New pair of pikes

Gourami Swami

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To me it sounds like the woman wants sex and the man doesn't so he's biting her.
LMAO.
Thanks, and yeah it does seem like that may be the case haha. I have only kept pikes singly in the past, hoping someone who has kept large pairs can chime in and offer some insight. If it keeps up I'm thinking a divider or sell the female, both of which I would rather avoid.
 
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tlindsey

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Having some troubles with this pair now. I have had them for probably around a month, and never saw a bit of aggression between them until about a week ago. I think they are finally 100% comfortable in the tank, and now the male has taken to biting his wife's tail. She also has been doing the "shaky-twitchy" dance that I know is usually associated with breeding. But when she does this, the male flares up and goes and bites her tail. It's not super bad, he isn't relentless and if she runs away he doesn't chase her. But It's enough to where I feel like it's not great for the female, her tailfin is getting some tears in it. After he bites her she usually sticks around for a little bit shaking, then goes and hides in the upper part of the tank.
I really don't want to split this pair up, but I think if this keeps up forever her tail will be gone. Any advice/insight as to why the sudden change? Breeding mood perhaps?





The female maybe ready and the male is not . You could probably place a divider in the 90 and observe for breeding behavior color change, dropping of tube of both m/f.
 
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AquaAlex1993

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Thanks, and yeah it does seem like that may be the case haha. I have only kept pikes singly in the past, hoping someone who has kept large pairs can chime in and offer some insight. If it keeps up I'm thinking a divider or sell the female, both of which I would rather avoid.
If you decide to sell the female and can ship,I'll take her. ;)
 
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Gourami Swami

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The female maybe ready and the male is not . You could probably place a divider in the 90 and observe for breeding behavior color change, dropping of tube of both m/f.
Thanks, that is what I was thinking as well.
Alex, I will keep that in mind! Would rather sell her to an MFKer than a LFS for sure.
Rocksor Rocksor is this pretty typical? Seems like you know your crenicichla
 
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Rocksor

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Never had breeding pikes, since I haven't had success in keeping more than one. One or the other gets beaten badly. If you go to FB, and post in the Pike Cichlids page run by Vinny Kutty, he should be able to tell you the signs. He had a couple of Johanna's (red spotting kind) that always had one beaten, until years later the fish spawned. I don't think he got fry though since he has really hard water.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/225660984111130/

It might take him a few days to add you to the group.
 

tlindsey

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Never had breeding pikes, since I haven't had success in keeping more than one. One or the other gets beaten badly. If you go to FB, and post in the Pike Cichlids page run by Vinny Kutty, he should be able to tell you the signs. He had a couple of Johanna's (red spotting kind) that always had one beaten, until years later the fish spawned. I don't think he got fry though since he has really hard water.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/225660984111130/

It might take him a few days to add you to the group.


darth pike darth pike
 

darth pike

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Pike bonds tend to be among the strongest within the cichlid family, but the problem is you don't know for sure if they were bonded previously. I normally don't worry about a few fin splits IF I know the pair is fully bonded, but pikes can do a metric ton of damage really quickly when they choose too. I'd have a divider handy for sure.
 

darth pike

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Floating pvp pipes also work, I've used the black ABS ones in the past when trying to pair pikes.
 
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