two mandarins

[blennyluv]

hi
saved the female mandarin from pet shop, have a tank full of pods, harvesting every other day and moving to big tank
my male is NOT being nice to her
is he going to kill her?
keeps grabbing her by the back (especially at night) and wont let her go
any one know of any sights that i can check out behavior??
i may need to move her back to pet store or into pod tank for a bit ( she is really really thin, and this may not hurt) or should i move the male out, let her establish territory and move him back in??
any suggestions?
(please don't yell at me for the mandarins, i am raising lots of food for them and plan on adding a refugium soon)
any help would be appreciated, quick!! she is much smaller than he

 

[MzWeazelle]

Are you SURE the new mandarin is female?

 

[blennyluv]

she is very small and has no tall dorsel. i watched her in the pet shop for about a month, thought maybe it was broken in the ship, but looks to be in tact (unless juvenilles do not have the long fin ) she is like a little bigger than half the size of the male. i know she is in a very bad way as far as nutrition and her energy level is very low. so when he chases her (this is usually for a just a second ) she rests for a long time before she starts hunting again. she is very thin. could this be why he is not being nice?? i heard that a male and female mandarin would do fine together. so i have been looking very close at her top fin, but it seems to be normal. if i put her in the pod tank i take the risk of her gulping all my expensive pods. he doesnt seem to be really vicious until after i turn the lights off, and just the lights of the house are on, i suppose kinda like right after sundown for them. he had hold of her twice and then i netted him and put him on the opposite side of the tank and all was well. she seems to like him, but he doesnt seem to like her. wil lthis pass? is he just establishing territory? or is this sure death for her. she will starve at the store. but whats worse?

 

[wrightme43]

If it were mine I would put it in the pod tank and let her get healthy. I know pods are very expensive, but my understanding is female mandirins are hard to come by. If you could get them to pair it would be great. If she is thin and malnurished she will die no matter what the male does. If she is fat and healthy she will probley give him whats for and they will settle down. LOL JMHO though and I hope it helps you. Steve

 

[blennyluv]

my pod tank is a 5 gallon, i don't think it would take her long to wipe them out. i see lots of pods in my main tank now, but i am moving live rock back and forth alot. guess i could move her in there until it started to look skimpy. the more i watch her, the more i am convinced she just does not have the energy to fight back. is it normal for the male to be this territorial??? i didn't realize females were hard to come by. do juvinile males have the stumpy dorsel? i just felt so sorry for her.........

 

[MzWeazelle]

Males seem to be more common at the store than females, but whether it's because they survive the trip better or there are just more males out there is information I don't have. lol. We have a male and have been looking for a female for months with no luck.

I'd feed her up somewhere safe for several weeks and then try introducing them again. If "she" is a "he" after all it just won't work, so be ready to find your new friend a new home.

Best of luck!

 

[Angelscrx]

Quarantine, Quarantine, quarantine!!!!!!

I would move her out and fatten her up. Watch her closely the dorsal may not be fully extending and the male knows its a male. He may just be trying to court her but the girl is too weak to respond. Put her in the separate tank and have some live rock in the for the pods to hide. You may want to add some Vitamin C to the water to strengthen her immune system. She's not used to her new environment and may not eat due to stress. provide her all the food she can get. My 2 cents

 

[blennyluv]

moved her, she seems to be ok. started eating right away, not a lot, but pecking and resting. there is no tall dorsel on this fish, been watching her, got her to flare up, and its just not there. but i did not realize just how skinny she is. do they grab hold of the backbone when the court??? this seems kinda vicious, and she did come to him first, just sorta started to follow him, and he got pissed, would not let go. so i shooed him away, in 2 days, i shooed him off her like 4 times. she just didn't need that. she is pretty weak, and i did not realize it now she can just eat and rest and we will see, if she wipes out my pods, i have a friend that would take her, she would also have to raise pods. only has 30 pounds of rock. mine was pretty skinny too, but is getting pretty hefty around the tail area. i can see the bones in her tail!!!

 

[Terry B]

I think that moving her away from the larger male is a good idea. I have never seen a male attack a female like you describe. They may chase the female a little at first but not to the point that they are biting and holding on. More often, a female will nip at a curious male in the beginning. Then the male will establish itself. After a while they may not pay much attention to each other during the day. Once they pair up, they will often seek each other out as the lights begin to dim. Try to offer some frozen baby brine or better yet freshly hatched brine shrimp. Then they can usually be converted to frozen and adult. Some of them will eat frozen or live blood worms. Turn off the pumps during feeding and use a turkey baster to target feed. Mandarins will learn not to be afraid of the turkey baster with time.

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[blennyluv]

so, since he is biting and hanging on (at one point it seemed he even was shaking her, like a dog does a rag) what could it mean? i keep looking at the dorsel of this little fish and i am sure this has to be a female, maybe my male is just a little s--t? could it be he wants to court her and she is too weak? when i introduced them she approached him. he flared up and shook and looked excited, but did not go after her. she followed him awhile and they both ended up in my little castle thing, and thats when he grabbed her the first time. always on the back bone, usually behind the last back fin or on it. i will leave her in the pod tank, she looks happy. i have been feeding freshly hatched brine, about every other week i hatch some and put them in at the same time i feed the othe fish so they don't grab them all. also, i put the pods and some brine in after the lights are out. should i keep trasferring pods to the big tank in case she eats them all? i can see a few on the glass in my main tank, must mean there are quite a few others where i can't see, right? the glass in my 5 gallon is covered with them. i can't really afford another 40 bucks to replenish, guess i could put a seperater in there, a place for the pods to breed without getting eaten. that could work. thanks for replying terry, i trust your advice!! he did just like chase her out of the way during the day, not very far, but snuck up on her at night, it seems.

 

[Angelscrx]

Sounds like she may be on the road to recovery if she is eating. You can put a separator in the q.tank if you are that worried about her wiping out the pods. Do you have a sump or refugium? I would put some in there and let them populate it. Keep an eye on her and good luck.

 

[blennyluv]

ok, i am trying to upload a picture, got two really good ones of the dorsel fin.
i have never been able to figure out how to get these pics on here, never works, but anyway i would like for you all to see them if i can get some help with the attachment !!

 

[Terry B]

The photos are not clear enough to determine if it is a female. Sometimes the first fin gets damaged so you can't always go by that. I would suggest reading the articles about mandarins on my Website to learn more about feeding them. You can't put it back in the other tank as long as the male is hurting her.

HTH,
Terry B

 

[blennyluv]

i got a private message, how do i get it?

 

[NaH2O]

blennyluv - you can click on where it says "Private Messages" near the top right of the screen. That takes you to your message list.

 

[LakeEd]

Blennyluv,

Up at the top right, above where the threads are here, you'll see a "Welcome blennyluv" box, as well as your "visit" status... and there you'll see the underlined "Private Messages" link, as well as how many unread and total messages you have.

Click on that "Private Messages" link, and it will take you to your messages.

Hope that helps.
Ed

 

[blennyluv]

thanks!! it did help

 

[blennyluv]

pictures

here are some better pics, she was showing off this eve

 

[Angelscrx]

Yeah that looks like a girl to me.

 

[blennyluv]

that is good news!! she is already sooooo much perkier than she was when i got her on friday. i figure i will keep her in the pod tank until my supply gets dwindled dwon and hope she has lots of energy built up. i tried to feed her brine last night with an eye dropper and she would have no part of it, but maybe when she gets used to it. i will harvest pods with it and put a few more in the main tank and keep trying to give her some, maybe then she will eat it. did you say i should start with live freshly hatched brine???