potential bonded dwarf pike pair

[its_an_obsession]

i think i have finally gotten a bonded pair out of the 4 dwarf pikes i bought. i originally bought them as cr. notophthalmus but i don't believe they are as the male does not show the extended front dorsal. so i think that leaves sp. orinoco.

i had originally divided the 4 pikes into pairs in two seperate tanks. i had a disaster in my one tank and moved out all the fish into my 40 gallon that were healthy and left the one female pike and SIA in the 20 as they were showing signs of illness.

the male from my 20 has started to bond with the female i had in my 40 gallon tank and now proceeds to chase my 2nd male around constantly as a pair. they are also roaming the tank together all the time.

id like to try to get them to breed and i have an idea of the parameters and all that i will need. my one question is that the tank is heavily stocked, and i wonder if that will cause any trouble? ie the pikes trying to kill the tankmates. tankmates include 3 juvi geos, ret tail shark, pictus catfish, and 3 sd's.

i look forward to some responses and ill try to get some pics up later.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Your pictus will be the biggest problem out of the group. They can devastate a breeding pair of cichlids, especially at night. Aside from that everything 'should' be alright. The added tankmates will help to strengthen their bond and keep the aggression off of each other as well. You also might want to keep the extra male in there for a while longer, but provide a bunch more hiding places for it.

 

[its_an_obsession]

ok i snapped some photos tonight. they are very skittish of the camera so it was tough to get some good photos of them together. the first two pics are of the two bonded pikes and the third is of the other male in my tank.

i love the coloring on the females dorsal. very nice red coloring.

i do have a question for the dwarf experts tho. 4th and 5th pictures are of my other female. similar red ring but very different coloring on the dorsal fin. seems to have much more of a white coloring than a red like the first few pics. questions being is this likely the same species. I got all 4 pikes from the same tank at shark aquarium. there were some sveni juvies mixed in in the tank as well so i dont know if they had several species imported at the same size and mixed them.

also confirmation they are sp. orinoco?

 

[its_an_obsession]

forgot pics 4 and 5

 

[Funky_Fish14]

Those are gorgeous! Best of luck with them!

 

[JJsBoas]

Great looking dwarf pikes!!!! Good luck with the pairing.

 

[softturtle]

WOW, the female in the first and second pics is amazing. Time to go look for more pikes I guess.

 

[darth pike]

The bottom female almost looks more like the colombian wallacii to me.

The top female is amazing though!!! wow!!

 

[its_an_obsession]

thanks for the compliments. i ended up losing the bottom female. the two bonded ones are still doing well. im in the process of getting my 20g and 10g back up and running so that i can take a little off the bioload on my 40g and arrange some ideal tankmates and conditions to give it a go at breeding.