Ruby Red Dragonet in a 32g?

[ReefPup]

Hello I have a fluval flex marine that I have ripped out the AIO area and plumbed it into a 10 gallon sump. I have had the tank set up for about 4 months. I got an initial pod population from my live rock from the gulf. I have since added 2 jars of assorted benthic species of pods. I am feeding 25 drops of Phyto-Feast Live daily, Is this enough to sustain a Ruby Red? I want one so badly but I don't want to watch a fish starve to death either. I will be ordering a pre-quarantined fish offline so I wont be able to see if it eats frozen like i would if i bought from an LFS. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tamberav]

Do you want one bad enough to turn the tank into macro algae dominant instead of corals?

Heavy planted tank and feeding the pods.. makes for a large pod population.

 

[Liquid361]

Def plan on it NOT eating anything but pods. A tank that size you’ll have a tough time maintaining sufficient pod population. I’d turn the sump into a fug with chaeto, live rock, and add lots of pods… plan to do this at least biweekly for at least a couple months or more before adding a RRD. That’s what I’d do anyways. Obviously you’ll have to feed the pods a bit more as well. Perhaps it’s overkill, but I hate seeing any animal starve.

 

[ReefPup]

Def plan on it NOT eating anything but pods. A tank that size you’ll have a tough time maintaining sufficient pod population. I’d turn the sump into a fug with chaeto, live rock, and add lots of pods… plan to do this at least biweekly for at least a couple months or more before adding a RRD. That’s what I’d do anyways. Obviously you’ll have to feed the pods a bit more as well. Perhaps it’s overkill, but I hate seeing any animal starve.

There is a fuge with chaeto. So there is a chance I could produce enough to sustain a RRD?

 

[Tamberav]

I kept 6 of them in a 30g macro dominant tank for 5 years before moving with a 20g fuge, huge skimmers and feeding the pods like crazy.

If you are just doing a typical reef, there is certainly a good chance it could starve if it never takes prepared. Scooters do take prepared easier than mandarins though.

Dosing phyto doesn’t mean you will have enough pods for the 10-15 years this fish lives. These fish do starve often in nano reefs (and sometimes in large tanks) and there isn’t an easy solution like x amount of phyto and you are good.