Ora Mandarins Arrived today

[davocean]

Mandarin's are one of the easiest fish to sex there could be, male has a dorsal spike, female does not, period, could not be more simple.
The ONLY time there is an issue is if the spike gets bit off or something, making it look like a female until the spike grows back.
Clearly this is not the case here, both are obviously male, and I guessed that from a blurry pic, in person this would be completely obvious.

 

[helpinsmepls]

They are telling me spotted mandarins are harder to sex. I guess the females can have a short spike much like some less dominate males, and that's what makes them harder to sex then ORA blues AKA Greens.

The only way to tell is when they get older and start to carry eggs.

Ive never read this or found any information on this. Defiantly something allot of people have missed apparently, and something I would like to find out more about.

 

[JG1]

Here's a spotted female

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJSr3_qfI4

 

[JG1]

male/female pair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STWZ0ogQyWE&feature=related

 

[davocean]

The spotted mandarins do have a smaller dorsal fin spike than the green/blue, but it still is fairly obvious.
I wear reading glasses, w/out them it might take a second or two longer for me to ID them in person.
Maybe w/ VERY young juvies it might be more difficult, but it's hard for me to imagine it being tough by the age they are ready to ship.
What bugs me about this is we promote responsible reefkeeping, tank bred/mariculture when we can, and people are paying alot more for these ORA mandarins in an effort to be responsible(last I checked it was about $13-15 for WC, and close to $80-100 for ORA tank bred, give or take a few bucks)
Sending someone 2 males as a "pair" is definitely not in line w/ responsible reefkeeping IMO.