dominant SH Vs paired SH

[hooliganATV]

Right how to explain....

so my group of 5 SH have started the fighting thing and so far i have noticed 2 major things. now I no this is coming but they are still 3.5" at most. now i cut the feed this morning down from normal so it could just be lack of food.

1/ I have a dominant fish he is one of the larger three and is clearly throwing his weight around but at this time he has not selected a mate,

2/ I have notices another of the larger males hanging around with one of the smaller ones. not sure if they are a male female pair of just two fish hanging together to avoid the bully in the tank.

the only time they all come together is feeding (or if i move near the tank). apart from this I have them in a quite area and dont get to observe them very often.

so i suppose as the tile hints to, is it normally the dominate fish that i'm looking to pair or could it be any two?? what sort of behaviour am i looking for to determine a pair??

the SH are channa ornatipinnis

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

The other 2 just get together cause of the bullier, the dominant one will get the female if there a female in your tank when they are ready to spawn and SH don't form a pair at that size at that ages

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

What's species of your SH? Unless you have a dwarf species Ceylon snakehead, Channa orientalis then a pair can be form around that size, the male one should show intensive color develop, and like a said above the dominant one (if male) will get the female or it will kill other male if there more than 1 male in there.

 

[hooliganATV]

thanks very much ill just sit and wait, at the moment its nothing more than the bigger fish giving a little chase here and there no megga aggression. and its channa ornatipinnis

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Ah, it's a dwarf species channa! You can see the male one start color develop, dorsal fin grow bigger, longer when it hit 5~6 inches, your dominant one probably a male, I hope you have a female in there to get a pair

 

[hooliganATV]

me too hahaha would be awesome to breed these wont be long the biggest is around 4" they grow like weeds. I have 5 so figures crossed.