Mandarin Fish....

Any thoughts on the gender of these two shown?? Found them engaged in a battle of sorts..

That first 1 is very nice. Sorry, don't know much about the fish though.

Male Mandarin's have a much longer first dorsal ray than females.

#1 is Male

#2 is Female (or a male with its fin bitten off....it does look a bit ragged...)

I'll with William on the first one. And plump for male on the second one too - but that is just a guess.

Alex

So , would this be considered a love bite. or a territorial battle??

Do females and males engage in some rough housing prior to mating, or because these two fighting, can I just presume they were both males??

Thanks all, just trying to understand what I was witnessing here behavior wise.

What time of day was this photo taken. Courting would normally only be observed at dusk. If you were observing these fish at noon, you can pretty safely assume that any scuffles are not part of the courting ritual.

I have no idea if this applies to mandarins in the wild, but in captivity large females will attack and kill smaller males (while large males get along fine with small females). So just because the two did not get along, you can not assume that they are the same sex.

That said, I do suspect that with your extended description of the situation it sounds more like two males fighting and fish #2 does not have a typical male dorsal fin do to an injury from a previous scuffle.

What time of day was this photo taken. Courting would normally only be observed at dusk. If you were observing these fish at noon, you can pretty safely assume that any scuffles are not part of the courting ritual.

 

I have no idea if this applies to mandarins in the wild, but in captivity large females will attack and kill smaller males (while large males get along fine with small females). So just because the two did not get along, you can not assume that they are the same sex.

 

That said, I do suspect that with your extended description of the situation it sounds more like two males fighting and fish #2 does not have a typical male dorsal fin do to an injury from a previous scuffle.

e

Time of day?? Mid morning.. however where these were located they obviously felt no threat as they moved here and there among the rubble.Of course they were under the safety of the long sea urchin spines and the filtered light coming down through the jetty or dock.

My gut reaction is, given your information, is that this very well could have been the larger female/smaller male scenario. The one was definitely larger than the other, and in other photos despite other fin tips being tattered and torn, the dorsal appears to be intact, but smaller.

Thanks so much for your insight..It was quite the show to witness.

Cindy

e

 

Time of day?? Mid morning.. however where these were located they obviously felt no threat as they moved here and there among the rubble.Of course they were under the safety of the long sea urchin spines and the filtered light coming down through the jetty or dock.

My gut reaction is, given your information, is that this very well could have been the larger female/smaller male scenario. The one was definitely larger than the other, and in other photos despite other fin tips being tattered and torn, the dorsal appears to be intact, but smaller.

Thanks so much for your insight..It was quite the show to witness.

 

Cindy

I was under the distinct impression that Mandarin fish (unlike some other species) have larger males and smaller females.