🐠 Green Mandarin Dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus)
A Swirling Psychedelic Pattern of Green, Blue and Orange • A Slow, Graceful Grazer Across Sand and Rubble • A Prized Showpiece for an Established Reef
 
📋 The Green Mandarin Dragonet is one of the most visually spectacular fish in the marine aquarium trade, instantly recognisable by its swirling psychedelic pattern of green, blue, and orange lines that make it look almost painted rather than naturally occurring.
It comes from shallow lagoons and sheltered reef rubble zones across the Western Pacific, from the Ryukyu Islands through the Philippines to Australia, spending its time slowly picking through sand, rubble, and live rock in search of tiny invertebrate prey. Every Green Mandarin Dragonet we ship is feeding well.
Naturally slow-moving and unhurried, this species relies almost entirely on grazing live copepods and other microfauna throughout the day, rather than accepting scheduled feedings like most aquarium fish, and is best suited to a large, well-established aquarium with a mature live rock and sand bed capable of sustaining an ongoing copepod population. With a mature reef system and a substantial standing population of live copepods, it thrives as a prized, advanced reef display fish. It's fully reef safe and peaceful. It reaches 6-7cm, so a 225L tank suits it well, well established with mature live rock.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Psychedelic Colour Pattern: Swirling green, blue, and orange markings unlike any other reef fish
🐟 Slow, Graceful Grazer: Spends its day picking through rubble and sand for microfauna
🌿 Fully Reef Safe: Compatible with corals and reef invertebrates
🍽️ Needs an Established Reef: Thrives in a mature tank with a self-sustaining copepod population
🧠 A Prized Showpiece Fish: A centrepiece species for experienced reef keepers with the right setup