How Old Is My Dragonette?

[Learner]

Was watching my tank last night, and wondered if it is possible to tell the age of a fish :-\
Probably seems silly, but Drago (sadly, all fish are named  :-[ ), my Dragonette has grown so much in the two months or so since he came to me, I was wondering if it was possible to estimate his age....

and how old he would be likely to reach......just thoughts, but I'm sure some of you have opinions?

[pinkorchid]

He has grown!!! I remember you posting a picture when you first got him. Very pretty...

I really have not idea but have also been curious....I'll be checking back to see what others say.

[Just_Greg]

i had a mandy for about 8 years, and i'm convinced that he died of old age.

how big was your fish when you got it, how long have you had it, and how big is it now?

[Learner]

Thanks Amy, he is gorgeous isn't he?

Greg,
He's been with me since September, measured about four inches then, is about five inches now, but has increased in girth by about another fifty per cent in that time too.

He takes live food, and is now also taking frozen. He's no problem to feed at all, in fact his appetite is enormous!!

[Just_Greg]

at 5", your fish is well into adulthood, and was an adult when you acquired it.  so, it's at least a year or two old.  beyond that, it's anyone's guess.  congrats on doing such a nice job fattening it up!

[psykokid]

congrats on getting him to eat frozen. Mines an obstinate bastard and only hunts pods. I first thought when i got mine he was going to clean out my pods and id have to learn to wean him onto frozen. Not a chance.. doesnt even make a dent in my small critter population of my tank. Enough so im thinking bout trying to find him a little girlfriend, that or a ocellated dragonet (scooter blenny)

[Just_Greg]

here's a pic of our mandy...he was a super nice fish:



found another...this was right as he began to go "off his feed" due to old age (note that he's thin):

[Bergy]

greg, now, your just showing off...

[Learner]

What a lovely looking fish he was Greg, lovely shots too.
 I hope to keep Drago for another few years to say the least ;D
He is a 'nice' fish, when I'm watching the tank, he seems to swim to the glass and look back at me; it's sooo cool. 8).
When he sleeps, he sacks right out across his favourite rock -scared me a little the first time I saw him that way-.

[psykokid]

plus the fact they sort of go pale when they sack out as welll.. first time i saw that i was like wtf, i had read about them doing it before so i wasnt worrried.. but still odd to see..

[Learner]

plus the fact they sort of go pale when they sack out as welll.. first time i saw that i was like wtf, i had read about them doing it before so i wasnt worrried.. but still odd to see..

Weird that, isn't it? I notice it more with the Yellow Tail Damsel; it is practically white by morning ???

[Just_Greg]

plus the fact they sort of go pale when they sack out as welll.. first time i saw that i was like wtf, i had read about them doing it before so i wasnt worrried.. but still odd to see..

you really do need to be careful, because at night these fish will look and act DEAD.  i actually, reached in and grabbed him once to remove him, and he surprised me!

another thing to remember is that these fish have a rather toxic slime coat, and i was moving about 10 mins away, so i bagged the mandy and my trio of chromis in the same bag, and by the time i got to my new place, one chromis was dead, two were bad off, and the mandy was even affected by his own toxic slime.  i had to give the chromises artiFISHal (hehe) respiration to get them going again.