Introducing a female to male- green mandarin

[SaulBasslet]

Hi guys,

Just after some advice... About a month ago I got a male green mandarin. He was a little skinny when he came but is now gorging on frozen lobster eggs and mysis, putting on weight and colouring up. He's doing really well. I've got him in a 40cm breeding box in my dedicated refugium so he has access to live pods as well as frozen food which I add daily into a glass tube feeding station.

A week ago I added a female. She is also quite skinny but already accepting frozen food. When I first introduced them, the female attacked the male. They then spent a lot of time circling each other and after a while the male had a go at her. Eventually he left her alone. It didn't seem particularly aggressive and he hasn't caused any damage but as this week has gone by I've noticed two things

1. She avoids him and spends a lot of the time at the other end of the box
2. He periodically nips at her. Sometimes their paths cross and she usually swims away but sometimes, especially at feeding time he will chase her down from his feeding station to bite her- she swims off and then he goes back to the food.

I am 100% sure I have a male and a female but I guess I'm interested in whether it's possible they may never pair up? Is there anything I can do to encourage them? Could her skinny ness be a reason he doesn't accept her?

Also wondering if I should separate them and give her more time to fatten up and become more confident before introducing them again? ( the box I have them in has two compartments with a removable slider to make two boxes). At the moment I have some nemastoma and some Xmas tree rock so she has places to hide and avoid the male.

Any advice or shared experience would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Rod the Reefer]

I would say that you have them in an area that is too small.

I have recently done the same as you. I had a male for a few weeks and then added the female, they took an instant dislike for one another.
He had her by the pectoral fin swimming around pushing her sideways through the water. I tried to catch one or the other without luck.
However after a few days the behavior has become much more congenial. After a couple of weeks it looks like they might just try to be a couple.

Good luck.

Rod.

[SaulBasslet]

Hey Rod, thanks for the reply.

I have heard some stories about these fish being particularly violent towards one another (as you described). And I guess I thought therefore that either it would work or it didnt, but it seems like these two have found some sort of middle ground where the domestic violence is not quite as bad!!

Do you think the size of the breeder box is causing them stress and hence him lashing out at her?

The reason I put him in there in the first place was for several reasons:
1. To protect him from crabs and whelks in the fuge and
2. So I could keep a close eye on him to make absolute sure he was eating in his feeding station every day.
3. To give the pods in the rubble at the bottom some protection so they could continue breeding and not be anhialated. I'm sure he is eating now, but not the female just yet....

The plan is to move them into the DT once they are fat and healthy and I have established that they will continue to eat frozen foods even with the competition from other fish in the main display. So I'm hesitant to free them in the fuge due to these reasons.

So as I see it, my options are to separate them in the breeding box until shes fat enough and then release them both into the DT and let them meet up again.....or just to leave them be and hope he decides to cut her a break from the biting....what would you do?

Thanks again- I really hope they get along and become a pair but if it doesn't work out I will find a new home for one of them. What sort of time limit would you give them to work it out before deciding to move one on?

Does anyone know whether age/maturity is a factor in these fish pairing up?

thanks guys!

[chromus]

With them both being skinny they are probably trying to protect their food source

[hanzelz]

Can you explain the glass tube feeding station to me please?
Pics?