How to obtain a sexed Mandarin

[swedge]

I was just curious how most people ontain their 'mated pairs' of mandarins. Is there a reputable place that sells them sexed online, or do you use your LFS and sex them via the dorsal fin yourself?

I ask this because I am thinking of adding a pair of the psychedellic mandarins to my 2 year-old reef set-up.

 

[FMarini]

male mandarins are recognizible. They have elongated dorsal rays, no need for the LFS to match them up

 

[mwp]

swedge, if you find any online vendors willing to sell sexed mandarins, let me know - no one seems to be willing to sell me sexed red scooter blennies (which are just as easy to sex as mandarins)!

FWIW, I've obtained all my mandarins from LFS's in the Chicago Area. Females are definitely harder to come by though; this is at least partially due to the size factor...when I was working for a shop that imported from Bali, we had several "size grades" of mandarins available to us; the owner did the ordering and he never brought in "small" mandarins...always "big". That translates to very few if any females arriving at that shop.

Frank called it; sexing males vs. females is EASY, UNLESS the fish has any dorsal fin damage. Basically look for healthy, active, pristine fish and you'll be able to sex them yourself with ease.

Matt

 

[mwp]

BTW, the mandarins are reportedly non-monogamous spawners in the wild, so it SEEMS that simply placing a male and female together *should* suffice. When I tried to place my 2nd female in with the pair, the male paid little attention to her, but my first female beat her up pretty quickly.

Matt

 

[swedge]

OK thanks for the quick answers.