Mandarins mating ritual pix

[Snappy]

Something I find interesting is the male stays almost exclusively in his territory which is the right hand quarter of the tank and the female spends her time wherever she wants and is usually in the other 3/4 of the reef. Then at dusk she goes cruising into his territory looking for him. If she happens to venture into his territory in the daytime they pretty much ignore each other. The only time he goes out of his regular area of the reef is when they are doing their spawning dance. So in theory if a person has a big enough tank and pod population one could have several males who would each set up their individual territories and several females who can go where ever they please. I believe that is pretty much how they live in the wild. This male's territory is only about 2 feet by 3 feet so in my tank I think I'd feel comfortable adding in at least one more pair.