I got a male mandarin this evening.. put him in the tank and everything seemed ok until they come face to face.. we are talking major fighting and the female was kicking his butt. This looked very aggressive so I ended up getting him out and putting him in the refugium.. Is this normal?? should the pair have been introduced in the tank at the same time? Is there any hope of them being in the tank together without a killing?
help!!! mandarin's fighting
- Thread starter beashay
- Start date
jmaneyapanda
Commencing hatred
yes, they shouldve gone in at the same time. are you sure they are a male and female? it is a risk, so it is up to you.
DrBDC
Active member
One time my pair was getting rather aggressive too. The smaller female had a hold of the male on the side by the gills. They were going in circles. I broke it up and then they reversed rolls. I broke it up again and watched them for about an hour and kept interfering when they got close to each other. Then it just quit. Mine were brought in togather and had been togather since very very tiny about a year earlier. It's been a good month since and never saw that behavior again. Normally they hunt near each other and even do the water column dance togather.
Domboski
New member
A 55 would be plenty of room if they are eating frozen foods and there is a lot of live rock. If they are not eating frozen foods then wpar has a point.
They can wipe a pod population pretty quickly. I have a pair of Mandarins in a 20 gallon nano but they both eat Mysis, Arctic Pods and Cyclop eeze. I still supplement pods and I have two pairs of breeding shrimp that also feed them every few weeks.
They can wipe a pod population pretty quickly. I have a pair of Mandarins in a 20 gallon nano but they both eat Mysis, Arctic Pods and Cyclop eeze. I still supplement pods and I have two pairs of breeding shrimp that also feed them every few weeks.
zoanthid2009
New member
the unmentioned trickery- getting them to eat frozen food:rollface:
garvondavis14
New member
DOMBOSKI how long have you had your pair?
Domboski
New member
I have had my one Mandarin for about a year and introduced the second a couple of months ago. They took to each other right away (luck) but then I noticed mini spouts in the second week. Now they sleep near each other at night.
The female was introduced second and she is smaller than the male. She wouldn't eat frozen foods for the first week but as she witnessed the aggressiveness of the male towards mysis, I think she couldn't help but try it out. Now she is willing to eat most frozen foods. The arctic pods seem to be a mood thing. They both don't always seem interested in eating them consistently.
The female was introduced second and she is smaller than the male. She wouldn't eat frozen foods for the first week but as she witnessed the aggressiveness of the male towards mysis, I think she couldn't help but try it out. Now she is willing to eat most frozen foods. The arctic pods seem to be a mood thing. They both don't always seem interested in eating them consistently.
