Bonded males?

[Bawb2u]

I've got a situation here and I need some help. I recently got a "pair" of Atabapos' one at 11" the other at 12". Without going too deeply into details, I posted a picture on another forum and a member there (who also posts here) ID'ed them as both males. I then e-mailed that picture and another to a very prominent fish dealer that many of you have bought pikes from ( I don't want to post his name because I never asked him if I could but I'm sure you can figure out who it is) confirming the ID.
Now the question: Is it possible for two male Atabapo to bond? These fish are swimming as a pair, side by side constantly, hanging out in the same cave and generally acting as mates. The smaller exhibits breeding desire by head shaking and presenting sideways and the larger just lets it. There's virtually no aggression or territorality, other than an occasional very gentle tail mouthing from the larger, though they've only been in this tank for about 40 hours at this point. Should I be looking to move one of them quickly to another tank or owner or is it possible they might stay non-aggressive to each other on a long term basis?
That post sure got longer than I intended.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Please post us some pictures!! Its not likely that they will bond, as most of the time you hear of same sex bonding with females. They will more than likely start beefing it out with each other. Its still possible you might have a male and a female, or two females and they have just not started showing female characteristics yet.

 

[Scatocephalus]

Please post us some pictures!! Its not likely that they will bond, as most of the time you hear of same sex bonding with females. They will more than likely start beefing it out with each other. Its still possible you might have a male and a female, or two females and they have just not started showing female characteristics yet.

I've seen the fish in question and I'll admit that the smaller of the two has a couple of females traits. It appears more stocky with a rounded belly. However, it is most definitely missing the tell-tale white strip along the dorsal. At the size they are I'd assume that they'd be showing all sexual charcteristics, especially if they are exhibiting sexual behaviour.

 

[Bawb2u]

Here are the only pictures I have, they are not my pictures as my camera is dead. The person I got them from said they saw one of them lay eggs but as there are other fish in the tank, I don't know if the eggs were actually seen being laid or if the eggs were near where these fish were hanging out. I'm totally confused at this point as the person I sent the pictures to has seen more pike go through his facility then any of us have seen in real life and I'm a pure novice to pikes. At this point, I'm just going to keep both as they are totally docile toward each other but have another tank ready to go with identical water parameters, so I'll just have to scoop, drop and add an established filter if things go awry.

 

[Peanut_Power]

In the top picture, if one of them DID turn out to be female, it would be the bottom fish. This is very odd...lol. Give them a few more weeks, possibly there will be some additional color changes. Sometimes (VERY RARE) the females don't color up and continue to look like males. Perhaps that is the case. Either way, they are SUPERB fish!! Props to you for nabbing them!! There shouldn't be any problem keeping them together as long as they aren't bickering too bad.

About the eggs, its probably unlikely that they did spawn, as its rather difficult to say the least to get Lugubris pikes to do so. If they did spawn, there would be no denying it. Crenicichla eggs are very unique. Have him describe the eggs that they laid. If they were cone shaped and on a stalk, then one of them DID lay eggs. If they are round and on a flat surface, then they are most likely not the pikes.