Mandarin dragonet mating pair?

[Moondawg]

So I have a pretty large mandarin (male) who is healthy and eats well. I was at the lfs today, and noticed a smaller mandarin (female) being attacked by a male. I know I shouldn't have two in my tank, but I felt like I had to take it home and rescue it. Now that's its night time, I just now noticed that my male was laying on top of her. They are currently sleeping next to each other under his rock. Are they possibly becoming a mating pair, or is it too early to tell?

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

It’s probably too early to tell, and you can’t call them a mates pair until they have actually mated. You can read up about the ritual in several threads.

 

[Jesterrace]

One of the things to watch out for is that the tell tale sign of a male is the upper fin, in captivity they can wear or break off, so when one thinks they have a male and a female it's possible it's actually 2 males (which would explain the incident at the LFS) so keep an eye on them.

 

[Moondawg]

One of the things to watch out for is that the tell tale sign of a male is the upper fin, in captivity they can wear or break off, so when one thinks they have a male and a female it's possible it's actually 2 males (which would explain the incident at the LFS) so keep an eye on them.

I'm pretty confident it's a female, the upper fin is noticeably more round.