I saw this in last months TFH and I though I'd share it with everybody else. I thought it was pretty interesting. I've seen Discus fry do this, but I have never heard of other cichlids doing it, much less guapotes.
From Mo Devlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPQbvmOrOsQ
This video shows a breeding behavior called "glancing". In essence it's the parents feeding the fry from the slime coat on their body. to the best of my knowledge this behavior hasn't previously been documented for this species. Here's how it goes: Invariably the male ad female will start making a snapping gulping movement with their mouth. It looks quite violent, but if you watch the video you will see the fish spit out any fry that were unlucky enough to get caught up in the mouth. Right after the mouth snapping the fish will either settle to the bottom on their side, or even prop themselves diagonally against the tank side or driftwood. The fry will then dart in and apparently eat off the side of the parent. I don't know what the "snapping" means...but it happens in that order. I would speculate that it some very large "dinner bell" underwater. It almost seems like the parents are in competition with each other in getting and keeping the fry's attention. When they go to the males side the female snaps and lays on her side...vice versa when the female has the fry
enjoy!
-C
From Mo Devlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPQbvmOrOsQ
This video shows a breeding behavior called "glancing". In essence it's the parents feeding the fry from the slime coat on their body. to the best of my knowledge this behavior hasn't previously been documented for this species. Here's how it goes: Invariably the male ad female will start making a snapping gulping movement with their mouth. It looks quite violent, but if you watch the video you will see the fish spit out any fry that were unlucky enough to get caught up in the mouth. Right after the mouth snapping the fish will either settle to the bottom on their side, or even prop themselves diagonally against the tank side or driftwood. The fry will then dart in and apparently eat off the side of the parent. I don't know what the "snapping" means...but it happens in that order. I would speculate that it some very large "dinner bell" underwater. It almost seems like the parents are in competition with each other in getting and keeping the fry's attention. When they go to the males side the female snaps and lays on her side...vice versa when the female has the fry
enjoy!
-C
