First off, it's good to see the forum back. Though this new format is -challenging. Guess I finally have to change key avatar too.
Anyway, a few weeks ago my male hystrix was pursuing the female. I happened to sit down in front of the tank one afternoon and caught some action happening. Up to that point, the male had been lightly biting the female on her disc and around her spiricles. That day he was biting her and not letting go. She started to swim around the tank while dragging him along. While I watched, he made 3 attempts to mate with her, each was unsuccessful.
I observed something I hadn't seen before. As time progressed, the base of his claspers started to swell to the size of small grapes. Finally, after the last unsuccessful attempt to mate, he let go his hold on her and released his sperm into the tank. Made a bit of a mess in the water.
She had some bite marks later on, so hopefully they did mate again. They typically mate in late spring/early summer.
Has anyone ever noticed the claspers swelling on their male rays prior to mating?
Anyway, a few weeks ago my male hystrix was pursuing the female. I happened to sit down in front of the tank one afternoon and caught some action happening. Up to that point, the male had been lightly biting the female on her disc and around her spiricles. That day he was biting her and not letting go. She started to swim around the tank while dragging him along. While I watched, he made 3 attempts to mate with her, each was unsuccessful.
I observed something I hadn't seen before. As time progressed, the base of his claspers started to swell to the size of small grapes. Finally, after the last unsuccessful attempt to mate, he let go his hold on her and released his sperm into the tank. Made a bit of a mess in the water.
She had some bite marks later on, so hopefully they did mate again. They typically mate in late spring/early summer.
Has anyone ever noticed the claspers swelling on their male rays prior to mating?
