Is love in the Air.. or water??

[omojena]

i walked downstairs this morning to let the dogs out and when i walked over to the fish tank i saw the most curious thing! my male marble motoro, who has of late really developed quite the set of claspers on him despite his realtively small disc size, was on my female marble motoro.
he was aggressively pursuing and biting her on her two fins under her tail. simultaneously she had her tail bent all the way around in allmost the shape of a fishing hook seemingly trying to sting/jab him on his face!! i tried to get my phone so i could snap a quick video of it but it was over in about 15 sesonds. i dont know how much longer before i saw it it had been going on for but it definitely was intense.
what i dont get is why if he wants to mate he is going after the smallest female in the tank when there is a perfectly good 16" female who is DEFINITLY ready for some lovin and another 13" female who seems to be ready for some lovin too?? these two large females always seem to be following him around and chewing on his claspers but he never gets the hint? maybe he is only into petite broads? maybe he doesnt like fat chicks? either way, as you can probably tell from my ranting and raving... im pretty excited that this little guy is starting to go to work on his herum!

any observations of your own stocks would be appreciated. this is my first group of rays that ive been raising for about 18 months now so i have "plenty" of experience keeping and growing rays but i have none when it come to them breeding!

thanks!!! and here is a photo of the lovers as im sure someone will ask for a snapshot....

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

Damn that is awesome! I can't wait till my pair mature. Keep us posted!

 

[keepinfish]

i think it either happened, or is about too. You should have pups in a few months... Which is the female? The one on the right is pretty big already??
My male chews on my females "feet" when breeding, i have seen them almost chewed in half before from him holding on to her. My female does the same thing and is like a scorpion trying to sting him.

I think maybe it is mating season, lots of ray keepers have been getting action lately.

Update her again in about 5 weeks or so.

I usually see a hump by 35 days
i usually see movement around 50 days.

GL!

http://www.youtube.com/user/CWBBOARD#p/u/6/uSDE4fFQ9LM
around the 25 second mark look how he is jerking my female around, i have seen him drag her from one end of the tank to another before shaking her like a ragdoll.

 

[omojena]

i think it either happened, or is about too. You should have pups in a few months...
My male chews on my females "feet" when breeding, i have seen them almost chewed in half before from him holding on to her. My female does the same thing and is like a scorpion trying to sting him.

I think maybe it is mating season, lots of ray keepers have been getting action lately.

Update her again in about 5 weeks or so.

I usually see a hump by 35 days
i usually see movement around 50 days.

GL!

so am i understanding you correctly in that you are saying if he is chewing on her feet it means he probably already tagged her? or does it mean is is working his way up to tagging her.

and yes... that is exactly what it reminded me of.. .a scorpion trying to sting!!!

 

[keepinfish]

the first time mine bred he chased her and chewed on her feet for a few days then i saw the deed happen.... Yours may have already happened, my male still picks on my female once he already knocked her up, and she will try to "scorpion" him...lol

Watch the calender

 

[spotfin]

so am i understanding you correctly in that you are saying if he is chewing on her feet it means he probably already tagged her? or does it mean is is working his way up to tagging her.

and yes... that is exactly what it reminded me of.. .a scorpion trying to sting!!!

Yes, sounds like he is trying. He may or may not have suceeded yet.
My male would but the pelvic fins of the female too. If she wasn't interested, she would curl her tail around like you described. Another thing he would do was bite the end of her tail. He chewed about 1 1/2" off the end of it.

When they did mate, he was upside down and underneath her.

 

[omojena]

anybody else?

 

[vamptrev]

i would say he did or is trying to do the deed

its always good to have 2 males so they compete over the females.

 

[ShadowStryder]

Are both the other females Marble/Motoros or is that counting your female flower also.
What size are the flowers and how close to mature are they?

 

[omojena]

Are both the other females Marble/Motoros or is that counting your female flower also.
What size are the flowers and how close to mature are they?

the tank stock consists of:

3 female motoros (one of them is a marble)

1 male marble motoro

1 male flower

1 female flower

the male flower is 16" and his claspers are starting to roll. he seems to have taken a liking to the large female motoro, usually following her around a good part of the day. that would make a cool hybrid

the female flower is 13" and im pretty sure nowhere near maturity. unfortunately she is the only rays who hasnt learned to eat pellets. the male has. this is why he has outgrown her so quickly. she eats ANY kind of aquatic protein but not pellets.......