Dragonet - Overview On The Dragonet Species

The Dragonet family of fish is well represented in the wild yet only a handful of popular species enter the marine business. The biggest of them can reach up to 12 inches in length but most of them reach four to five inches at most. 5 inches is the normal maximum length most common species that are brought in will attain. They are a benthic species of fish that spend most of their time on the substrate and they are common all over the Indo Pacific.

Mandarin fish and the Scooter Blenny are brought in by the largest numbers . They are commonly confused with gobies and sometimes blennies as their names suggest. Fish stores around the world will normally have a few of these fish for sale at any given time.

Most dragonets have a largely triangular head and a mouth structure that is perfectly suited to picking off small crustaceans and worms from the substrate and rock. Dragonets are some of the hardest fish to feed in the hobby. As such, they usually require a large established marine aquarium that can produce enough copepods to sustain them. Fortunately, they can be trained to accept certain foods right the right methods. Even though they may be feeding prepared foods, they still do require copepods to do well in the long run.

They are not known to be aggressive and are largely peaceful with many types of fish. Most fish in the same aquarium tend to ignore them as well. However, large predators such as moray eels, lionfish, snappers and groupers will quickly consume them. They reserve their aggression for other members of the species. This is especially true when housing two male dragonets together.

Dragonets are usually collected from their habitats en masse despite the fact that they fare rather poorly in captivity. Because of this, a large majority of them will eventually perish due to lack of proper food. Dragonets should only be kept if you have a large established tank with an ample supply of copepods for them to feed on.