Breeding jealousy?? such a thing?

[d3r]

So i was watching TV and noticed some frantic movement from my 120gallon RBP tank. Look over to find a pair building a nest about to "do the deed".

After observing several minutes i notice a second female building another nest only about 10inches away(?) No male in sight.

The 2 females would then periodically snip at eachother while building their respective nests.

Anyway, i found this odd and was wondering if the 2nd female was trying to steal the male away from the other? Trying to be a "homewrecker" so to speak?

(P.s. i just got home from work to find eggs! I'm going to go get my 10g and pull half the eggs out n see if i can't get some fry usually my aggressive Pleco gobbles up the eggs before i even see them.)

But the 2nd female is still sitting in her nest 10inches away from the pairs spawn with no male....what is this about? Jealousy? Wishful thinking? Are Piranhas even capable of these feelings?

 

[d3r]

well i guess that was a stupid question considering nobody gave me an answer..anyway...this is my second attempt at RBP fry to im excited.

i left half of the eggs in the tank..Mom and Dad doing a good job guarding them from my bloodthirsty Pleco (see below)


i vac'd out the other half into a 10gallon fry tank treated with Meth Blue (see below)


now im just waiting to see what happens! my first attempt went horrible but this time it seems to be going good...no sign of fungus in either tanks and all water parameters are perfect.


its funny going back to my original post.. normally the Pleco slides in and gobbles up the eggs before i even know theyre there but with Mom and Dad guarding their spawn PLUS the random female protecting her nest (still no male in sight...) only a few inches away its making it extra hard for the Pleco to sneak through.

he keeps swimming up to the surface and slowly repelling down on top of the spawn like Tom Cruise in Mission impossible LOL fortunately the P's arent blind and spoil his plan.

 

[d3r]

Another update: my girlfriend turned on the hood lights and ALL of my piranhas bum rushed the remaining eggs in the tank and started eating them! so i vac'd the rest out and put them in the 10gallon. It was crazy....all hell broke loose.

 

[koltsixx]

I wouldn't say it was dumb question just because no one replied, the P section just isn't the most active or responded to section on MFK. There are very knowledgeable members in this section but there aren't as many people dedicated to P's as there are to other fish and so sometimes it takes a while to get a response.

As for your question while I'm not a P keeper myself, I do imagine that a breeding pair of P's could inspire another P to come into breeding condition as a result of the stimuli. Sorry to hear about the bum rush on the eggs. As for vacuuming them out I'm not sure if that was the most prudent way to remove the eggs. Hopefully though you got them set up right and will get some new baby P's from the remaining eggs, good luck.

 

[d3r]

Its so strange...now i have 3 single P's making and defending nests un-paired. i don't know what's going on....

as for the eggs..the water is a little cloudy this morning..i cant see what color they are because of the cloudy blue water but i don't see any fungus which was my main problem last time so even if the eggs die, I'm still pleased with my progress!

Going to do a 50% waterchange in a few hours.. they SHOULD be hatching tonight around midnight or early in the morning.

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

Fish release hormones into the water when breeding, maybe the female was confused and thought she was the target and now is just like.. meh

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[d3r]

Yea actually that sounds resonable...they've just never acted like this before. Ots always been the one pair making the nest...now i got 3 unpaired P's making nests....just new to me i guess. never seen them all attack the eggs either.


Egg update: we have some success! i see probably 50-100 wigglers so far! a bit early...wasn't expecting them til after midnight.