Keeping multiple female Blue Mandarins

eagerreefer · Aug 24, 2022

Hi all,

I recently purchased online a male blue mandarin with the hopes of pairing it with my established female mandarin. It arrived today and I am 99% sure it is actually a female. Wondering if anyone has any experience keeping 2 female blue mandarins together. I know 2 males are considered incompatible, but haven't seen too much regarding 2 females. They are roughly the same size with the new one being about 2 inches and the old one being slightly smaller at 1.75. Also have a picture of the new one for a second opinion on gender.

eagerreefer · Aug 24, 2022

Bump, any help would be appreciated

Tamberav · Aug 24, 2022

Females can fight as well. So depends on tank size and food and so on. They are direct competitors for limited resources.

The photo isn’t good, really blue. Young males do not have predominant spikes. It does not appear to be a male from what I can see though.

lulubap · Aug 24, 2022

Bump, would also like to add I read on another forum here that females fight to the death when in the presence of a male. Not sure if this translates to when a male isn't present. At first glance, your mandarin doesn't look like a male, but I can't see much under the blue light.

DJF · Aug 25, 2022

I had success with 2 females in a 180. The larger of the 2 would sometimes chase the other around for a hot second until it ran across a pod it liked. Also wanted to add that one could be a male with the fin bit off… it happens often.

john92708 · Aug 25, 2022

I have two females before and the larger one would attack the smaller one.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Aug 25, 2022

I had 2 females and one viciously attacked the other several times before I could catch one and separate them. Clamped down on her neck and shook her like a doll. Seriously vicious! Like I expected hear David Attenborough narrating the attack!

Tamberav · Aug 25, 2022

The reason two females fight is they are both pod eaters and the other female isn’t for breeding so that fish is useless and needs to get out. It’s a survival tactic.

Same reason why a male and female that are the wrong size may also fight. If a male is too small and female rejects him, she will beat him up. If the female is itty bitty and not mature enough for eggs yet, male may wack her. Same thing can happen if they are not well nourished, food > breeding.

eagerreefer · Aug 26, 2022

I tried to get a better photo today with less blues but unfortunately I wasn't able to observe her with her dorsal fin up. I've attached the best photo I can get. They got a long decently at first, even swimming and scooting along the bottom together, but the established (and smaller) started getting pretty aggressive during the evening time when the lights dimmed. She chased her repeatedly until the new mandarin settled down in the corner opposite of where the old mandarin sleeps.

Today there has been a lot less aggression but also a lot less activity from the new mandarin. She hasn't moved much from the corner she was "allowed" to be in and hasn't eaten either. Also breathing pretty heavy. I'll probably start looking at rehoming her soon if she does not improve.

eagerreefer · Aug 29, 2022

Update: Not only has the new female died (she died on the 2nd night) but my established mandarin passed last night (4 days from the introduction). I purchased the new mandarin from a pretty well regarded vendor that does full quarantine on their livestock. The original mandarin behaved normally up until last night where I noticed her laying on the sand, breathing heavily just like the one I introduced and unresponsive (usually she doesn't like even being looked at by humans and will immediately bolt for the rocks). Fortunately the three other fish in my tank still look fine. I am not sure what caused her to go downhill so fast. There were no obvious signs of disease or trauma. Her color was still excellent even after passing.

I was so hoping to have a mandarin pair but now ended up with not one but two dead mandarins. Should also mention that I had purchased a second fish (not a mandarin) in the same order that was DOA. What an absolute disaster this has been.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Aug 29, 2022

eagerreefer said:
Update: Not only has the new female died (she died on the 2nd night) but my established mandarin passed last night (4 days from the introduction). I purchased the new mandarin from a pretty well regarded vendor that does full quarantine on their livestock. The original mandarin behaved normally up until last night where I noticed her laying on the sand, breathing heavily just like the one I introduced and unresponsive (usually she doesn't like even being looked at by humans and will immediately bolt for the rocks). Fortunately the three other fish in my tank still look fine. I am not sure what caused her to go downhill so fast. There were no obvious signs of disease or trauma. Her color was still excellent even after passing.

I was so hoping to have a mandarin pair but now ended up with not one but two dead mandarins. Should also mention that I had purchased a second fish (not a mandarin) in the same order that was DOA. What an absolute disaster this has been.

I'm very sorry for the losses.
Do you think the mandarins were stung by aiptasia and succumbed to their injuries?

eagerreefer · Aug 29, 2022

Erin1971Texas said:
I'm very sorry for the losses.
Do you think the mandarins were stung by aiptasia and succumbed to their injuries?

I have never heard of aiptasia killing mandarins or any other fish. But yes I do have a ongoing problem with aiptasia. If it is true that aiptasia can kill mandarins, then I suppose it would be possible, but I have not observed any of my fish being stung.