I introduced a male to my tank last night and after he and the female came face to face a major fight began. My female is bigger than the male and she put it on him to the point that I had to break them up a few times and when it just persisted had to remove him to the refugium. Anyone have any thoughts.. he actually looked like he had two spots on his tail that were missing fin. I am wondering if perhaps the female that I assumed I had may in fact be a male that somehow had a damage dorsil fin... wonder if that is possible that something ate it or somehow it was damaged and that she is actually a male. Does anyone have any pics of a female extended that I can look at to see if there are any other characteristics that I may see. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
mandarin pair fighting
- Thread starter beashay
- Start date
Domboski
New member
Link to your old thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=945769
Best picture I could find for now: http://static.flickr.com/57/157872447_88b5262ba4_m.jpg
My guess would be you have two males. Can you post a picture?
Best picture I could find for now: http://static.flickr.com/57/157872447_88b5262ba4_m.jpg
My guess would be you have two males. Can you post a picture?
David M
New member
It's a PITA 
Go to "my gallery", click "upload photo's". Then you should be able to browse your files and submit the photo, make sure it has been resized propperly if necessary. Once you have it in your "gallery", open the photo. At the very bottom is "use this in IMG tag", copy that and come back here. Begin a response and click IMG above, paste the tag and your photo will show up in your post.
Gotta be a better way, eh?
Go to "my gallery", click "upload photo's". Then you should be able to browse your files and submit the photo, make sure it has been resized propperly if necessary. Once you have it in your "gallery", open the photo. At the very bottom is "use this in IMG tag", copy that and come back here. Begin a response and click IMG above, paste the tag and your photo will show up in your post. Gotta be a better way, eh?
Update.. after being seperated all night and day I guess the female had actually missed him because I put him back in the main tank and he has been there for 2 hours now and not one mean thing has happened knock on wood.. Theyre not really paying much attention to each other but would much rather have it that way then fighting..
mwp
In Memoriam
I was able to get online last night via Panera 
- got a response off to Beashay. Wanted to include that email here with my thoughts (mostly based on working with monogamous cichlids) that *might* help other folks who find themselves with a similar situation:
IF you actually have a male and a female, not 2 males (which is possible), I would simply turn the tables. After your male has recouperated and is healthy, take the female out of the main tank, and place the male in there...female goes in the fuge. Give it a couple days for the male to become established, and then reintroduce the female. She has the size advantage, but HE will now have the territorial advantage. This makes it a more level playing field. If this doesn't work, you likely DO have 2 males. I haven't had any problems placing 1 male and 1 female together, but my Mandarins were already "paired" at the LFS. My Red Scooter Blenny male is HUGE compared to the current female, but when she was introduced he went into a courtship mode vs. aggressive mode. It seems that most Synchiropus do not tolerate other members of the same species and SEX in a smaller
tank...i.e. I tried to add a 2nd female to my pair...it was my first female that caused problems...the male was pretty much uninterested. In the group of RSB's I picked my current female from, the males fought with each other, and the females fought with each other, but there weren't any aggressive actions between the sexes.
FWIW,
Matt
- got a response off to Beashay. Wanted to include that email here with my thoughts (mostly based on working with monogamous cichlids) that *might* help other folks who find themselves with a similar situation:IF you actually have a male and a female, not 2 males (which is possible), I would simply turn the tables. After your male has recouperated and is healthy, take the female out of the main tank, and place the male in there...female goes in the fuge. Give it a couple days for the male to become established, and then reintroduce the female. She has the size advantage, but HE will now have the territorial advantage. This makes it a more level playing field. If this doesn't work, you likely DO have 2 males. I haven't had any problems placing 1 male and 1 female together, but my Mandarins were already "paired" at the LFS. My Red Scooter Blenny male is HUGE compared to the current female, but when she was introduced he went into a courtship mode vs. aggressive mode. It seems that most Synchiropus do not tolerate other members of the same species and SEX in a smaller
tank...i.e. I tried to add a 2nd female to my pair...it was my first female that caused problems...the male was pretty much uninterested. In the group of RSB's I picked my current female from, the males fought with each other, and the females fought with each other, but there weren't any aggressive actions between the sexes.
FWIW,
Matt
