All fish / Callionymidae

Spotted Mandarin

Synchiropus picturatus

Also known as psychedelic mandarin, spotted mandarinfish, picture dragonet, psychedelic dragonet, green mandarin spotted, target mandarin, spotted dragonet, mandarin goby, ปลาแมนดารินจุด, ニシキテグリ スポッテッド, スポッテッドマンダリン, ikan mandarin totol

A small, slow-moving dragonet covered in black-ringed orange spots on a green to grey body, with a tall spiny first dorsal fin in males. Reef keepers prize it for its striking pattern and its charming habit of hopping over rock while picking at tiny crustaceans.

Care at a glance

Care level

Hard

Temperament

Peaceful

Adult size

6 cm

Temperature

24 to 27 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

200 litres

Keep as

Singly or as a male and female pair; never two males

Diet

Carnivore: live copepods and amphipods grazed from live rock, plus trained individuals may take frozen copepods, rotifers and enriched brine shrimp

Swims

Bottom of the tank

Lifespan

3 to 5 years

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Western Pacific: Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, northern Australia

Breeding

Pairs rise from the rocks at dusk to release floating eggs, and spawning happens fairly often in established tanks. Raising the tiny pelagic larvae needs rotifers and copepod cultures and is achieved only by dedicated hobbyists.

Good to know

Wild fish often starve in new or small tanks, so only add it to a mature reef with a large population of copepods or one that is already eating frozen food. Males fight each other, and its skin slime makes it unpalatable to most predators, so it rarely has trouble with diseases such as ich.