Glenner’sreef
2500 Club Member
Female Mandarins have a short rounded dorsal fin. The males have a spiked fin.
Mandarin is Jumping!!!
- Thread starter cpalminteri
- Start date
- Tagged users None
My Mandarin keeps going crazy trying to jump out. I have a tiny sliver of an opening on my lid and she got out the other day I picked her up and put her back, she lived. Last night again she went crazy and I’ve realized the trigger is when I turn the aquarium lights off. Anyone experience something like this before??
I disagree with above I used to keep 6 of these... for 5 years before I moved.
THEY ARE JUMPERS (at night mostly)... mine were all spawning.
You wouldn't think so with the way they swim... but they love to jump.
Glenner’sreef
2500 Club Member
@Tamberav do you have any insight as to why they jump?I disagree with above I used to keep 6 of these... for 5 years before I moved.
THEY ARE JUMPERS (at night mostly)... mine were all spawning.
You wouldn't think so with the way they swim... but they love to jump.
I do not know exact reason but mandarins going to the surface in the evening is not an unusual behavior. If I had to guess.. they do it when looking for a mate.
They also do 'rises' when paired and end up on the surface that way as well.
Like in the wild... if you were to dive to watch them for mating behavior... it would be at dusk. Usually peoples mandarins are jumping out at evening/blue lights or night.
The shallower the tank... the greater risk I would guess...
cpalminteri
Active Member
So I was playing with my AI prime light settings just now and by mistake turned off the lights and I could see she was about to start jumping. She came to the middle of the glass and stared me down lol. I think that’s the trigger guys. That or they just jump as mentioned both times it’s been at night
also perhaps uncomfortable to stare at a LED to try and find the hole to jump out... light goes off and its escape time!
Fish don't know they will become beef jerky... In general... sometimes fish jump looking for new territory.
ColdWafflez
Community Member
I've read online about a couple other ppl with mandarins who get spooked out if its completely dark in their tank. Only way they solved it was by keeping a night light on unfortunately
DaJMasta
Well-Known Member
As said, they are known jumpers, and while they spend most of their time scooting around at the bottom, they have a pretty powerful burst of swimming speed and startle easily - especially if your lights turn off all at once, this could easily trigger a bit of panic that turns into a jump.
A lid with no gaps is good insurance, but if you can minimized potentially startling triggers, there should be less activity to match. Similarly, as they settle in more, they should be able to recognize tank routines better and be less scared of those events - how long have you had this one?
Spawning behavior is often rising to the top and a flick of the tail which can splash or jump, but it's not likely to see this with a single mandarin. The males will challenge their reflection to protect their territory, but I haven't seen any jumping or darting around behavior from this, and I've not seen nearly as much with females.
A lid with no gaps is good insurance, but if you can minimized potentially startling triggers, there should be less activity to match. Similarly, as they settle in more, they should be able to recognize tank routines better and be less scared of those events - how long have you had this one?
Spawning behavior is often rising to the top and a flick of the tail which can splash or jump, but it's not likely to see this with a single mandarin. The males will challenge their reflection to protect their territory, but I haven't seen any jumping or darting around behavior from this, and I've not seen nearly as much with females.
gigaset
New Member
I just also want to concur, I've had 3 Mandarin juveniles jump, 2 male, 1 female, only one at any one time in a 2 year established Fluval 13.5 as a species-specific tank, outside of snails and LPS corals. The 2 males 1" inch length is from biota and the 1.5" inch female was unknown. In both sexes, when the light shuts off immediately at night, they have a darting behavior, not as if being chased, but as if they are looking for some escape. It was very apparent, one minute they are slow moving hunt and peck observers, and when the light is out, they are in beast mode scanning and mapping out the light from the dark stock hood. The first male exhibited the behavior, and I was rookie and had a Finnex hang on back refugium in the back that cracked the lid open the lid a smidge. I watched this odd behavior for about an hour, and went to bed only to find the fish chip in the morning. The second male, I had left the lid closed, including covering the feeding hole. I did however removed the filter covering off, leaving a little thin exit close the first chamber entrance. As the light went off, the first week, I noticed the same darting behavior, and turned on the light and entice it to spot feed live baby brine, but there was no way of getting his attention. Eventually, by the end of two weeks, he found the hole by the first chamber even though I laid a filter pad to cover it. Next day, filter floss was flipped into the first chamber and fish chip on the floor. The third female also exhibited the same behavior, and I closed all holes. I did hear at night, an odd knocking from the room, which later on I pieced together was probably the failed jumps. But during cleaning one day, lights out, I had the hood propped open, I went to get a drink. When I came back I couldn't find her, and there was no water droplet trace that she jumped. It wasn't until next day I found her in one of my cleaning buckets that I swear was 3-4 feet away from the tank, dried up.
I was guessing it was the angle of incidence that specifically this tank was exhibiting when the stock light was off. They all behaved aggressively to their mirror images from the glass, and it might be because of the many incidences that it would occur in this small tank, the higher likely triggering the behavior. Overall, I'm glad someone else can speak about the same observation, because I thought it was just me. It couldn't have been just bad luck.
I was guessing it was the angle of incidence that specifically this tank was exhibiting when the stock light was off. They all behaved aggressively to their mirror images from the glass, and it might be because of the many incidences that it would occur in this small tank, the higher likely triggering the behavior. Overall, I'm glad someone else can speak about the same observation, because I thought it was just me. It couldn't have been just bad luck.
