mandarin aggresion issue

[calvertc425]

ok so as i mentioned in my other posts I have finally found a female spotted mandarin for my male spotted mandarin. They are both eating frozen food which is great. My issue is though that my male is super aggressive towards her and chases and nips her a lot. What can I do to help them get along and what would cause this issue? Also any ideas for fish that would be good tank mates for them would be appreciated. Ive seperated them for now

 

[Backreefing]

Maybe the aquarium is to small.
Maybe try 2 females ( and I don’t know about what I talk here ) a few fish like choice. ??
Remove him put her in and reintroduce him in 1-2 months

 

[Jesterrace]

Are you 100% sure it's female. One of the issues is that Males can have their longer dorsal spines break off, wear off in captivity and as such it might appear to be female but is in fact another male which would definitely explain things. What size is the tank?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Are you 100% sure it's female. One of the issues is that Males can have their longer dorsal spines break off, wear off in captivity and as such it might appear to be female but is in fact another male which would definitely explain things. What size is the tank?

This happens alot.

What size tank? How old is the system? If there aren't enough pods the male will defend feeding grounds before accepting a potential spawning partner.

 

[calvertc425]

Well its a 24 gallon biocube I know its small. And I have observed both now and I am sure one is female and the other is male. I have had tank setup since february these are my only fish I have but I add pods weekley and they both eat frozen plus I have 30 pounds of live rock in there. The male isnt being as aggresive as before now though seems to have settled down except for the occasional chase here and there

 

[eatbreakfast]

A single mandarin eats upwards of 6000 pods a week. A closed 24g biocube can't maintain a pod population to support 1 mandarin, let alone 2.

 

[calvertc425]

right i understand that but they both eat frozen and I feed them 6 times a day or more 4 different foods each day

 

[eatbreakfast]

Can you provide pics of both?

 

[calvertc425]

here are pics of both

 

[Dash]

Not sure I see their relative sizes as they are not together. My understanding is that males should be a fair bit larger. In the wild, females choose larger males, and I read that smaller males who are rejected sometimes sneak up and "contributes" to the spawning of the pair lol.

Do they sleep near each other? My male sometimes chases the female but it is very brief and they often swim together and sleep together. I've seen them spawning twice just recently.

 

[reef lover]

I think you have 2 males...the first fish spike is well defined but i see a small spike starting on the second as well...