mandarin fish-acting strange

[icyoud2]

if you've read the beginner forum recently youll know i have 2 "very well cared for" mandarin fish in my 30gal tall tank.

im new to the forums, not so new to the reef. what i lack in experience, i make up for with stupid questions (and lots of them).lol

i watch my tank alot as im sure most of you do. i work out of my home so often find myself daydreaming infront of the tank.

 

i have a pair of mandarin. the female has been with me for 4.5 months, and the much larger male, 1.5 months. even though these guys are in a 30 gal. i look after them i really do. i spend $65 a month on live foods, use only ro water and instant ocean salt. they have 40+ pounds of indo live rock (very porous) with many caves/openings for them to play in. i purchase clumps of algee (which also feed my sea hair)from my lfs very mature tanks on a monthly basis also (they seem to house alot of crispy critters for the fish) you can tell the fish really do love the algee feast.

 

anyway to the point, 2 days ago my male started sporting his sail. he just doesnt put it down. today both fish are acting very strange. both seem to be chasing thier reflections. bobbing side to side at the glass (in a very agressive fashion) they are not agressive to each other, but you should see them go at the glass. its the fastest i've ever seen them swim. they are doing all this at the same height in the tank. always a side to side motion.

 

both fish at times, mainly the female. even when they are at opposite sides of the tank.

like i said they are totally cool with each other, the 2 are still feeding/swimming within inches of one another.

might i be expecting a bigger family, or do i have a much bigger situation at hand.

thanks in advance for any and all info.

leigh

[Divided Sky]

great picture.

[patio]

sounds like you are gonna have little tiny mandarins! and the male is just trying to protect the female from their reflections! (haha thats soo funny!) but i could be wrong, i only have one male and he hasnt ever acted to wierd like that.

he looks really healthy! good job! and if you get babies i want pics!

i would remove any other fish in the tank until it releses the eggs or it might not drop the eggs and the babies will die inside of her and she will die! (happened in my fw tank) :*(

[icyoud2]

that does however pose alot more stupid questions.lol

i'll try and keep it to a couple. i've been trying to research breeding with little or no luck at all (i did read a very intersting artical in a recent reef publication. it didnt offer to much info about small guys though.

what should i look for, how should i go about ensuring the survival of as many (if any) fry. time frames? etc etc. im not looking for handouts, point me in the right dirrection and ill do the research. i just keeping running into walls when it comes to info.

thank you leigh

[Undertheradar]

That 'up to the top' dance that you describe might be them doing their actual breeding! They do an entangled dance, swirling and darting to the surface where the eggs are released and fertilized. Ill have to look through my reef library tomorrow...I know one of them has details on mandarin breeding. But for now...

 

http://www.exotictropicals.com/encyclo/mar...andarinfish.php

[patio]

any pics of the female? is it fat my preg fish i think it was a zebra danio or something had a huge gut that apppeared out of no were!

[icyoud2]

my female isnt "fat" yet. they just started thier song and dance 2 days ago. getting this picture was a real pain in the butt. the female , which has always been a show girl (she usually come to the front of the tank when im there)just wants to chase me off today.

i ended up with a wack load of blury, face pics and this one. i've had her for 4.5 months. shes 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the male.(very petite)but still a looker.

thanks very much for the link,thats the most mandarin info i've seen in one place to date.

leigh

[Web Guy]

Agreed, There playing games to mate with each other. Goodluck!

[qwertyuiop]

most people cant even keep one mandarin alive...but you on the other hand can keep lots...well done!