Mandarins

[micol23]

I was wondering what people's experiences are with having both psychedelic and spotted mandarin in their tank. I currently have a larger male psychedelic and a smaller spotted female who is constantly chasing him around and nipping his tail. Is this normal? Courtship?
Thanks for your replies.

 

[fish boy]

i dont know much about them except that they eat copeopods mine diedwithin the first week

 

[marine fanatic]

Micol, do you have a good amount of live rock/live sand? Mandarins feed primarily on copepods and live rock is generally where these critters come from. You can shine a flashlight in your tank about 2 hours after your lights turn off and if you do have copepods, you will see them running around after dark feeding on the sand/rock. Mandarins do not fare well against competing fish that eat copepods either......what other livestock do you have in your tank?
I have over 70# of live rock in a 55 and 1 Mandarin....from what I have read, that is maybe enough to support ONE Mandarin....how large is your tank?
You can do a search on this forum and you will find a wealth of information regarding the care and maintenance of Mandarins. As far as the female chasing him and biting his tail being courtship, I have no clue since I only have one......It is possible that the female is chasing the male away from feeding areas????

 

[rockster]

The two do belong to the same genus but different specie. Nature has it programmed for them not to mate inspite of having opposite sexes for the above reason. Their genetic make-up are different (of course), and when mixed during reproduction, none of the offspring will likely survive (if they ever mate) and if there were survivors, the likelihood of having mutation is higher and therefore are unlikely to reach reproductive age and will not propagate the "new" mixed breed. Now and again, we hear stories about 2 different clowns mating. Well, these are exceptions rather than the rule. Corollary to that, I never hear of their offsprings reaching maturity (granted that predation is eliminated in the reef tanks) and have reproduced. Therefore, my take on this behavior is that it is likely an aggression rather than courtship/mating dance. Note that in higher forms of animals like dogs, where genes are much more complex and numerous compared to fishes, interbreeding is possible producing mutts. For them it seems to be the rule rather than exception. No wonder their female species are termed "bitches"

 

[charvel]

I have a spotted Mandarin,it's doing great. I have had him for 3 days now I have 60 lbs of lr The previous owner,who's also a board member (great guy) had him for five months and eating brine.He took brine from me the first day I put him in. He is selling some other nice stuff in the classifieds.

 

[micol23]

To answer some questions, I have a 75 reef with a Powder Blue Tang, Clarkii Clown, Anthia, and the 2 mandarins. Assorted corals and 2 bubble anemones. I don't think food is the issue, as I have plenty of rock, probably over 125 pounds. My assumption is that the 2 species just don't coexist well, just wondering if anyone else has both of them in the same tank. She is really rough on him, and is about 1/3 the size. He, who I thought was supposed to be more aggressive since you should only have 1 male per tank, has never turned around on her at all.
Maybe the spotted is the more aggressive species?

 

[thehat]

Yea can only have one mandarin at a time unless you have a 90 gallon. She will probably chase him until he dies of stress. I had two scooter blennys in my 55 that did the same thing.