Pairing Mandarin Dragonets

[Nemo Niblets]

Hi,

I have a male mandarin dragonet that's been eating frozen daily from a pipette in my Biocube 29. I found a female at my LFS and want to pair them up. Can I just put her in the tank and expect them to pair up? I don't want them to fight.

Thanks!

 

[tcmfish]

Yes if you know for sure it is a female. Females can sometimes be hard to find and make sure it is showing no sign of a dorsal spike and you will be good.

 

[Nemo Niblets]

Yes if you know for sure it is a female. Females can sometimes be hard to find and make sure it is showing no sign of a dorsal spike and you will be good.

Okay. I made sure, my LFS got in 3 and two of them are females. Thanks!

 

[SumBub]

Isn't the dorsal spike supposed to be short on a female? I've never been able to find a female mandarin so I can't speak from experience. But I've read about how to sex them and that seemed like the way it was seen.

 

[tcmfish]

Yup. That is why I said they are sometimes hard to find. Even harder to find spotted females.

 

[snorvich]

Hi,

I have a male mandarin dragonet that's been eating frozen daily from a pipette in my Biocube 29. I found a female at my LFS and want to pair them up. Can I just put her in the tank and expect them to pair up? I don't want them to fight.

Thanks!

Best to feed five to six times daily if you want them to survive.

 

[Sardaukar]

If the female won't accept prepared foods like the male, that 29 is probably not gonna keep her alive.

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

Isn't the dorsal spike supposed to be short on a female? I've never been able to find a female mandarin so I can't speak from experience. But I've read about how to sex them and that seemed like the way it was seen.

The dorsal spike is pretty much "round" on the female. Also make sure that the male is bigger in size.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

fwiw

fwiw

it's easier to sex pysch/green mandarins than it is to sex spotted.

29 gallon aquarium likely won't supply enough food for a pair of Mandarinfish and they'll likely only last as long as your diligence feeding them :sad2:

 

[Nemo Niblets]

Best to feed five to six times daily if you want them to survive.

Why do you say this?

I spend about 10 minutes feeding the mandarin a day. He will eat enriched mysis until he can't anymore. I've read about many people who feed them daily for years.

 

[Nemo Niblets]

it's easier to sex pysch/green mandarins than it is to sex spotted.

29 gallon aquarium likely won't supply enough food for a pair of Mandarinfish and they'll likely only last as long as your diligence feeding them :sad2:

I'm super diligent! :dance:

 

[Nemo Niblets]

If the female won't accept prepared foods like the male, that 29 is probably not gonna keep her alive.

I trained the male from live foods to frozen, and I intend to do the same for the female. If I can't get her to I'll give her away to a large system with lots of pods.

 

[Nemo Niblets]

The dorsal spike is pretty much "round" on the female. Also make sure that the male is bigger in size.

The male is about an inch and a half bigger in size.

 

[blennielove]

Best wishes with pairing them! It is very interesting when you can watch their natural behaviors in your fish tank.
Since you are triaining them to eat frozen I encourage you to try your best to train them onto pellets because they will definitely do better when eating something more balanced like Spectrum. I recently lost my after a year and a half. He was eating spirulina brine, mysis, and some formula one frozen. He was so round looking like he swallowed a marble most of the time and then he just decreased in food intake and passes away. I think pellets are the way to go if I ever try mandarins again.

 

[Nemo Niblets]

Best wishes with pairing them! It is very interesting when you can watch their natural behaviors in your fish tank.
Since you are triaining them to eat frozen I encourage you to try your best to train them onto pellets because they will definitely do better when eating something more balanced like Spectrum. I recently lost my after a year and a half. He was eating spirulina brine, mysis, and some formula one frozen. He was so round looking like he swallowed a marble most of the time and then he just decreased in food intake and passes away. I think pellets are the way to go if I ever try mandarins again.

I am going to try a mandarin diner in the mornings... You fill up a glass with pellets and lie it on it's side for the mandarins to swim in. You can see one at melevsreef.com. That way if I ever miss a daily feeding of frozen, it will be okay for a little while.

I don't really know how I will train it on pellets though... I'll probably swap the mysis with pellets, just a couple like I did with live brine to frozen brine to frozen mysis.

 

[mark0933]

I must have been pretty lucky finding a few spotteds in both male and female - differentiating in spotteds is pretty easy, and has nothing to do with the dorsal spine. The females tend to have a much "pointier face" and the males tend to have a much blunter face with a more pronounced forehead (kinda reminds me of a bull terrier nose if you understand what I mean)

Just my experience,

Mark

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

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This is my breeding pair. My female sports a bit more orange. You can see the dorsal fin pretty clearly. I have seen bins full of mandarins and would never be able to differentiate the females from males from facial structure differences. Perhaps, I am just not as observant. They had about 1/2 inch difference in size when I first introduced them. Soon they started following each other around the tank while looking for pods.

 

[davelin315]

I struggled to get my large male mandarin to accept any other mandarins in the tank. My male is very large, everyone that sees him says it's the fattest mandarin they've ever seen. He eats only live foods that he finds in the system. I have added several females (I make sure they are by keeping them in a separate system to allow their dorsal fin to grow back if they are indeed males that have been attacked) and he has killed all but the last one to go in. This one is about 1/4 his size, if that, and he doesn't pay her any attention, although I'm hoping that changes when she grows up!

 

[Elysia]

ShrimpChipGal -- my female spotted looks a lot like yours -- she has a lot more orange on her than my male, although my male is about twice her size. And my female gets all bloated w/ eggs the way that yours appears in that video! I love the spotteds, definately one of my favorite fish.

 

[Nemo Niblets]

Argh now I want a spotted mandarin. Can you mix them with psychedelics?