Is this a female mandarin?

[sbash]

Hi Folks,

Can anyone please confirm if this is a female?

It's almost 2" long, so I wonder if it is too soon to tell...

Thanks!

 

[JoshH]

#Reefsquad any thoughts ? I would say female but I am by no means an expert.

 

[HotRocks]

Can you post a clear picture? In white light? It would be helpful

 

[DIvid]

Yes, this appears to be a female. Male mandarins will have a dorsal spike.

 

[cracker]

I agree with DI , The females have a rounded dorsal while the males are more pointed. Don't take my word for it !

 

[sbash]

Can you post a clear picture? In white light? It would be helpful

Egh, not really:

I camped out for a while, had to use zoom on my phone, so the quality is pretty poor... Not to mention it does not usually have the fin up...

Yes, this appears to be a female. Male mandarins will have a dorsal spike.

That's what got me thinking. I had other plans for this little guy, it is done in QT and was planned for another tank, but I've acclimated it now to my 220 (with a male) I have heard females are hard to come by, and when I noticed the lack of the spikey fin, I thought I would throw it out there.

It is a rounded fin, and not upward wave-like like the males. Even if it had been in a fight and lost the spike, the fin shape would look different; not to mention the fin looks healthy and undamaged.

 

[HotRocks]

I agree with the others it appears to be female!

 

[Diesel]

Here's a male,

You can see clearly the spike.

 

[eatbreakfast]

The dorsal looks a little damaged. I have seen males with damaged dorsals, so they appear as females, but can get beat up pretty bad when put with a male. Not saying that it is either way, just something to be wary of.

 

[Paul B]

Shes a girl.

 

[4FordFamily]

I wa LFS going to ask if the fin bring best up in appearance is an accurate observation. That makes it difficult to sex.

 

[sbash]

Great, thanks everyone!

It is in with my male now, hopefully 'she' and he will get along. So far they have definitely met and show zero signs of aggression... I'll post a follow up when I have something meaningful to report

 

[JBKReef]

There was a post a couple days ago regarding a male/female mandarin identification.

It was decided the mandarin was a male, but sold as female because either during capture or transportation the dorsal fin was damaged and looked as yours does. Over time it grew back into its spike...

I would say observation and time will tell the tale.

 

[sbash]

There was a post a couple days ago regarding a male/female mandarin identification.

It was decided the mandarin was a male, but sold as female because either during capture or transportation the dorsal fin was damaged and looked as yours does. Over time it grew back into its spike...

I would say observation and time will tell the tale.

For sure, it is definitely something I have seen in many forums and articles. I'll keep a close eye on them. It is also hard to get a nice clear photo with my cell phone, combined with having to camp out and hope it raises its fin up, lol. I didn't have my DSLR handy, but perhaps I will dig it out and try to get a nice, clean shot.

Comparing them with a picture like this was helpful:

Based on this picture, the male has much larger, more grandiose fins in general, and my new addition's dorsal fin looks pretty much exactly like the bottom one in that picture. However, I do understand males fight, and they are caught several times between the ocean and my tank so there is likely to be damage caused. But if they do start fighting, I will be sure to pull the small one right away.

I did look up, what I presume, to be the thread in question. Those situations are always a read, as the little tidbits of information from the various posters are extremely valuable.

 

[vetteguy53081]

As posted, males have spikes on dorsal

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Another cheap trick I did to my mandarin.
I open another picture of a mandarin on my phone a place it on my tank glass, my mandarin would come up and start raising all his fins up like he getting ready to fight = it's a male LOL