Male or Female Mandarin fish? Need help

[Oiva]

Hey guys

So i have this one mandarin fish that i want to get paired up. I have seen that
the male mandarin will have a large "spike" on the top of his head, but that some times these break off and people mistake them for females.

Any mandarin experts out there who could help me out?

Thanks

 

[billsreef]

Looks like a female.

 

[Paul B]

Bill may be correct (and I hate that) but I am going with a young male. The females smell better also.
Here is my pair spawning, the female is the cute, better smelling one on the right.
Yours does have that spine and I can see my female does not.



The female is on the left here



Here is that female when I got her and she was skinny. Notice the fin, no spine.

 

[HumbleFish]

looks like a female.

+2

 

[Oiva]

Thanks guys. For some reason i still think this is a male. It looks to be growing out a spine. I am not sure if thats something they are born with or grow out as the mature. I have had him for about a month and it still is pretty tiny.

 

[paka]

I think it's a male. My spawning pair look the same as Paul B's pair in that the female has no dorsal spine. I also have a trio of siblings where two are about an inch and a quarter in length. One of those has a short spine like your fish and the other looks like my female. The third sibling is slightly larger and has a long dorsal spine.

 

[Wilrok]

How many babies do mandarins usually have ?

 

[Wilrok]

And what do the fry eat ?

 

[rsman]

I vote for small male, up to 5000 eggs are reported I think 500~2000 depending on them was where I was Its been years I don't exactly recall the numbers, babies well that depends on luck.

the fry eat rotifers in the right conditions SS or wild plankton worked best for me, but I think Matt Wittenrich (hope i spelled that right) I believe had success with L rotifers.