My scooters are acting really weird.

[Kevin McG]

After rescuing one of my scooters from the overflow he made a beeline to the other scooter(smaller of the 2)

They have been following each other around for about an hour.Is there a way to tell male-female?

 

[clamm]

one will have the top fin flick up every once in a while, but I dont know which sex that is. I have heard from someone that its an indication of sex but never verified it.

 

[~Flighty~]

I wonder if it is the same as mandarins, Pointy front top fin? The body shape is so similar. If one grabs the other by the neck I would bet two males.

 

[starrfish]

The male has a very large top fin that he will flare when he's courting the female. It's very noticeable. Here's a very bad pic of my male (behind the algae on the glass), but you can clearly see the top fin displayed.

 

[clamm]

yup thats what i was talking about...

The male has a very large top fin that he will flare when he's courting the female. It's very noticeable. Here's a very bad pic of my male (behind the algae on the glass), but you can clearly see the top fin displayed.

 

[Kevin McG]

One was flaring the top fin and I didn't see the other doing it at all.Maybe I have a male/female??

 

[starrfish]

You might have a male/female pair. In addition to flaring his top fin, my male turns a weird olive color when he's courting the female. You can kind of see it in the pic. Believe it or not, that's the female underneath him (again behind the algae on the glass!).

 

[dz6t]

Are scooters and Mandarins closely related? What do you feed the scooters? Thanks

 

[nunofs]

Yes, they're in the same genus (Synchiropus), and they also eat pods. Some may take frozen foods, like some mandarins do.

Nuno

 

[NateHanson]

They're also all refered to as Dragonets (mandarinfishes, dragonets, and scooter blennies). I think that designation encompasses the Synchiropus genus as well as one or two others.

 

[starrfish]

Mine eat tobiko (flying fish roe). I don't have many pods left between the scooters and 6 Line (I don't have a fuge yet), but these guys LOVE the tobiko. I also see them chowing on some frozen food, but mostly they eat the tobiko. I feed them twice a day.

 

[NateHanson]

How do you feed the tobiko to them Daire? In a little jar like Marc Levenson posted?

 

[starrfish]

Nope, I just mix it in with the frozen food and tank water. I drop it in the tank with the turkey baster. The tobiko is heavy so it sinks. My clowns love it too - they catch some while it sinks but most of it sinks to the bottom for the scooters.