A few years now. The female started her life with me in this very aquarium back when I had H. reidi horses, before the big vibrio attack. I think I got her in early 2008....don't have the exact date, but I have pictures of her from May 2008. I got the male in early 2009, I think. The male was a tennant of my 110g aquarium for quite some time. When the H. Reidis succumbed to vibrio, I broke down the horse tank and transferred the female into the big tank with the male. There had always been a good supply of pods in the tank for the female when she lived in the 37g, and my male had pods from the 110g's fuge and he learned to eat frozen (through no doing of mine, I might add). IMO when I transferred the female into the big tank, the male sort of "taught" her to eat frozen while she was living in the big tank with him. They also pair bonded in there, which was really nice to see. When I had to move and break down the big tank, I took a risk and transferred them both into the H. erectus tank, which was not being shut down but rather just moved. I knew they were both eating frozen, but I still felt it was a risk because, as we all know, mandarins snack all day long on copepods. I was prepared to return them if necessary, but I thought it would be worth watching to see.
As you can see, my fears were unfounded. They eat out of the food bowl as easily and as peacefully as the horses. In fact some days I literally have 4 horses and two mandarins crowded around the bowl at the same time. I have plenty of copepods, isopods, and various nameless critters observable on the glass, and the general body shape of the fish looks good and healthy. I've said it before, though: I would not recommend anyone new to the hobby try and do this. My mandarins converted to mysis on their own, and had they not done so, I would have simply returned them when I broke down the big tank. In general, a 37g tank is too small for a single mandarin, let alone two.
