Urgent Mandarin Help

[~Flighty~]

Help, I don't know if my new mandarin is killing the other one or not.
I had a female (at least I thought it was a female), and got a larger male (I'm sure on this sexing) today.

They have been doing a lot of displaying, and now they are seriously fighting and both come back for more.

Do Males and females just do this or do I have an id wrong, or did I introduce them wrong??? Help

Should I seperate them?

Here is a pic of them displaying:
Smaller female(?) in front, male in back

 

[~Flighty~]

Here is a pic of how the male swam around the tank draging the female by her neck.

 

[~Flighty~]

I thought I was sure on the ID because of the short front fin on the smaller fish.

 

[NateHanson]

Hmm. That'd be my guess too. How big is the female? Is it possible that she's an immature male, and that's why the fin is short? (I'm not even sure if immature males have short fins - basically I'm just filling space until someone with some knowledge comes along.)

 

[~Flighty~]

They aren't all that far off in size. The one thing I read about is the spike breaking off during the capture and leaving the male looking like a female. I thought the fin really didn't look like that had happened. The end of it is smooth and rounded with no evidence of injury.

 

[dz6t]

Cindy, your PM box is max out

 

[~Flighty~]

Fixed PMs

Still not sure what to do about these two

 

[blajoie]

I know nothing about mandarins, but i remember seeing a video of 2 doing the exact same thing on melevsreef.com. Ill see if i cant find the video for you. From my understanding he said it was normal.....

 

[Marc]

It really looks like two males to me, even though the spike isn't visible on the second one.

Here is a video of my two Targets 'fighting' - it is the only thing I can decifer from their actions: http://www.melevsreef.com/video/love_bite1.wmv

I think the female mandarin's dorsal fin will look quite different, even rounded rather than have that flag.

 

[blajoie]

see, all you have to do is say his name, and BAM
Marc, you are the man

 

[~Flighty~]

Well, damn. They are sleeping on oposite sides of the tank now, but I guess if my "female" is a dude it isn't going to work out. They are doing exactly what is in that movie. Do you keep two males in your tank, Marc?

 

[Moe_K]

So what's pictured in the video: a courtship dance or a fight between two of the same sex?

 

[Marc]

If you want to see a courtship dance, watch this video instead:
http://www.melevsreef.com/video/mandarin.mov (I think it is a Nat'l Geographic video)

I have four mandarins in my tank, and the orange one definitely looks like a girl to me compared to the green spotted target. I've watched both of them do that gill-grabbing maneuver a number of times, but now it seems the orange one is the one that is more aggressive. The green one is quite a bit smaller than the orange, and tends to be ready to run any time it shows up. It is really too bad because I thought they'd get along.

If you want to see all my mandarins, you can see them in this video:
http://www.melevsreef.com/video/diner4.wmv

The blues are probably mated, as they spend a lot of time together.

And since this is the mandarin thread, I'll toss out these two articles in case they help a reader:
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

Hope that helps. I think you need to return one and watch for a girl. They are smaller, the colors less intense, and the dorsal fin should be relatively rounded.

 

[mikestod]

I would agree with Marc's assesment that the one with the shorter dorsal fin is a male. I have a pair in my tank and they are even doing the courtship ritual. My female has a rounded dorsal fin, quite unlike the angled front of the one you were thinking was female. It looks to me like that one has either had damaged its dorsal spike or is perhaps a juvenile that has not developed its spike fully yet.

 

[~Flighty~]

Darn heterosexual fish.

Now I have to figure out what to do. I don't want to move one of them to a different system since they are both slightly injured. I think keeping them in the same water would give them the best chance for full recovery with no infection. If I put one in the fuge I might never catch it again. Maybe a partition in the fuge that will let the pods go to his side would work.

 

[Marc]

Even though they are injured, they will heal completely once separated. I'd find it a new home ASAP and let the other heal up in your own system.

I don't recommend putting a pod eater in the refugium.

 

[Reef55]

I agree with them both being males unfortunetly. We finally found a female for our male... around her face is more red than green, and the front fin is rounded on the female, no straight edge at all.

 

[~Flighty~]

I'll find one a new home (already have an offer on it), but I want to give it its best shot at a full recovery. The refugium is a 75 gallon, so I'll divide it in half with something with some holes on it so I have a pod half and a mandarin hospital tank half. Only problem will be mandarin obesety. We have pods comming out our ears and at least one of the mandarins eats frozen.

I need to figure out which one to keep now.

 

[~Flighty~]

I forgot ot add, Thank you everyone for the quick help. The club is such a great resource when you screw up. And an extra thanks for the fast help all the way from Dallas (in spite of the fact that I are an Aggie Good thing you're not in Austin, Marc)

 

[denvig]

Looks like two males to me. A female should not have a point on the dorsal fin.