Are Parachromis loyal to their mates?

[ccebr]

Are cichlids from the genus Parachromis, i.e. dovii, managuense, motaguense, loisellei & friedrichsthalii, monogamous? i.e. do they retain the same mate for the duration of their life, or will they have multiple sex partners (polygamous)? If their mate is removed will they find a new mate or stay loyal to their previous?

Most cichlids are monogamous, so would presume Parachromis to follow that cichlid trait, although the question I have not been able to find an answer on is what happens when their mate is lost. Another question is if they are monogamous, is it just one mate for the duration of their life or will they move to different individuals and stay loyal to them for a while.

My real reason for asking this somewhat long-winded question, is my Jag-Wolf pair which have bred, are no longer behaving like a pair at all, with the male jag attacking the wolf when it comes into his territory. The male jag is also displaying to the female jag which is helping defend the male's territory from the motaguense pair; and they were never previously paired. So is it possible the jag-wolf pair is over, and the jags are now a pair. It could be because of the species difference of the jag and wolf so the jag has recognised this and selected a same species mate for genetic reasons.

So if anyone has an opinion on this subject please share.

 

[ccebr]

bump

 

[Enzo1947]

A romantic notion, yes, but not one that I think is accurate!

I don't think parachromis are monogamous to the point that certain bird species are (if one dies, the other will remain single for the remainder of its life), but generally if two pair off, they'll remain together until a separation beyond their control. I think it's fairly rare for a couple to spit and "re-marry" another fish in the same tank, but what happened to you doesn't shock me.

In the wild, a male and female will retain a close bond while breeding, but they don't breed year-round as in our tanks, and I don't think they remain together after their last spawning.

And as for most cichlids being monogamous, I don't think that's an accurate statement. I know many of the rift lake cichlids of africa are harem-brooders, with a single male mating with multiple females, even in our aquaria.

 

[justpgraham]

Most males will simply choose female nearest to breeding condition , and I do think cross breeding is more likely when there is no other choice

 

[terd ferguson]

A romantic notion, yes, but not one that I think is accurate!

I don't think parachromis are monogamous to the point that certain bird species are (if one dies, the other will remain single for the remainder of its life), but generally if two pair off, they'll remain together until a separation beyond their control. I think it's fairly rare for a couple to spit and "re-marry" another fish in the same tank, but what happened to you doesn't shock me.

In the wild, a male and female will retain a close bond while breeding, but they don't breed year-round as in our tanks, and I don't think they remain together after their last spawning.

And as for most cichlids being monogamous, I don't think that's an accurate statement. I know many of the rift lake cichlids of africa are harem-brooders, with a single male mating with multiple females, even in our aquaria.

This has been my experience as well. For the most part, once paired, the pair will stay together until they are seperated. That said, I have had an occasion or two where a male would mate with a different female once or twice. In those cases, he ended up paired back up with the original female after one spawn with another.

 

[darth pike]

Cichlids have a differant deffination of monogamous and polygamous than say wolves do. In cichlids, it is in relation to the number of mates during a single breeding cycle. Monogamous just means one female during the egg laying/fry raising period, not sticking to the same mate for a long time. Polygamous of course means multiple females laying eggs from one male during the same time. Neither term carries over to the next breeding cycle.

 

[evabug1]

My managuense paired up for their first spawn, but after it was over they went back to occupying seperate halves of the tank. They will nip at each other, but not as aggressively as before. I'm still waiting to see if they'll get together again. I do have other fish in the tank. I am not sure if that has any bearing on their behavior though.

 

[ccebr]

thanks for the inputs