Re-introducing female moto questions

[Chaitika]

So I had to separate my female moto from the male a couple of months ago. She's healed up and I picked up a larger female in the meantime. Here's a pic of the male on the left and female on the right. He's pretty aggro as you can tell by the female's disc. Her first couple of weeks saw her buried in sand and not eating a whole lot. All she ate until yesterday was night crawlers. She finally took a small piece of shrimp so she'll be gaining weight more quickly.

The smaller female, currently in another tank, is smaller than the male by about an inch in disc circumference. She eats really well, takes shrimp, night crawlers and smelts.

Will he still be as aggro with her as he was originally?

Or will the new female distract the male and take most of the aggression?

And is there a chance the bigger female could beat on the smaller female as well?

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

Honestly, I think its hard to tell. Totally depends on the ray/fish.

Here is a tactic that some people use to reintroduce other fish with aggressive tank mates.

1) Take out the aggressive fish.
2) Rearrange the decoration in the tank, so that no one holds a specific territory.
3) Introduce the calmer fish, in your case the female, first.
4) Give her a while to get use to her surroundings; possibly a day.
4) Reintroduce the aggressor.

May our may not work, just an idea for your approach in this matter.

Either way, BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!

 

[Chaitika]

Thanks for the feedback. The only problem is that I don't really have space for the male where he would be safe and I'm not putting him where the smaller female is as I don't want my small chilli red aro to be at risk, lol.

What about keeping the male behind a divider for a couple of days? Or will he bang himself up trying to get through?

 

[Florencebigfish]

I just wanted to add those are very nice looking rays.

 

[Chaitika]

I just wanted to add those are very nice looking rays.

Thanks! Here's a quick pic of the smaller female, the best one imo.

 

[skynoch]

Is the aggression due to mating? If it is he will keep at her until she is pregnant. Best to keep the smaller one seperated until she is mature and can get pregnant. Once impregnated my male seems to leave my females alone.

 

[Chaitika]

Is the aggression due to mating? If it is he will keep at her until she is pregnant. Best to keep the smaller one seperated until she is mature and can get pregnant. Once impregnated my male seems to leave my females alone.

I am assuming it's because he's horny. Not entirely sure though.

 

[jwong1024]

very nice marbles you have there. It depends on the ray as an individual. If you reintroduce the other female, it may take away some abuse from the larger female.

Is the male matured yet? can't really tell from the pics. If he is ready for breeding, I am sure nature will run its coarse and he will do what ever he can to inpregnant one or both of them. I guess that may be good for you.

Breeding by nature will be very stressful on females, biting, chasing etc. Sometimes can lead to death. Its rewards(pups) VS. risk(death,damage).

It is up to you what you are looking for. Breeding program or a pair of 2 female marbles living peacefully. Good luck snd congrats on some beatiful rays.

 

[Chaitika]

very nice marbles you have there. It depends on the ray as an individual. If you reintroduce the other female, it may take away some abuse from the larger female.

Is the male matured yet? can't really tell from the pics. If he is ready for breeding, I am sure nature will run its coarse and he will do what ever he can to inpregnant one or both of them. I guess that may be good for you.

Breeding by nature will be very stressful on females, biting, chasing etc. Sometimes can lead to death. Its rewards(pups) VS. risk(death,damage).

It is up to you what you are looking for. Breeding program or a pair of 2 female marbles living peacefully. Good luck snd congrats on some beatiful rays.

Thanks!

Some pups would be nice but I'm not sure about the death part, lol.

Here's a vid of the male from over 2 months ago. I'm pretty sure he's mature. He climbs the glass on two occasions so you can sort of see his junk.

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[Kolossus]

Thanks for the feedback. The only problem is that I don't really have space for the male where he would be safe and I'm not putting him where the smaller female is as I don't want my small chilli red aro to be at risk, lol.

What about keeping the male behind a divider for a couple of days? Or will he bang himself up trying to get through?

I don't think he will harm himself if you put in a divider. However, once you put them back together, the aggression will likely continue. Some rays are just that way. I had to get rid of two beautiful males for the very same reason as I got tired of keeping them divided. Its really a luck of the draw and sometimes you end up with the short end of the stick. Good luck on whatever you decide.