Calling paired mandarin owners...

[Troender]

Make sure the female is smaller than the male. When I tried to pair them in the past bigger females will beat up on smaller males

Having the exact problem right now. I had a breeding pair, lost the male, and have recently bought a new male, smaller than the female. The female was not happy with her new husband. But it seems to have calmed down a lot in two weeks. Yesterday I actually saw them 1-2 inches appart, without her chasing him. Well, at least for 5-10 seconds. Today I see that the male's tail is less ruffled too. She obviously doesn't nip the tail anymore. I keep my fingers crossed that she comes to her senses, and see him as a possible mate soon. She is really fat, and is probably full of eggs. And I miss the nightly sessions checking for those eggs almost impossible to see. I have ordered phytoplancton and rotifers, and hope to find someone who can share a little of a copepods culture as soon as the phytoplancton is up and running.

Back to the mandarins: I think the key to pairing them is patience. Let them get used to each other, without giving up right away.

 

[mkoop]

Circling back for a minor update to this.

They have been successfully living together for 4 months at this point, the new female has fattened up considerably to the point I am trying to determine if it is possible if they are spawning. I have not seen any eggs, though they have been rising into the water column, side by side, under the actinic lights on a nightly basis now. Such a beautiful thing to watch.

On another note, the female never took to eating pe mysis until about a week ago. Not sure what triggered her to start eating them finally, but after about 4 months of presenting it to her and her wanting nothing but to feast on pods she is now inhaling it.

The boy is as fat and happy as ever, flashing a lot more than he used to.

 

[MondoBongo]

that is fantastic news! it is one of my personal goals to eventually get a spawning of these guys and attempt to raise the fry.

i know with my mandy she has taken a while to settle in. she is just now getting to the point where she doesn't vanish when i walk up to the tank too quickly. sometimes it just takes a while for them to adjust i suppose.

glad to hear everything is going well.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

Glad to hear that it worked out so well!! I can't wait to have a big enough tank for a mandarin, definitely on my list of must have fish.