Blue Manderins..

[sneaky ferret]

I have gradually put my reef style system together over the last few months. I have had a male blue manderin for about a month, two days ago I purchased a female. At first they seemed to get along well. But toward the end of the first day the male began bullying, even apears to bite her, although she does not apear to have any torn fins or other injuries.

What should I do? Will they get over there relationship difficulties?

I'm thinking of putting a small mirror (with smooth edges) in the tank to remind him of how males look & to give her some time out from his harasment.

 

[tamra&steven]

i havent had those fish myself but my fish that have fought with each other have not gotten along and i end up taking them out of the tank usualy to have two fish the same male of female you need a mated pair.

 

[ezy33]

I suspect he's in love.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

What size tank are we talking about?

 

[cmor1701d]

How big is the tank?
How did you sex the fish?
That does not seem to be mating behavior. You can see that here on YouTube.

 

[SkinnyPete]

I'm not insinuating here that you haven't done your research, but I have to ask - Do you have the proper environment to care for 2 mandarins? I hate to be this guy, and don't take offense. This is a very demanding fish. It took me over a year to have a pod population heavy enough to maintain 1 in a 110g tank with a fuge. You don't state what size tank you have or how much rock, but you'll need a very mature tank to keep these fish. Most of them starve after 3-4 months unless they are eating frozen foods - a rarity.

With that aside, if you accidentally have two of the same sex they may fight. If they go past the "courting" stage and start "mating", they'll swim together locked up toward the top of the tank. It happens fast but they will do it quite frequently if they are mating.

Your bigger concern, again, is the food supply.

 

[sneaky ferret]

He has a funny way of showing it!

 

[sneaky ferret]

Including the volume of water in the fillter 200 liters. (Don't know in gallons, Im a metric man)

 

[pat8you]

200 liters = 52.8344105 US gallons <--- google

Thats probably pushing it for just one mandarin. If you have two they will definitely starve eventually. They may be fighting for space. You should find the second one a new home and keep a really close eye on the first one.

 

[sneaky ferret]

The anterior of the male's dorsal fin is elongated, female's isnt.

 

[sneaky ferret]

Thank you, I will take your advice. I am thinking of getting a brine shrimp cullture happening. I dont live far from the ocean & I was considering checking out the mulltitudes of small shrimp that live in the sand at a spot I know. Just a bit worried about diseases. Was also thinking of looking for somthing I could potentialy culture from the ocean. Some species of mosquitoes breed in brackish water as well, do you think that wriglers would be ok...?

 

[pat8you]

I would probably stay away from taking thing out of the beach and ocean. There are a lot of diseases and parasites and such that you could contaminate your tank with.

Lots of people use a pod pile to help boost their population. That might help you keep the one mandarin fed.

 

[ezy33]

I kept a pair in a 30 gal with no problems. Of course it had a 20 gal sump and a 5 gal refugium. I suspect you have two males or for some reason he wants a devoice,

 

[melosu58]

You will need a good pod population.

 

[cmor1701d]

Brine shrimp are not very nutritious. Mandarins need copepods and amphipods and lots of them. You will need a good sized refugium to cultivate them in. You can get a detrivore kit from IPSF.com, InlandAquatics.com, eBay, and other sites.

You should get some from different sources to get variety.

It does sound like you have them sexed properly, but there's no guarantee they will pair up.

 

[sneaky ferret]

My aquarium shop actually took her back, Whew. They wont normally do that. Unfortunatlly as yet I hav'nt located a supplier of captive bred pods in Australia. I'll see what I can find when I look some more. As bio/enviro lab. nerd I would enjoy geting a pod/macroalgea culture happening, & I am going to start researching how I can do it right now. Thank you all so much for your help!

 

[pat8you]

Good to hear you took him back. It may be possible if you start culturing and breeding pods. It seems to me that a little research and patience is the key to a happy aquarium. Best of luck with your mandarin

 

[cmor1701d]

You normally get pods along with LR, especially fresh uncured rock. That would be a good starter colony, but you would need a much larger tank.

 

[SkinnyPete]

My advice, try, try, try to feed him frozen food. It took mine 5-6 months but eventually she started eating frozen brine, and then mysis. Don't give up on the frozen. Most won't seek it out and there are many ways to "trick" them into eating it - but, it's well worth the effort. Especially for a 50g. If you can somehow work a fuge into your system...and not one of those small hang on backs (tried one of those and failed miserably) that would very helpful too. These guys just need a huge pod population and most recommend at least 75lbs of LR for 1.