Saltwater Fish
Spotted Mandarin Dragonet.
The psychedelic spotted mandarin — bold green, black, and orange 'target' markings on a tiny hovering body. Peaceful and reef-safe, but an expert fish: it grazes copepods constantly and needs a mature reef with abundant live rock or training onto prepared foods.
Live fish are priced per supplier batch — prices may vary. Call to confirm current pricing.
- Condition
- new
- Fulfillment
- Local pickup — Erie, PA
Every animal is acclimated and health-checked in-house before it reaches the sales floor. This is a species we carry — it's most likely in the tanks around delivery days, but live stock changes daily. Please call (814) 456-9445 to confirm availability before you drive in.
Care at a glance
What to know before you take one home.
- Care level
- Expert
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Community
- Semi community
- Adult size
- 3.5"
- Min tank size
- 30 gallons
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Scientific name
- Synchiropus picturatus
Good tank mates
The spotted (psychedelic) mandarin is slow, peaceful, and reef-safe, so it suits calm community reef tanks with other gentle fish like firefish, small gobies, and clownfish. Avoid fast, greedy feeders such as wrasses, damsels, and anthias that will outcompete it for the tiny live prey it needs, and don't keep two males together as they will fight. It ignores corals and invertebrates entirely.
Good to know
Mandarins are among the very few animals whose blue coloring comes from actual blue pigment cells rather than the light-scattering structures most blue animals rely on.
Stock and individual temperament vary — call (814) 456-9445 for pairing advice before you buy.
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Visit the store
660 East 14th Street,
Erie, PA.
Mon–Fri 12–6 · Sat 11–4 · Sun closed. Call ahead on livestock — what's on the floor rotates.