Mandarin pair ?

[kaoticnoodle]

Was surprised by getting two mandarin dragonets yesterday for early valentines day gift!!
Only problem is I believe they gave her two males... From what I've read the males have the elongated spine... Now does that mean the females don't have a dorsal spine at all or just not as long as the males ,because the two we have one has an extremely large spine while there other is a less then Half the size of it's counterpart....

 

[austinsdad]

good luck with those in a 24g tank. outlook not good to keep them fed.

 

[kaoticnoodle]

Thanks for the luck
(28g if it makes a difference )
They've been eaten fine so far... She had the lfs feed them frozen and live brine and they ate both before she bought them... Also cultivating copepods ... Last night fed them twice with live brine and frozen brine ... Going to start hatching our own shrimp as well to make it easier
Any thoughts on the sexing question?

 

[austinsdad]

I've read that the male's is only longer and the female does have one.

 

[austinsdad]

..and the female's is rounded instead of spiked. HTH

 

[kaoticnoodle]

..and the female's is rounded instead of spiked. HTH

Yeah that's what I thought but an aquarist told me that the females have the spine as well just not as long but as far as I was concerned was the males have the spines and the females don't ... So far they haven't done anything to each other and actually swim together but I noticed they did sleep away from each other not sure If they usually sleep together although they just got to know each other

 

[austinsdad]

Oooh! Found a comparison pic....

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Red Mandarin

 

[kaoticnoodle]

Forgot about this... Well turns out the smaller was also a male , I've since then traded the smaller one for a female... They been great together , do everything together!! Since then I've Supplied a mass population of pods and what not... I also do a daily feeding of brine shrimp in the am and pm. Ive got my male to eat pellets, pacific krill gel, and they love all the microscopic snacks in Coral Vibrance<---- Highly recommend
Everything in the tank loves it!!' the male has grown alot the female has only grown a lil but she has also grown accustom to the krill gel although she won't really go for the pellets yet