Help! Spotted Mandarins keep fighting.

[Doyle]

Hi, I am very new to this forum (it's my first post!). However... I recently purchased a spotted mandarin about 5 days ago. I believe it to be male as it has an elongated spine on dorsal fin and its base colour is of green colours. Today I went to the same lfs and they had another spotted mandarin which they said was female and which I believe it to be as well! This is because it has a rounded dorsal fin with more brown colouration (right?). Well I introduced the second one to the tank and at first were flashing each other but mostly the "male". Now they just keeping biting on to each others gills and hanging on and tugging! its horrible to watch. are they putting themselves in a natural hierarchy? or is it a sign of 2 males?
Thanks.

 

[Chris27]

It may subside, but it's hard to say. Generally it's not a good idea to keep multiples of those in the same tank. If you can catch one of them, perhaps it would be a good idea to bring one back to the LFS.

 

[Doyle]

I am hoping it may subside and they work in harmony... I have seen many people keep small numbers of these in their tanks and it works fine. For now I have managed to catch one and put it in a breeder net. Do females and males fight each other though?

 

[olemiss reb]

Small numbers of juveniles are fine but once they are sexually mature they will kill each other. Males and females will not always pair up, as you just found out. This is the reason that mated/bonded pairs command a much higher price tag. It's hit or miss whether they will pair up.

 

[flyhigh123]

do you have the food supply to keep them alive?

 

[Doyle]

Well.... as it seems now. I placed the female in the breeder net until she stopped swimming around everywhere and calmed down. So I thought I would introduce her again to the male. Voila! They are now swimming around side by side grazing on my rocks and sand. Yes I have the dietary needs of these critters. Although both of these are happily eating brine shrimp and quite fat. I also have extremely mature live rock, live copepods and I am aiming to build a biological refugium within the next 2 weeks. I will try and get pictures soon. Does this site allow postings of pictures?
Thanks

 

[snorvich]

Well.... as it seems now. I placed the female in the breeder net until she stopped swimming around everywhere and calmed down. So I thought I would introduce her again to the male. Voila! They are now swimming around side by side grazing on my rocks and sand. Yes I have the dietary needs of these critters. Although both of these are happily eating brine shrimp and quite fat. I also have extremely mature live rock, live copepods and I am aiming to build a biological refugium within the next 2 weeks. I will try and get pictures soon. Does this site allow postings of pictures?
Thanks

Pictures would be wonderful!

 

[noahm]

Maybe it was personal. Last thing he said was "I'm just going to swim to the store for some beer". A month later she gets scooped up and finds out he never actually made it to the store. Once she settled down, he was able to explain himself and ....

 

[Doyle]

Ha! yes maybe it was personal. They are still swimming around together but sometimes the female swims off and leaves the male without him realising then he quickly goes in to panic and swims around panting while looking for her until he finds her again.. =] I am very pleased with this outcome. Will try and get pictures within the next couple of days.
Thanks