How do I moniter a new fish if I never see it?

[Rbacchiega]

I have a male mandarin dragonet that I didn't see for a month. Thought he'd died and the cleanup crew got to him before I could. Until a week ago when I noticed him out and about cruising for grub. Helluva beautiful fish, wish it were more personable though LOL

[Chaloupa]

Originally Posted by Rbacchiega

wish it were more personable though LOL

My pair are constant attention hounds...if I come up to the tank, they are very "aggressive" sort of a "feed me, feed me" behaviour...it's quite funny, and they both do it!

If you have a ton of liverock...I bet he's just picking away at it where you can't see him "new but handy"

[Rbacchiega]

Maybe it's just Waylon then (yes, I named him Waylon). I should find him a girlfriend

[marie]

Only my male mandarin eats frozen food and its kind of funny to watch him at feeding time. I don't shut the pumps off when I feed so when he sees me coming he nonchalantly swims into the corner where the flow sends all the food.
You can tell he's hoping none of the other fish notice him positioning himself in the best part of the tank

[new but handy]

well it came out this morning! It picked at some rock then vanished. At least he's ok

[mike31154]

I just purchased a second Mandarin as well, real tiny juvenile and don't see him/her? much. When I do catch a glimpse, I can see it eating, so all good. Your tank is huge so if it's a tiny juvenile like the one I just put into my 75, he has plenty of hiding places. I wouldn't be too concerned if you can see he's eating and watch him in his sleeping quarters.

I may have made a boo boo since I thought I had purchased a female for my now fat & happy male which was introduced a few months after I started my set up. Eyed the little newcomer at the LFS for a good 20 minutes to see if it had the prominent, spiked dorsal fin peculiar to the males and it sure looked like it was just a small dorsal, aka female. Once I got it into my tank and had a closer look, it appears the little bugger is actually a male and when he had raised his dorsal at the LFS, he only raised it half way, the spiked part was sort of folded over. Fooled me and the LFS employee, who didn't know much about the species... it was labeled as a Mandarin goby on their tank.

Don't wish to hijack the thread, but now what? So far so good, since the two met the day I introduced the newb juvi and didn't get into any battles. Just a little fin displaying and the larger resident sort of nudged the newb around a little. Nothing serious, probably because of the huge size difference between the two. Still hoping somehow that the newb might be female, but I doubt it, so eventually I may have to take the little fella out. Anyone have any experience with two male Mandarins in a medium size tank?

[new but handy]

I wanted a male/female pair but OA only had males. FWIW OA told me not to get 2 males even in my 180. They have seen males fight to the death in 300's
OA has tanks that are 4'x6'x16" and the males stay way away from each other. 1 of the males had huge bite marks on its back from 1 of the other ones picking on it. mike where did you find the mandarins? How much?

[mike31154]

Locally, pricey, at an LFS I believe you are not fond of. I'll be keeping a close eye on them as far as that is possible. The adult male is out cruising all day and the juvi stays put in the rock pile on the right side of my tank. So far no conflict, thankfully. The juvi initially got more flack from my Blue Devil Damsel, but that has since eased to a non issue as well.