Keeping fish in pairs and groups

Bigger thread wins :p
I guess, so I'll post to this one.
I was planning on getting a pair of Mandarins for my 220 (been fishless over a year and has upstream and downstream fuges) and had heard that they would do well in pairs and possibly spawn in the tank. I asked the LFS owner (who I trust, and BTW, won't sell any of the several mandarins he has in his tanks) and he told me that a male would probably kill a single female and I would need to get 3 or 4 females to keep the peace. Again, he's not selling them so that's not his motivation (and I don't think he'd do that anyway). I don't think I'll have any problem supporting two mandarins, but I'm not really sure I'm ready to try 4 or 5. Has anyone had any experience with this? Good or bad?
 
I have never heard of anyone having trouble with a single pair. Two males will fight, but a m/f pair should be no problem. The general consensus seems to be that the spotted variety is more likely to acclimate and thrive, but many people keep the greens as well. I have both and both are eating prepared foods as well as all the bugs they can catch.
 
Thanks David, I'd never heard this before the other day and it had me kind of worried. Maybe the LFS owner got two males by accident, I'd definitely heard that would be a problem. I was also curious on the spotted vs green, thanks for answering my unasked question.
Did you buy yours as pairs, or as individuals and pair them in your tank?

DonJasper, actually I read all of this thread and the other one (and did a search) before posting. I noticed three posts on people with mandarin pairs and was hoping to verify that they're actually pairs and not groups. Can't be too cautious.
Also I was wondering if anyone had any bad experiences since, as I mentioned I'd never heard of this being an issue before.
 
I still have my pair and they are still very much in lurve. ;)

The male was added 4 months before the female. :D

Regards

Lisa
 
Thanks very much for the info.

And, Peter, thanks for starting this wonderful and informative thread.

I only noticed one mention of Pearly Jawfish (Opistognathus aurifrons). I've heard they work well in groups and are rather social. Anyone else have experience with them?
 
Fish that I got in my 450 g tank and have spawn regularly are:
Yellow tail blue damsels
Mandarin
Orchid dottyback
Clowns Ocellaris, Percula, Pink Skunk
Banggai Cardinals
Pajama Cardinals
Purple fire fish (lost with tank crash)
Fire fish (now)
Randall Schrimp Goby
Cherup Angel
Royal Gramma
Yellow clown goby
Marine Betta
Not breeding yet Yellow head Jawfish
There maybe several others I forgot.
I think keeping fishes in breeding units is one of the best ways to observe them like in the wild.
Minh
 
BTW, like Peter, I am to just keep mostly small fish in my tank. I start to get very interested in shrimp gobies and got one very unusual Black Sailfin Shrimp goby. I am looking for a mate for him but unsucessful so far.
Minh
 
PRC said:
.... I asked the LFS owner (who I trust, and BTW, won't sell any of the several mandarins he has in his tanks) and he told me that a male would probably kill a single female and I would need to get 3 or 4 females to keep the peace......
Click to expand...
This is flat wrong. If your tank is large enough, you can keep one male and (I read that we can keep) several females (green mandarin). I only keep pairs only. These fish will ignore each other untill spawn time in the evenning as the light going out. They will then seek each other and will spawn. They can do several days of false spawn dance and will spawn once every two weeks or so. They day that they will actually spawn will be easy to predict. The female will be so full of eggs that her stomach looks like she swallow a chicken egg earlier that day.
I have had a large female that attack a small male before but I think this is very rare. I trade the small male back to the LFS and got one that is larger than she is and it was fine after that. They spawn a month later.
Minh
 
Minh Nguyen said:
I think keeping fishes in breeding units is one of the best ways to observe them like in the wild.
Minh [/B]
Click to expand...

I hope once we can convince more poeple about that and no fish will have to suffer a single life ;)
 
Minh Nguyen is correct, it's tank size.

When I first started reefing I would always ask how many (x) fish I could have in my tank. Never did they once ask my size of tank or reef setup, just X many (usually one). Tang police would have a hayday at my home, as many tangs live happily in my tank.

I think a standard policy is to put the minimum number of fish in a tank as possible to reduce bioload, and when adding fish that may not get along - add them at the same time either bt purchasing them at the same time or isolating the old fish while the new acclimates.

Good luck!
 
Thanks Minh,
Sounds like I should go for a Mandarin pair with a male slightly larger than the female.
Can I assume that your jawfish are a pair as well? Were you able to determine their sex or did you just get two and hope it works out. I can't find any info on determining the sex of Yellowhead jawfish anywhere.
I like your idea of going with only small fish. It's nice to see someone with an even bigger tank going that route.
 
PRC said:
....

Can I assume that your jawfish are a pair as well? Were you able to determine their sex or did you just get two and hope it works out. I can't find any info on determining the sex of Yellowhead jawfish anywhere.
I like your idea of going with only small fish. It's nice to see someone with an even bigger tank going that route.
Click to expand...
I only have one Pearly jawfish. There is a way to determine the sex durring breeding season. I read that the male have two spots on their jaw hile the female have none. I am not sure how accurate this information is. Ocassionally, I see Pearly jawfish with two spots on them.
Minh
 
I am rather sure that my Eviota so. Red Bar male has been protecting eggs a view times. Unfortunately I lost them all in a periode of 2-3 Month one by one. Nothing to see and all other gobies in the same tank are fine. Now clue, maybe life span was reached?

My C. personatus have had eggs several times. They always choose to place the eggs in the housing of the Tunze Turbelle and I found out during cleaning the pump. Was quite suprised as the male suddenly jumped into my hands.
 
Hi Peter,

Read in your first post that you have a L. swalesi pair. How do you tell the sexes apart? Scott Michael says in his book that they are dimorphic, but then does not go on to say what the differences are....

Myself, I only have pairs of clowns - A percula, ocellaris and polymnus....and also a pair of yasha gobies.
 
:) I think I sort of lost track of where this thread is going???? I like it though ;) , so I have a question about Flame Hawkfish. Does anyone have a pair and if so can you tell us anything about their spawning habits? Approx size of eggs? Incubation period? Size of larvae? First foods? - D
 
I have a pair of centropyge interruptus in my 150g tank. They hang out together all day and are doing great. I also have a pair of black occelaris and a pair of onyx percula. I guess you can say, I have three pairs of fish in my tank!
 
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