Maybe my Juv Ornatum have started to pair up...your thoughts.

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Awesome...I was hoping you would chime in. I had read about you having 2 that were bonded. I agree with everything you said about the sex difference. I have 3 adults im trying to get to hook up mff and the larger female likes to try to kill everything. So far so good on the 2 that are bonding...im pretty certain at this point its m and f and something is going on between them. The last one I pulled out looked to be male and the other one is still too beat up to tell but is eating and should recover. I love these fish...I love the colors...and how quickly and drastically they change them. I cant wait to see what spawning colors are like. What I have noticed so far growing these out and having adults to look at is they look the same young with some spangles on the face...then the female stats to loose them and the male gains them...then the body color starts to differ and the darkness of the fins. I will be moving the small hopefully bonding pair into a 125 alone so they can spawn one day :D Here are my killer female and adult male pics...the other female was too shy at first to get any good pics...ill retry one day soon. The 3 are in a 135 divided...I only pulled the divider once and the male almost got killed over night. So I will keep trying...just glad I have 2 now that look promising. 2m-1.jpg male above female below 3f-1.jpg female with out fancy camera just iphone pic. b66dc2c9.jpg This is a vid of the other female that was a little shy. I had to pull her when I pulled the dividers becasue she was getting chased bad. So I stuck her in a 75 with a few other fish. At first I thought the lyonsi was going to be to much...then a little while later I see this...and moved the ornatum out lol. The barring is insane I hope spawning colors are like that.

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2m-1.jpg

3f-1.jpg

b66dc2c9.jpg
 
Oh wow really cool man! Great pics too i totally forgot you had the big ones. I havent seen any spawning activity but ive observed the female turn yellow with festae like barring and gently push on the male. Shes done that a few times that ive seen but nothing other than digging a huge pit and that behavior. These two are from different vendors and slightly smaller than my 8-9" hoss of a male. I wish i could of has small juviesto pair on their own
 
I have gone through a few of them unfortunately. I originally got from jeff, when he first had them, a male and 2 females at about 7-8" and 6 of the 1" juv. 4 of the 6 juv bloated and died...then I tried to let the one adult male and one female (killer) play one day and she killed him over night. I got another adult male from jeff a while later and got 5 juv from another guy that is local to me. Then one juv died from ick...one jumped out the back of the tank...and one got killed before I could pull it. So I have no idea if the 2 that are bonded are from jeff or the other guy...but they pretty much come from the same source as all the others that flooded the market.

Thats cool you have seen that one bar up on him. I have not seen anything like that yet. I have some vid of when I let my 3 adults play the last time I just haven't had the time to post. I lucked out he was almost dead in the morning.
 
They are truly interesting fish to those with patience and a little dedication. Not to get too far off topic but have you ever kept atromaculatus? They are alot like ornatum and twice as aggressive. I did have a similar issue with ick i had 6 juvies from jeff as well but the ick issue was my fault not theirs. I lost one 6" male i got from jeff to that hoss of a male i have he actually came thru the divider and murdered the other male AND a loisellei that was in the same tank. Both were dead in about 4 hours while i was out doing some shopping. Now my murderous male lives alone with silver dollars but hes just to impressive to get rid of if they ever come available again i may try to divide him again with a bigger female
 
Wow yeh thats too bad about him being so nasty...how big is he...maybe he needs to tango with my killer female...shes about 8-9 and already has some notches on her belt. I never kept the atros...they didnt impress me much from the pics I saw so I decided to go to the ornatums.
 
Definitely think they have paired up...now I just wonder how long till they spawn or if they will.

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NorCaliCichlids said:
more like tolerating on the path to bonding.
Click to expand...

Agreed...thats probably a better way to describe it. No spawning signs but usually when I have seen more than one ornatum in a tank there is some fighting.

I plan to move them to a 125 alone (maybe some giant danios) in the next few weeks...I wonder if I should hold off on that for a while to not mess anything up.
 
I can't wait until they get more out there in the trade for sale! I love these fish
 
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