Messing with my Tilapia

[johnnymax]

Yesterday I decided to smooth out the gravel in my aquarium. I think I agitated the male tilapia. They are spawning and digging nests. (Don't think I'm being mean, they are ALWAYS nesting!) When they spawn their color changes. They go from silver to black with red trim on their fins. Anyway, it took them less than a day to pile up the gravel and make nests again. They suck up rocks and spit them out. It gets bad when they start spitting rocks into another males nest. Sometimes they get mad enough to fight. But normally they just flair up their fins, open their mouth real big and put of a big show. I have three males in there. You can see the two close to the bottom easy. It took me a while to find the 3rd one in the picture. See him?
Please excuse the scratches on the tank. I got it free

 

[tlindsey]

Yesterday I decided to smooth out the gravel in my aquarium. I think I agitated the male tilapia. They are spawning and digging nests. (Don't think I'm being mean, they are ALWAYS nesting!) When they spawn their color changes. They go from silver to black with red trim on their fins. Anyway, it took them less than a day to pile up the gravel and make nests again. They suck up rocks and spit them out. It gets bad when they start spitting rocks into another males nest. Sometimes they get mad enough to fight. But normally they just flair up their fins, open their mouth real big and put of a big show. I have three males in there. You can see the two close to the bottom easy. It took me a while to find the 3rd one in the picture. See him?
Please excuse the scratches on the tank. I got it free

View attachment 1438960

Cichlids being Cichlids lol.

 

[Dalfrey86]

This is how I got into a fight with my BP. Well more like she nibbled me and said enough of this nonsense.

 

[Milingu]

Pretty underrated fish. The males can be stunning. Thanks for sharing.