Has anyone ever seen this before? In my old tank, I never saw my mandarin at night unless she was out feeding. However with the new tank, there are calmer spots for her to sit at night. The first time I saw this was right after the move and I was ready to swear she was dead. This photo is not retouched. The pasty white areas are accurate and she looks perfectly normal during the day.

Beautiful Mandarin there George!

They do sit on the bottom at night. I had one that buried have of its body under the sand and night. It really freaked me out the first time I noticed it.

Yes they do look close to death at night when resting. Mine has her favorite spot that spent every night. She'll buried herself halfway into the sand. The first time I saw this happening I thought I had a sick mandarin. Nope they are just fine.

Yah they always bleach out when they're sleeping. It's perfectly normal. The wierdest thing I've seen them do is "sleep walk", where the current catches them and throws em around like a tumbleweed... That's happened twice under my observation when she apparently got loosened from her "spot" and the current took her for a ride. The first time I saw it, I thought she was dead... that was 6 months ago :P.

Speaking of the "she", if anyone has seen a male for sale anywhere, I'd like to know about it.

i just got a mandarin last week and i noticed the same thing. the only difference was mine was sitting right on the lip of my open brain and i thought it was getting eaten at first.