When my endli was about 7” it ate one of my 4” peacock bass. Didn’t see that one coming.
** Poly Bite (warning graphic images) **
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what does "failed cupping" mean? My moke uses sand pebbles. I hope that provides him with "relief"This one is also an old video of mine I almost deleted. Unfortunately in the UK, Senegals like this are all too common, we almost never see wild Senegals and not often quality cb Senegals, just really inbred ones.
The aggression was just because it was horny, there was constant failed cupping for the last weeks before I sold him, that the area around his anal fin became swollen from lack of relief. (Bichir equivalent of blue-balling really). The fact it was so inbred may of been a factor into aggression or even why it couldn't release any sperm. To top that off, it has a growth under its eye which looks like pop-eye; I know that'd piss me off too.
It was stressing out all the fish, even the African Arowana at this point. The Ornate would scrap back and it kind of looked like a normal pecking order dispute.
For more info on what those are, have a watch of this video
Polypterid social hierarchies are fascinating. I really enjoyed the video and the spectrum of dominance hierarchies. What are your thoughts on head bowing? piling on top or on the bottom? snuggling next to each other? and freezing/closing pec fins to the body?
Thanks for watching!
When the males are horny, they flex their anal fins into a cup shape (known as "cupping") The flexing of this fin brings the male to release their sperm. The females release eggs, which the males catch in the cupped fin, and then fertilise to scatter. It can be hard for a male to release sperm without the contact from eggs in the anal fin; this might cause higher levels of aggression in some males. Captive bred P. senegalus senegalus in the aquarium industry also carry less genetic diversity through generations of inbreeding, so it's common to see abnormalities, including in the anal fin, so it's plausible for there to be abnormal function of the anal fin too.
Please could you elaborate more on "head bowing"?
Piling next to eachother is something you see commonly in captivity. They're not a social fish, so this is not a social behaviour; grouping like that is a way of feeling safer in the environment they're in, especially if there is limited space, few decorations or no deep substrate.
Clamped fins (as a response to other Bichirs, as opposed to health issues) could potentially be submissive behaviour, or if the fins are clamped with dorsal spines pointing up, it's just a way of protecting their pectoral fins from damage.
Hope this helps
This potentially could also be true. Thanks for pointing that out! It's always hard to tell which fish are the dominant ones though, as their pecking order is forever shifting, along with the type of pecking order it may be. At the time I made that video, I pointed out where my Bichir community sat on the spectrum, and since then it has changed many times. Without collecting and comparing regular data you can't tell what exactly is happening, only educated assumptions. Certain fish you believe to be dominant ones, may only be dominant to certain fish in the tank, rather than all; they may also be dominant temporarily or just over certain actions; or that action has a different motive other than being a more dominant fish.
I've found the more you learn about them, the more you realise you understand much less about them than you thought. I think that goes the same for any topic.
Soo true. Edpecially atch locations or physical traits is something that the more we discuss the more questions i have and the more i find myself changing opinions lol
Daaaaaaaaaang
Wow talk about rushing a post smh... especially catch locations*
