Just watching the BBC's amazing South Pacific series and they have an amazing sequence with Mandarin fish that is very well lit. I've always been told that bright lights puts them off appearing and mating- how do you think they got these shots- perhaps by conditioning their subjects to progressively higher light levels, or is the received wisdom questionable?
They make such great subjects- I understand some Japanese divers travel just to see them en masse. At Secret Bay in Bali I saw a sticker from something like the "All Japan Mandarin Fish Appreciation Society". Apologies to the society if I've misnamed it
Interesting. I've seen one mandarin fish in Secret Bay during the past 6 yrs, & it was obviously ill. My guide (who dives there regularly) tells me they've all basically been caught for the tropical fish trade. On the bright side banggai cardinalfish are doing fine.
It's on the lamp post by the changing place with the rinse tanks. I'm not sure I saw any there either, but I did see a lot- an amazing site to dive.
No opinions about light levels and mandarins?
Low light, I guess. It's then a matter of the best high-ISO performance at the level of continuous light that the mandarins will tolerate for videography. I really don't know if mandarinfish can be habituated to bright lights, but strongly feel that it would be a bad idea, ecologically unethical, to do so even if they could.
Tim
No opinions about light levels and mandarins?
Certainly there are mandarin fish in aquaria that are used to bright levels of light, you see them swimming around all the time without hiding. Maybe that is because there is minimal predation and in the wild, I understand (Sadovy 2001) that they are quite heavily pursued as prey.
Bill
I find that once mating has commenced, light doesn't seem to bother them. However, as they are preparing for mating, light can really put them off. I use a red filter on my focus lights so that I can keep an eye on them while waiting for the pairing up. Once they start, the strobes don't seem to bother them much.
I've shot mandarins using the 44 LED dive lights sold by Nexus America, didn't bother the fish one bit. They are a bit skittish just before the sun is setting but once ambient light is gone, they're raring to go. =)
Stu
Lovely shot Allison.
Perhaps the sequence was shot in captivity, a huge amount of natural history film-making is, although given Stewart's reply perhaps not.
Thanks guys.
mandarinfish in ambon twillight zone is more tolerate with bright light, you can find them easily during the day under the fisherman boats. But, for mating still have to wait until 5 - 6 pm.
I think this site is the easiest place to shoot mandarin fish.
The staghorn thicket 10 minutes' swim from Lembeh Resort is quite good, but the mandarinfish there are definitely upset by video lights; strobes and red lights are well-tolerated:
