Biota Mandarin Pair Odd Beha

[Daenion]

About 4 months ago I got a pair of biota mandarin fish. I presume pair is male and female but I am not really sure. They have been eating well and got a lot bigger. They are in 130ish gallon display and about 166 total. They sometimes chase each other briefly.

This morning as I was doing weekly water change and saw them what I can describe as biting each other and going in circles. It didn’t look like they were trying to run away from each other though.

Is this mating behavior or advanced stage fighting? We have a 25 gallon I can take one to.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

About 4 months ago I got a pair of biota mandarin fish. I presume pair is male and female but I am not really sure. They have been eating well and got a lot bigger. They are in 130ish gallon display and about 166 total. They sometimes chase each other briefly.

This morning as I was doing weekly water change and saw them what I can describe as biting each other and going in circles. It didn’t look like they were trying to run away from each other though.

Is this mating behavior or advanced stage fighting? We have a 25 gallon I can take one to.

I would guess mating behavior. Watch them this evening as the lights go down; that's when they usually "dance".

Also, males and females are pretty easy to tell apart based on their dorsal fins.

 

[Daenion]

I would guess mating behavior. Watch them this evening as the lights go down; that's when they usually "dance".

Also, males and females are pretty easy to tell apart based on their dorsal fins.

That is the weird part. They used to be active at night when they first got in but for the last 2 months this is completely reversed. Almost first fish to go to sleep lights are out and they go to their respective holes and turn whitish and sleep till one hour before lights on.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

That is the weird part. They used to be active at night when they first got in but for the last 2 months this is completely reversed. Almost first fish to go to sleep lights are out and they go to their respective holes and turn whitish and sleep till one hour before lights on.

If they aren't facing a lot of competition for pods during the day, that's probably pretty normal. My mandarin sleeps most of the night too