Fish of the month · September 2026
Mandarin dragonet
Synchiropus splendidus
One of the most photographed reef fish and one of the most often starved. This entry is about feeding it properly.
Mandarin dragonet hero photo
- Size
- 6–8 cm
- Tank
- 110 L, mature
- Temp
- 24–27 °C
- Salinity
- 1.024–1.026
- Diet
- Copepods
- Difficulty
- Advanced
Why it starves
Mandarins graze on copepods all day. A new tank has none. Without a mature refugium or a fish already trained onto frozen food, the fish thins within weeks while looking perfectly healthy.
How to keep one
Tank running twelve months or more, live rock, a copepod culture seeded monthly, and no fast competitors for food. Buy captive-bred where possible; those usually accept frozen mysis.