Mandarin goby pairing

[mrblanco396]

I bought a tank raised female mandarin a month ago and she was eating frozen cyclops and small pellets. So then I felt like I really wanted a pair but it was cheaper for me to buy a wild caught one then captive bred so I bought a male caught and since I don’t have copepods in my tank to my knowledge I got him two eat frozen in like two days. My question is that the male is much bigger than the female like almost three times her size so well he end up attacking her or try to kill her . So far they get close together and nothing has happened but I want to know if anyone has some insight that could help.

 

[AlexG]

Pairing mandarins I have found can be challenging sometimes. Normally if they are not going to get a long the fighting will start rather quickly. I keep spotted mandarins and the biggest lesson I have learned with pairing them is to ensure they get along at the LFS before you take them home. Small males can sometimes not show the high dorsal fin and look like a female. The current pair I have I got when they were both small. The male has grown to to about twice the size of the female. Behavior wise they will be close together in the evening and randomly throughout the day but they will also separate from time to time while they are hunting pods. I would highly recommend introducing pods into your system as these fish are constant feeders. If you have a sump it will create a refuge for pods to reproduce without predators.

 

[OrionN]

IME, the only time size mater is when the female is larger than the male. If this is the case she will attack him. Otherwise any two, male larger than female will pair up. Pair up is a loose term. They just ignored each other until mating time.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I have had a male green mandarin for almost a year now and finally found what I think is a female both were wild caught. Male has that high dorsal fin,female has a short stubby one and the female has more of a snub nose. They both have been living together in a 75 for a week the female just now today started hunting in the open for pods as the male nips as her to go back in the caves. Idk what their doin but I hope their gonna pair