mandarins

[blennyluv]

HI
i bought a female mandarin that was starving from the lfs here in my town, but the male i have was being really mean to her. so i put her in my 5 gallon pod tank to fatten her up. any ideas how to introduce them when the time is right? she is soooo skinny, i am thinking she just was not strong enough to handle him just yet. maybe i should put HIM in with her instead of the other way around. what do you all think? No yelling at me for having the mandarins, i am raising pods and stuff for them. lots of work but they are worth it. my 55 is maintaining the male so far and my pod tank is packed full so far. (i am sure she will help out with that ha ha)
oh, and why would he be mean to her????
here are a couple of pics, this IS a female, right?

 

[blennyluv]

Anyone???

 

[ccamaleon]

i dont know much about it but i be doing my research and found out that there's always a problem when u put a male first and then the female, is better if u introduce a pair at the same time, the only tip i can give u is, sepparate the female from the male but if u can put both fish tanks together,or in the same tank put a glass separator to let the male see the female that way can see each other and don't get hurt. remember the female have to be in great shape before introducing it to the male

 

[gregm779]

In my 125 I had a male green mandarin and have added a female green mandarin and a female psycadelic mandarin. I never had any issues at all, I'm sure you will have some aggression at first because you have a smaller tank. I would probably try taking the male out, put him in some type of QT put the female in the main tank wait a few hours and put the male pack in. Even if he's aggressive let them do their thing for at least a day and hopefully they will calm down.

 

[aquafox]

I have had good luck with putting mandarins in either way. Male first or female first....but I think tank size has alot to do with it. My pair were introduced separately, in this particular case, female first, and they are now inseparable. My tank is a 220 reef and the pair can be seen swimming together throughout the day. I also found that some mandarins, in addition to eating copepods, will eat brine to supplement. My female eats some brine along with her pods...and has taught the male to do the same. My neighbor comes to visit and calls them the "fatties" because they both look too chubby to swim! lol Oh, also, on a more serious note...if the female is very skinny, be careful of putting her in your tank with anything that could make a meal of her. I have a mated pair of coral bandeds that I have had since my saltwater beginings and had to battle them off of a weakened goby in the past. If the skinny one is not quick enough or strong enough to esape, they will capture it! Mine had the goby by the tail and was dragging him to his lair...my husband quickly brought me some tongs and I scared the shrimp and made him let go. Again...good luck with yours!!

 

[blennyluv]

Hi all!!
I am assuming you all believe this IS a female, correct?? thanks for all the good advice, i had thought about putting the male in the pod tank when i put the female in the main tank. letting her establish some territory and then putting him back in. this aggression was kinda bad. he grabbed her by the back bone several times and would not release until i chased him off her, and it was always when the lights went out on the tank and they just had the lights from the living room, he like snuck up on her. once he was even shaking her, kinda like a dog. maybe tatoo is a bit more territorial than others, or maybe he wanted courtship and she was just too weak??? so anyway, she is very very skinny, when you look at her from the back she is just all backbone and ribs. poor thing. i kept watching her, (at the lfs) knowing one was enough for a 55 gallon tank, more than enough, but the last time i went in i felt soooo sorry for her i took her home. anyway, i am looking at getting a refug for my main tank and i will keep raising pods in the qt tank, and keep hatching brine, tatoo lived off brine until the pods established, i had no idea what i bought when i got my first, and he about starved to death. i watch my fish closely and noticed him losing weight and then researched (bad ) but anyway, my problem is solved and he is fattening up (slowly) and is looking great. she even has a mark on her where he had hold of her, so in her state, i felt it best to wait.
thanks for all the great ideas.
:happy:

 

[gregm779]

Definitely a female, if he was that aggressive and she is that weak try your mehtod first and let us know how it goes.

 

[aquafox]

Let me ask....just because you seem a bit uncertain...no offense intended, but you are certain your male is a male, right? I only ask because you have questioned a couple times about the female. The difference in the male and female mandarin are very obvious if you can see them at the same time. The male has a very obvious "stalk" that is part of his dorsal fin and sticks up tall when extended. The fin basically looks like the one in your photo with a tall pointy part added to the front of it. It is obviously different from the female....so if your two have very different dorsals, unless the one in the photo had his "pointy" part bitten or pulled off, it's a female and the one with the pointy tall dorsal is a male. And hey - experts out there - if there is an additional way to tell, please chime in! Or correct what I am calling this stuff! I feel like a kindergartener trying to explain something and not knowing the words! lol Anyway...good luck with your mandarins....I sure do love mine - and having a pair is just beautiful!
Ah ha! here is what I think I was trying to say! lol Check out this link - it is of the goby description here on SWF - the last couple lines describe the difference in male and female - and their photo is of a male with his dorsal spine laying down - https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4

 

[blennyluv]

ok ok, i am sure tatoo is male, he has a very long stalk, and i was pretty positive this was female, because she didn't, but by the way he reacted I thought i was missing something:notsure: . anyway, thanks for reassuring this is a female. someone also said females are hard to find in stores, maybe i got lucky, i don't know. i can't wait to get them together but it is looking like it will be awhile.
thanks again

 

[zelfin]

I have thought of getting a mandarin also. I would like to chim ein with a simple question. (maybe not so simple)
How do I promote the growth of pods??

 

[aquafox]

Okay...someone besides me better help here. My answer to Zelfin's question would be live rock live rock live rock. I started with a 55 gallon tank with about 80 lbs of live rock. Not enough....one mandarin and the poor guy almost starved to death! So I am up to 450 lbs of live rock now, 300 lbs of live sand, 2 mandarins, a scooter dragonet, and a yellow coris wrasse....all of who I understand to eat pods...and all are healthy and doing well over the long term. My tank is loaded with pods even with the fish feasting on them. I am aware that once depleted, they don't come back without some sort of re-seeding. And many people build refugiums to propogate them. You can purchase "pod kits" to get them started or you can do like I did and just get lots of live rock and hope it is full of them. Luckily, mine was.
One thing is for certain....it is important to be certain you have a solid pod population before getting something that lives off them exclusively. My first mandarin refused to eat ANYTHING but pods and an occasional live brine shrimp....keeping him alive was a huge undertaking!

 

[blennyluv]

amen to that aquafox. i got my but out of pure ignorance, and did not know he would starve!! so i purchased pods, poored half the bottle in my quarentine tank half inthe main tank and viola! pods. keeping an eye out to make sure they maintain~

 

[zelfin]

Where did you buy a pod restocking kit?

 

[blennyluv]

hi zelfin
its a place on line called Ocean Pods
essentiallivefeeds(dot)com
they are a great help!!!
25 bucks(plus shipping) for a bottle of 1000. but well worth it!!
if you luv mandarins, this is a must!!!

 

[nflnutswif]

Originally posted by AquaFox
I am aware that once depleted, they don't come back without some sort of re-seeding.
I always thought that pods reproduced in the display? I have plenty of live rock and my tank is almost 2 years old, My manderine is the only (purchased) pod eater in the display. Do I have to worry about depleation at some point?
:nervous: