I get such a kick out of mandarins. My female mandarin is always pregnant. A day after laying eggs she seems to be pregnant again. The male is kind of large and probably has a hard time finding enough food to stay in breeding condition, but they are so slow. He loves live worms but to get some to him, I have to shoot some worms on the far end of the tank, then I sneak some to him. The copperband, who swims like a tuna is very fast and sucks up every worm in the tank before the worms even realize they just hit the water. The mandarin has to introduce himself to the worm, then he has to apologize to it before he eats it, then he seems to be saying grace, it just takes so long and by this time the copperband, and 4 or 5 other fish already stole all the worms from under the mandarin. Eventually, after I throw in $19.00 worth of worms, he will get one or two. In the mandarin's defense, I know eh can only eat a couple of worms as they don't have a real stomach like Chris Christie may have. They are used to eating a pod every 8 seconds or so. I am surprised he doesn't spend more time with the female as she is a real Babe. But he is a man and probably thinking about eating, soccer or whatever sport they play in his home country.
Sometimes they all go out to dinner together, but I am not sure who picks up the bill.
Here he is after dinner putting his moves on her.
She must like him as she is always pregnant.
Today I picked up a pair of bluestriped pipefish. I like to keep a pair of them in my tank but they have a short lifespan of only a few years and it is sometimes hard to find a pair together so when I see them, I buy them. These look a little young which is fine and they should start mating in a few weeks. They eat well in my tank because they get new born brine shrimp every day from the feeder that was designed for the mandarins and scooter bleenies. I may also get a couple of ruby red scooter bleenies as a store here has about 20 of them and they are fairly cheap.
