My group of aurantimaculata

[Joao M]

Specially - but not only - to you, Devon.

I have one dominant auranti that controles the entire tank and eats like a champ and 4 that are hidding and being harrased by it. No pairs yet

I took some pictures (with the mobile and blurry ones...) of the dominat one - from several angles trying to capture the head and dorsal fin - that I believe is a Female.
Can you confirm?

w flash

(all pics of the same fish)

I have another likely female that is also eating well but clearly dominate by this one (although not in a "brutal" manner...yet).

The 3 likely males are the ones more molested and I have only seen one eating.
Of the 3, one has its fins more preserved, so I guess the dominant - likely - female is not attacking him with the vigour it does to the others. But it chases him around the tank as well.

So,advise?

a) Do you confirm this is a female (looks like it, but these are my 1st auranti...)?

b) I believe it is too soon to separate, because I still don´t see a clear pair (it´s mor like 1+4 and not 2+3). I am thinking right?

Thanks in advance

 

[bottles]

Very nice fish and setup, Joao. Your Bleheris look great as well.

 

[-DC-]

It's always hard to say in pic's (and trust me i know how hard getting a clear picture is of these guy's between the color/shimmer and the fact they dont sit still long enough lol) I would say it certainly could be the female though, when it's hiding does it sit with any other snake head or does it stick alone ?

As for what to do next it can be tricky but there are a few options, If she's giving everyone a beat down you could remove her and hope the more docile female then chooses a mate.

You could also leave her with the male you think she's excepting most and see how it play's out, some amount of chasing among a newly formed pair is not unusual , Maybe put the other 3 in a separate tank and see if a second pair forms then pick the pair that gets along best. Another is to remove the 2 males who clearly are not being excepted and leave the other 3 to see how things play out...

I would probably do the latter, Get the 2 who are currently taking the brunt of the beating out of the equation and see how the dominate fish reacts. Watch carefully though sometimes when you remove the fish getting the brunt of the beating the one(s) who were doing OK suddenly becomes the target!

If you do decide to drop it down to just the pair make sure about that that the other suspected female being female, With my auranti the male she paired with spent alot of time happily hidden in a cave which she shared from time to time with him, The other were driven to the far corner attacked if they came out into the open.

With my gachua i noticed similar behavior, one male was allowed to steak out a cave and left in relative peace while the others were attacked and hunted. He also could come out for air and food only getting the occasional chase back into his cave while the others were attacked if spotted.

hope that helps ....

 

[Joao M]

Thanks Bottles!

It's always hard to say in pic's (and trust me i know how hard getting a clear picture is of these guy's between the color/shimmer and the fact they dont sit still long enough lol) I would say it certainly could be the female though, when it's hiding does it sit with any other snake head or does it stick alone ?

As for what to do next it can be tricky but there are a few options, If she's giving everyone a beat down you could remove her and hope the more docile female then chooses a mate.

You could also leave her with the male you think she's excepting most and see how it play's out, some amount of chasing among a newly formed pair is not unusual , Maybe put the other 3 in a separate tank and see if a second pair forms then pick the pair that gets along best. Another is to remove the 2 males who clearly are not being excepted and leave the other 3 to see how things play out...

I would probably do the latter, Get the 2 who are currently taking the brunt of the beating out of the equation and see how the dominate fish reacts. Watch carefully though sometimes when you remove the fish getting the brunt of the beating the one(s) who were doing OK suddenly becomes the target!

If you do decide to drop it down to just the pair make sure about that that the other suspected female being female, With my auranti the male she paired with spent alot of time happily hidden in a cave which she shared from time to time with him, The other were driven to the far corner attacked if they came out into the open.

With my gachua i noticed similar behavior, one male was allowed to steak out a cave and left in relative peace while the others were attacked and hunted. He also could come out for air and food only getting the occasional chase back into his cave while the others were attacked if spotted.

hope that helps ....

Devon,

Thanks for your input.
Yesterday evening when I arrived home it seemed clear the dominant female(?) had picked her male (I´ll use male and female according t omy guessings in this post).
The dominant was cruising the entire tank, "controling" everything, one of the males was in a cave on the left-center of the tank but allowed to come out - she would chase him a bit but no attacking - and the other 3 (1 female and 2 males) were pilled in the far corner.
I fed them and both females ate (a lot) and the "chosen male" also atea bit. The other two never left the corner. The dominated F came out to eat and immediately retrieved to the corner (chased...).

So, I took actions and separated the supposed pair from the trio (left for the pair, right for the trio)

After separation, I noticed that the dominated F started to swim along one of the males while the other (smaller of them all) remained hidden.

This morning, the Dominant F and her pair were swimming peacefully side by side on the right side of the tank (the male "bumps" the female now and then and she corresponds, always with the mouths closed) and on the left side the possible 2nd pair was also out and about without visible aggression.

So this is how thing are going at the moment. IF I see the trio becoming a duo I will immediately separate the extra male to a another tank and give it a shot with a possible pair in each side of the tank.

It is - I understand - very soon to say but things may work out and I could get 2 pairs out of the group.
Fingers crossed

 

[-DC-]

I'd say your right on all accounts ! Congrats on the pairs !

Watch that trio, they are probably a bit stressed at the moment from the other pair forming and just docile as they recuperate, but once they realize they have been separated and can relax a little they'll likely turn quickly against that 3rd male.

 

[Joao M]

Thanks Devon,

I´ll watch them like a hawk! I have an empty 200 lts tank to move the 3rd male as soon as necessary

 

[Joao M]

Update: trio became a duo; duo became a trio

Interesting developments:

-the trio(right side of the tank) was becoming a pair but not the original one....I´ll explain: the female initially was with the bigger of the two males, but in the last week she pushed that male away consistently (no bitting however) and started to swim with the smaller one. So,lately, it looked like she was pairing with the small male (swimming together, rubbing heads and so on) while the bigger male was hidden but always allowed to come out to eat and take a beath of air with no aggresion;

- the "pair" on the other side of the tank wasn´t working out. The dominant female beat the hell out of the male and shredded all his fins... Really agressive and didn´t allow him to move out of the cave he was in except for (very short) moments to come to the surface.Once he tried to eat and was chased relentlessly. I thing he was in the death row.

So, yesterday I tried switching the neglected male from one side to the other: the trio became a duo and the "pair" became a trio.

The welcome reception was brutal and the Dominant female (very agressive fish) grabbed the new male by the head. But after some chasing she cooled down. This male is the bigger of the 3 so handles better the agression from the female.
After a couple of hours they were both out and about. Not exactly "cuddling" but in a relatively calm manner. The 2nd male (and target) was also allowed to come out of the cave and eat a few worms.
The female chases them a bit but only to force them to retrieve. Not all around the (half) tank like she was doing with the initial male

On the other side, the calm female and the small male seem to be working. They swimm together, she doesn´t chase him at all and eat at the same time with no problems.

So, let´s see if this works better

 

[E_Trajano]

Fingers crossed

 

[-DC-]

Round 2 ! good luck, it is a bit of a guessing game especially if our trying to save the extras !

 

[Joao M]

Thanks Devon and E_(mílio? duardo? rnesto?)

I understand what you´re saying, Devon. And I know I may be makibng thing even more difficult for me for not letting the killing spree take place. We´ll see.
At least everybody seems a lot calmer at the moment. And the right side duo is becoming more and more bonded.