Call it whatever shade of red you want, but there’s no denying the flaming beauty of these dragonets. We featured the appearance of an unfamiliar dragonet a few months ago that made its appearance in various fish stores worldwide. They are still trickling in from the Philippines, but not enough to satisfy the growing demand for these swimming rubies.
We currently know very little about these dragonets, and the identity is still unclear. We’ve already discussed in the previous article the similarities it shares with various other species in the genus. However these have a rather distinctive look that separates it from the other species. Wether it is a distinct taxon, or at least a geographical variant is anyone’s guess for now. What we know for sure is they are entering the trade steadily and they are in hot demand.
Iwarna aquafarm has yet again, secured another batch of these critters and this time in a larger more substantial quantity. Having seen them in person, the red is absolutely gorgeous, especially when paired with the rich yellow ventral fins and belly, as well as the pearlescent spots. As with all members of the genus, the males sport a larger more striking dorsal fin which it can raise up and down at will. The dragonets appear to adapt quite well in captivity, and a great number of them were seen eating live artemia and brine shrimp soon after acclimation. The husbandry of scooter blennies and dragonets have often been somewhat less demanding than their more delicate and finicky counterparts – the Mandarins. But they still, would best be kept in a mature system with plenty of liverock with microfauna for them to graze naturally. We hope that a pair would eventually end up in the hands of a capable breeder, and maybe in the distant future, we’ll be enjoying captive bred specimens right from the aquarists’ home.
