i could be wrong but i thought this was a male..i know that in the target mandarins the elongated dorsal fin is not near that of the other mandarin..and from pics that i have seen of females there was not any on the dorsal it was just almost flat...not saying i ma right maybe if Snorvich can chime in on this..i would like to know if it is a female or male..but i do not want to get another one had a hard enough time trying to keep this one..here is a pic that shows the dorsal fin