Mandarin Melee

[gREEF stricken]

to the Mandarin knowledgeable...

i I have had a big beautiful female for about a month now. Just tonight introduced a male and soon thereafter she was very unhappy with him and simply latched on to whatever fin she could get to. He tries to get away but she is relentless...I saw she had actually torn his spikey fancy fIn OFF. I have since moved him in my little 14g cube with my Angler...any input here? I'm bummed. Was hopin for love at first sight.


GS

 

[mandarinfanatic]

You may have two males or two females for that matter

 

[gREEF stricken]

You may have two males or two females for that matter

I want to think that's not the case, because the shop owner is very knowledgeable and has been in the business for a really long time. And he took a long time to make sure he got the right one. that said, there are no guarantees of course.

GS

 

[MondoBongo]

i've heard anecdotal reports of some unscrupulous suppliers cutting the spike off male mandarins to pass them off as females. as yet unverified, but you never know.

how big is the tank? maybe they were just too close for comfort.

fish are a lot like any other animal, or humans for that matter. sometimes they get along, some times they don't. maybe your female mandy is a perfectly nice fish, but the male insulted her mother shortly upon entering the tank?

 

[sanchoy]

large female vs small male will result badly. try to get the same size, or slightly larger male.

 

[Betta132]

I would not suggest keeping him in the tank with the angler. Anglers are notorious for swallowing anything that isn't twice their size, so unless it's a really really tiny angler...

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Female mandarins are very size conscious. She will kill a male if he's smaller. Always get the biggest male you can. I was very surprised to learn this. I saw it in a documentary about Mandarins. It's on YouTube if you want to check it out. In the meantime, get the male out of there and back to the shop ASAP.

 

[MondoBongo]

Female mandarins are very size conscious. She will kill a male if he's smaller. Always get the biggest male you can. I was very surprised to learn this. I saw it in a documentary about Mandarins. It's on YouTube if you want to check it out. In the meantime, get the male out of there and back to the shop ASAP.

do you happen to have a link or a name for the documentary? i would very much love to see it. good information on these fish can be so scarce.

 

[gREEF stricken]

Yes, Rex is about half the size of a ping pong ball.

I would not suggest keeping him in the tank with the angler. Anglers are notorious for swallowing anything that isn't twice their size, so unless it's a really really tiny angler...

 

[Betta132]

Aw, must be adorable <3 I love tiny anglers.
Still might want to keep an eye on him. I doubt he could swallow a mandarin, but he might try!

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Sorry Mondo, I went through my viewing history but could not find that video. If I come across it again, I'll post it. I did not know info on Mandarins was scarce. You can buy them commercially bred these days. I'll keep trying to find that vid tho, because it was amusing as heck. My fav part was about little males that learned to hang around the spawning area. The big males get the females all worked up and ready to breed then sometimes the big males start fighting with each other, and in that moment that little males that have been spying on the festivities zip in and breed then race off and hide and wait for another chance.
And Betta123, I thought nothing ate Mandarins because they taste bad. Don't they exude toxic mucus? Maybe Anglers don't care tho. They are pretty greedy.

 

[Betta132]

I know mandies taste bad to things, but anglers are really really greedy. Given the fact that the angler is tiny, I doubt there's much risk... even if he does decide to lunge at the mandy, he'll spit it out once he tastes it. They don't have any large teeth or anything, the worst it'll do is maybe slightly scratch the mandy.

 

[RJT]

You should take him back to the store since you don't have a safe long term place for him.