Scooter Dragonet

The scooter dragonet is a small bottom-dwelling fish with a flattened body spotted in brown, white and rusty red, which moves over sand and rock surfaces by "scooting" in short pushes. It is sold under the name "scooter blenny", but it is not a blenny; it is a dragonet, a relative of the mandarin fish. The male's first dorsal fin is tall and sail-like, bearing dark eyespots and lines. In the trade the name "scooter" may be given to several very similar Synchiropus species.

Like the mandarin, it feeds on tiny crustaceans such as copepods and amphipods. Unlike the mandarin, some specimens accept frozen food over time; that is why it is described as "easier than the mandarin". Still, even a specimen that has taken to prepared food depends on the natural food on the rocks. In a new or small aquarium it wastes away from hunger within weeks; the specimens sold are wild-caught.

From Indonesia to the Pitcairn Islands in the eastern Pacific, it lives at depths of 1–30 meters in sandy lagoons, on sheltered rocky reefs, on rubble and algae-covered bottoms, and even in tide pools. In small, loose groups it picks up tiny invertebrates from the bottom.

• Volume: At least 200 liters; a mature aquarium with plenty of live rock that has been running for at least 6 months.
• Water: Salinity specific gravity 1.023–1.026, pH 8.1–8.4, temperature 24–27°C.
• Copepods: A refugium or regular additions of live copepods help a great deal.
• Substrate: Areas of fine sand and rubble; it may rest half-buried in the sand.
• Reef compatibility: Reef-safe; it leaves corals, shrimp and snails alone.

Carnivorous. Its natural food is copepods and amphipods. Introduce frozen mysis, copepods and enriched brine shrimp gradually; offering them together with live brine shrimp or live copepods makes the transition easier. Regularly check whether its belly stays full.

Peaceful and slow. Fast-eating fish grab the food before it does; mandarins and other dragonets that consume the same copepod supply compete with it. Males are quarrelsome towards each other.

Good companions: Clownfish, cardinalfish, firefish, royal gramma, calm blennies, ornamental shrimp.

Avoid: Other male dragonets, sand-sifting gobies that consume the same food source and copepod hunters such as the six-line wrasse (in a small aquarium), hawkfish, aggressive damselfish and dottybacks.

Kept as a single specimen or as one male with one female. In a large aquarium rich in copepods there can be 2–3 females per male. Two males in the same aquarium fight with their fins spread.

At dusk the pair rises together into the water column and releases eggs and sperm; the eggs drift away. Spawning can be observed in the aquarium, but raising the fry is not achieved under home conditions.

• The biggest danger is starvation; if the belly becomes hollow, provide extra copepods and live food.
• Because its skin is covered with thick mucus it is relatively resistant to white spot, but quarantine is still recommended.
• Protect pump intakes with sponge.

The male's first dorsal fin is tall, sail-shaped and patterned; the female's is low and plain. The male is usually slightly larger.