I ordered a Male/Female pair of Biota Mandarin's from Algae Barn, and Biota sent me two fish, a male 1/2" baby marked as male. I expected a small fish, so this was good. The other Mandarin marked as female they sent was 1.5" long. Ugh, first of all why not send me similar sized fishes if I wanted them to bond/pair? Not happy with the size difference, but oh well. . . so I acclimated the baby first and put him in my tank, then acclimated the large female. When I put the female in the tank - she promptly swam down to the sand and opened up her fins, and surprise she is a MALE! Crap! Has a gorgeous, beautiful tall spike on her dorsal fin. I've opened a ticket to Algae Barn with photos, and am waiting for a response next week. I'm so bummed, that they sent me this big butt Male fish. I wanted a cute little male/female pair - now it's all screwed up. They seem to have established their areas on opposite sides of the tank, although I did notice the little mandarin's tail is pretty much gone. He doesn't seem affected by it, and hoping it grows back ok.
What should I do now? Ask Algae barn to send me a female and have all 3, and let nature take it's course (one male will be victorious), or should I ask for a refund for the 2nd male, and hope the two males can get along and not add a female until one of the males disappears? Catching and removing is not going to happen, as I have a lot of live rock, and the last time I tore apart my tank to catch my tang, I lost my first baby mandarin, as it hid in one of the rocks I pulled out, and I don't know where it went and never saw it again. Really disappointed in this order. I just assumed when I ordered a male/female, they would know to send similar sized fish, and of course not screw up the female. I'd understand a male missing the high-fin to be mistaken for a female, but not the other way around.
What should I do now? Ask Algae barn to send me a female and have all 3, and let nature take it's course (one male will be victorious), or should I ask for a refund for the 2nd male, and hope the two males can get along and not add a female until one of the males disappears? Catching and removing is not going to happen, as I have a lot of live rock, and the last time I tore apart my tank to catch my tang, I lost my first baby mandarin, as it hid in one of the rocks I pulled out, and I don't know where it went and never saw it again. Really disappointed in this order. I just assumed when I ordered a male/female, they would know to send similar sized fish, and of course not screw up the female. I'd understand a male missing the high-fin to be mistaken for a female, but not the other way around.