One of my favorite reef-dwelling fish is Synchiropus splendidus–common name, Mandarin Dragonet. Wherein lies the problem: unless you can train a mandarin dragonet to recognize “dead” foods, or you’re willing to pay $20 a week to buy live “Tigger pods” to repopulate your reef, the mandarin is likely to starve in captivity. Ironically, a seahorse tank provides the perfect environment for mandarin dragonets to flourish. Despite their vacuous expressions and generally peaceful tendencies, most mandarin dragonets are intelligent fish that can and will learn by observing others. Specifically, they watch the seahorses eat from feeding bowls and figure out that whatever is in the
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Cooperation on the Reef
Last night, while working on the third Shinobi Mystery, I glanced at the tank and noticed something I rarely seem to see with a camera handy: Red the fire shrimp cleaning Flappy the mandarin dragonet. A couple of days ago, I snagged this photo of the process just before the aquarium lights came on: It’s rare to see a cleaning when I can film a video, because Red (like most fire shrimp) prefers to stick to the safety of his cave during “daylight hours” on the reef. Last night, however, everything aligned, so here’s your Tuesday aquatic treat – bath
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