male or female

[PL-Reef]

Hey everyone, a local person I know is doing an experiment with breeding these guys and I just wanted to know if anyone could tell if this mandarine is male or female, I can't get a real good shot, thanks for any input.

 

[mwp]

Need better pics! Greatly Elongated first dorsal fin spine is a dead giveaway.

Matt

 

[mwp]

Typical Male Mandarin:

Typical Female Mandarin:

 

[PL-Reef]

Thanks for the photos, I saw your thread too but didn't know for sure which was which. Its hard to get a photo with its fins fully open like that, I believe it is a female though especially looking at your photos. Thanks for the help our fellow reef club member will be glad, his daughters the one doing the project so we wanted to be able to help.

 

[mwp]

FWIW, most of the mandarins you see are going to be males..females being smaller aren't collected as much. OF course, an nipped or snapped dorsal spine could give you the illusion of the fish being a female as well.

So, I have to ask, what exactly is the project?

Matt

 

[PL-Reef]

His daughter wants to breed them, from what I understand it is very hard to do, and keep them alive, but with her being so young and intrested it makes you want to help and hopefully mine is a female so she can give it a shot, I don't mind givin it up and buying a new one.

 

[mwp]

Well Plreef...give her my thread, all 21 pages of failure! The training onto frozen foods was CRITICAL. I'd think a taller tank than my 16" inside height would definitely help with success...I didn't set out to breed my mandarins, it just kinda happened.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[PL-Reef]

Her fathers real into coral propergation, I believe he even has a website. He knows that it probably won't happen but she thinks she's gonna be famous, so more power to her. I hope she does it though I'm sure she will have many problems along the way. Hey she starting young, you never know.

 

[Luis A M]

The fish is a male,and not in top condition.Is he feeding?

 

[mwp]

AHA. Luis's 100% matter of fact assertion that your fish is a male made me think I missed something. I took a CLOSE Look at the FIRST picture and well, there it is, a nice LONG extension coming off the dorsal fin, laying flat agains the fish, trailing down to the left side. Yup, it is a male.

BTW, re:

but she thinks she's gonna be famous

- not to burst her bubble OR discourage her but the Mandarins have been done already, i.e. 1996, 2000 etc.

If I had to pick my #1 next fish to try for HOME captive propagation with existing and available feeds and knowledge, I'd have to say Blue Dot / Blue Spotted Jawfish. Since I'm having horrible luck obtaining a pair (and as of today made a pact NOT to buy any fish for a while), my personal next project once I complete the mandarins is the Red Scooter Blenny.

MP