P.Motaguense Change in Attitude...

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lilfats2

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2008
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Long Island
I have kept this pair together for about a month and some change. and my male has been wanting to mate with the female for sometime now... dancing and shaking his head... both of their tubes are out... but i have not seen eggs..

now all of a sudden he is biting at her more then before... she holds her own against him they are about the same size... she turns to face him and puts her lips out i guess to show that is not scared of him then they just chill and go about their business...

Now im not a noob on cichlids but it just seems a bit weird and annoying seeing them fight when i thought they were so close to babies... Her tube is still out by the way... about 8 or 9 inches both of them...

i am growing out 1 female 5 inches and one male hopeful about an inch. but im sure it will most likely be a female too... should i just swap females? rearrange the tank and see what happens?
 
bump before i goto sleep
 
Hes trying to get her in the mating mood. Sometimes fish are killed during these rough mating rituals.

What you can do, and works pretty good, is add a dither fish. This will take the abuse off the female, and they most likely will bond better. The dither fish makes the pair feel they have a common enemy and they bond that way.


As fo a dither fish. I dont know what to really recommend. Soem say a male convict works good.
 
lilfats2;2265835; said:
I have kept this pair together for about a month and some change. and my male has been wanting to mate with the female for sometime now... dancing and shaking his head... both of their tubes are out... but i have not seen eggs..

now all of a sudden he is biting at her more then before... she holds her own against him they are about the same size... she turns to face him and puts her lips out i guess to show that is not scared of him then they just chill and go about their business...

Now im not a noob on cichlids but it just seems a bit weird and annoying seeing them fight when i thought they were so close to babies... Her tube is still out by the way... about 8 or 9 inches both of them...

i am growing out 1 female 5 inches and one male hopeful about an inch. but im sure it will most likely be a female too... should i just swap females? rearrange the tank and see what happens?
Click to expand...

It's breeding behavior. Looks like this? The "head shaking" is actually a way for her to make noise to attract the male. She's clicking her pharyngeal jaw. I suppose it's a fishy tun on. If they don't have one already try and find a large flat rock or a pot with a smooth surface. I generally put a few options in the tank for them. When you see the breeding tube distended try doing a couple large water changes (50-75%) over the course of a week...bumping up the temperature a bit. That generally knocks them into breeding.

Hondo-Manaquense-998b.jpg


Make sure the tank is either divided so she can get away if the play gets too rough...or provide ample hiding places. Don't worry about the "fighting"....it's what they do to set the mood.

Mo
 
I have a little catfish in there that they both chase away... it seems they tolerate him in the tank... i tried a pleco they killed... there is a pot and plenty flat rock... i will put another dither in the tank and see what happens.. the male usually kills sdither so he easy... first it was a Rose queen then a convict then a pleco...
 
try a couple of appropriately sized tinfoil barbs or silver dollars
 
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