How can you tell who's winning a lip lock?

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During I don't think there's a way to tell the whose winning, the only thing I've seen is the one who backs off is the loser. But idk


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I only know when one fish backs away or whoever is backing away more. My oscars normally lip lock and sometimes the one o will throw the jd in the lip lock. Oscars are like 10" and 9" and the bigger one tends to throw the smaller one up into the air or push him to the surface. When the smaller 5" or 6" jd fights with the oscar he throws him around but when the oscars team up on him he runs. On the other hand, my little 2" female convict will throw every fish around along with the bigger 5" male. No one messes with them.
 
when one fish is biting tight, and his opponent biting loose, he's winning that position/bite.

In the lip fight they battle back and forth to get the better/good bite where their teeth sink in right.When they get that they'll try to hold it to let the other fish feel the strength of the bite and get drain from the teeth puncture.

They usually go for the top lip and chew that apart if the fight goes that far. The smart fish fights from the top pointing diagonally down biting at the top lip/nostril area of his opponent. That way their opponent have nothing in the front to bite but instead being biten from the top.

but fish are wierd..

for example. Fish A vs fish B.

Fish "A" can bite fish "B"'s fins, face, and scales off through the whloe fight, but fish "B" can make fish "A" run off by winning the lip lock. Lip locking is where their skills are at.
 
when one fish is biting tight, and his opponent biting loose, he's winning that position/bite.

In the lip fight they battle back and forth to get the better/good bite where their teeth sink in right.When they get that they'll try to hold it to let the other fish feel the strength of the bite and get drain from the teeth puncture.

They usually go for the top lip and chew that apart if the fight goes that far. The smart fish fights from the top pointing diagonally down biting at the top lip/nostril area of his opponent. That way their opponent have nothing in the front to bite but instead being biten from the top.

but fish are wierd..

for example. Fish A vs fish B.

Fish "A" can bite fish "B"'s fins, face, and scales off through the whloe fight, but fish "B" can make fish "A" run off by winning the lip lock. Lip locking is where their skills are at.

This is full of incorrect information. Whatever you are talking about is not lip locking. Sounds like two fish actively trying to hurt/kill one another.

Firstly, fish don't lip lock to bite. Many fish don't even have teeth. Instead they have grinding plates in the back of their mouths. Lip locking is about a display of dominance, either for disputes over food, territory or mating privileges or it can also be part of a mating ritual.

Do some fish get torn up during a lip lock? Yes, it happens. But damage is not the ultimate goal. And you will see fish with broken or dislocated jaws more often than you will see fish with a torn up mouth. Lip locking is often a harmless display to show dominance. My severums did it while they were figuring out their pecking order and after a couple hours of lip locking, the winner was determined and they have not lip locked since.

There is often no clear way to tell who is "winning" a lip lock. The loser is the one who breaks the hold and "forfeits" to the stronger fish.

However, you are correct that damage to fins and scales is often never a deciding factor in dominance and most cichlids defer to the lip lock as their true show of strength.


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This is full of incorrect information. Whatever you are talking about is not lip locking. Sounds like two fish actively trying to hurt/kill one another.

Firstly, fish don't lip lock to bite. Many fish don't even have teeth. Instead they have grinding plates in the back of their mouths. Lip locking is about a display of dominance, either for disputes over food, territory or mating privileges or it can also be part of a mating ritual.

Do some fish get torn up during a lip lock? Yes, it happens. But damage is not the ultimate goal. And you will see fish with broken or dislocated jaws more often than you will see fish with a torn up mouth. Lip locking is often a harmless display to show dominance. My severums did it while they were figuring out their pecking order and after a couple hours of lip locking, the winner was determined and they have not lip locked since.

There is often no clear way to tell who is "winning" a lip lock. The loser is the one who breaks the hold and "forfeits" to the stronger fish.

However, you are correct that damage to fins and scales is often never a deciding factor in dominance and most cichlids defer to the lip lock as their true show of strength.


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you cant tell me nothing because you just cant.

Im talking fighting. I've seen more fish fight then you seen people. I used to bet money on them.
 
I have never seen what you describe either Animal Guy. All of the lip locking I witnessed were either a dominance thing or mating ritual, similar to what Mythic described.

In all honesty, I don't fight fish. So maybe I have no clue....
 
I have never seen what you describe either Animal Guy. All of the lip locking I witnessed were either a dominance thing or mating ritual, similar to what Mythic described.

In all honesty, I don't fight fish. So maybe I have no clue....

U dont have to fight fish. We see them fight all the time in our own tanks.

And I don't disagree with you.

to us it's 2 fishes lip locking. To the fishes It isn't all that simple.
 
U dont have to fight fish. We see them fight all the time in our own tanks.

And I don't disagree with you.

to us it's 2 fishes lip locking. To the fishes It isn't all that simple.

Fish is plural and singular. There is no such word as "fishes".

you cant tell me nothing because you just cant.

Im talking fighting. I've seen more fish fight then you seen people. I used to bet money on them.

The grammatical errors aside, why are you letting your fish fight if they are tearing each other up? That is not a very responsible thing to do in this hobby. And worse, why would you bet money on fish fighting? That is illegal. Like cock fighting or dog fighting. It's animal cruelty.



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Fish is plural and singular. There is no such word as "fishes".



The grammatical errors aside, why are you letting your fish fight if they are tearing each other up? That is not a very responsible thing to do in this hobby. And worse, why would you bet money on fish fighting? That is illegal. Like cock fighting or dog fighting. It's animal cruelty.



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My thoughts exactly. If your fish are lip locking all the time something is wrong .... occasionally all flare and lock but if its excessive then something is amiss


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