spotted mandarins

[lawboy888]

i bought 2 ora's spotted mandarins,one large and one small. i put both in my 250 galllon reef, figuring the tank is large enough for two. i noticed they hang out with each other all the time, some time one will get testy and nip the fin of the other..nothing major...i wondered if they are pairing up.

 

[snorvich]

Well, first test would be if you have a male and female. Are they hunting or just sitting?

 

[namxas]

I agree with Steve...do you have a M-F pair? If they're both young males, they might not be showing much aggression yet, but it will likely escalate as the fish reach sexual maturity.

 

[schmnr]

The males are normally larger, i dont know how to sex them other than that.

 

[lawboy888]

cant make out the sex yet, but they are constantly together hunting...i am hoping they paired

 

[BL1]

The male will have a pointed dorsal fin like the picture below, the female won't.

 

[namxas]

These aren't spotteds, but the idea is the same:

 

[snorvich]

More difficult with spotted. Especially youngish ones.

 

[Angel*Fish]

True.
You need to watch them until you know for sure they are M/F. I don't think two adult males will coexist even in a 240. I know of two that fought in a 180. If you're seeing them rise up in the water column at dusk doing their mandarin dance that is a good sign.

 

[Pallobi]

True.
You need to watch them until you know for sure they are M/F. I don't think two adult males will coexist even in a 240. I know of two that fought in a 180. If you're seeing them rise up in the water column at dusk doing their mandarin dance that is a good sign.

agreed, especially with the dusk dancing part... GL

 

[lawboy888]

i am watching them. they seem happy hunting together

 

[snorvich]

I don't think they will do mating behavior until they are mature. In my case, having lights that simulate sunset seemed to provoke mating behavior (but these were not spotted).

 

[Elysia]

I had a mated pair of spotteds. The male was bigger than the female, but I also had him longer (i.e. he could have been older, although the female never did grow at the rate of the male.) The spotted males do not develop the elaborate extended dorsal that the mandarin species shown above gets -- their first dorsal fin is longer than the subsequent (and that of the female's), it just doesn't grow as long as the other species.

Although my pair did spend time together and did mate (and I agree that simulating a dawn and dusk period, along with moonlight, helps to recreate the times when these fish would naturally be pairing and mating), the female could be quite nasty towards the male. At times she would nip and peck at him. She was the only fish in the tank that ever gave the male mandarin a second look; he could basically do whatever he wanted in the tank.