial or aggressive fish, so the reason for his demise is unknown. Was sad for him to go, though. The female is still alive and fat, but I'll get to her a bit more later. I found another male and was able to get him to eat prepared foods within a few days using the same method I used to get my green mandarin to eat prepared foods: spot feeding a combination of baby brine, enriched frozen brine, and cyclopleeze using a turkey baster. The mandarin and ruby reds are all in my 66 long and are all fat and eating well. I still supplement pods and set up a small culture of amphipods per Dave W's recommendation, so they have plenty to hunt, but I spot feed them in the same place at least one a day with enriched brine shrimp and reef frenzy, and add cyclopleeze and/or live bbs a few times per week. They've all become accustomed to congregating in the feeding spot when I approach the tank, so they make my life relatively easy. This may seem like a bit much, but it only takes a few extra minutes per day and I get to have three voracious pod eaters in my relatively small tank that I can't upgrade due to space constraints. The female and new male dragonet immediately took to each other in the larger tank. They spend the days foraging but inevitably end up hanging out in the same area of the tank after feeding. I also caught them doing the ruby red mating dance near the back of my tank one evening, which was very cool, but I wasn't able to get my phone quickly enough to record it. All that said, I noticed the female's round, plump belly today and realized that she's pregnant, so the pair is definitely spawning, which is awesome and was my goal from day one. So here's the new million dollar question: would I be able to sustain a healthy female mandarin and keep that pair in my system if I can train her to accept the same feeding regime as my male mandarin and the ruby pair and beef up my pod culture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles May 23, 2015 Author Share May 23, 2015 I realize that it wasn't clear in my post that I use live newborn baby brine shrimp, not frozen, the idea being that they'll attack the live bbs and accidentally stumble upon the frozen and realize that it's awesome. Seemed to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmerek2 May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 (edited) Will the tiger pods overpopulate and make them easy to catch like this photo? If so I'll start them. I dumped them in fishless 30g fuge and they slowly disappear Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited May 24, 2015 by gmerek2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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