Strange dovii spawning behavior

[JK47]

This is my 8th spawn with this pair. Excluding the first spawn, every other occasion including this week the male grabs the female by the head (nuchal region) and swims the length of the tank with her in his mouth the length of the tank like a dog with a bone. I would chock it up to normal aggression but here is the kicker, he only does it the day before eggs hatch and become wigglers 7 times in a row without fail. He never does this two days before or a day after, only the day before the fry hatch which makes no sense to me. Just coincidence?

I am not concerned at all if he wanted to hurt her he would, just curious if there is something behind the behavior more than anything. Has anyone else eperienced this? Any idea what the reasoning would be? You can see the "shark bite" on her in the pics below.





She is all healed up by today and are being great parents again. The male is missing a chunck from his anal fin but otherwise all if back to normal.







(sorry for the dirty acrylic/bad pics)

 

[Aquafreak]

Very interesting. I'm anxious to hear input on this.

 

[aclockworkorange]

It's just part of their "ritual," ok? How would you like it if he came in to your bedroom and watched you and the wife? He's a honey badger.

 

[JK47]

It's just part of their "ritual," ok? How would you like it if he came in to your bedroom and watched you and the wife? He's a honey badger.

Honey badger! I get the ritual thing but I would expect him to act like this trying to get her into spawning. It just strikes me as very strange is post spawn behavior every time.

 

[Madness]

Very unusual. Mine do not have any type of ritual like that. Though the last 4 spawns have all been eaten before they hatch. I think the male is not fertilizing the eggs. I dont know, maybe once they are in their new home they will be successful. As for your head biter, strange very strange.

 

[JK47]

Very unusual. Mine do not have any type of ritual like that. Though the last 4 spawns have all been eaten before they hatch. I think the male is not fertilizing the eggs. I dont know, maybe once they are in their new home they will be successful. As for your head biter, strange very strange.

I hoped you would chime in since you own a pair. These two are a very prolific pair and are great parents. The male can be pretty rough on her (named Ike and Tina if that tells you anything) at times but I do not have to seperate them ever. he only does this when they spawn so I thought I would ask others.

 

[NWatson]

My pair will get pretty rough. In the past 4 or so spawns it was typical lip locking and so forth. Then for a while the female got very rough with the male hitting him hard or at least she though she was. A lot of hard hits to the fins also. For the past month or so I have had to separate the female to let her heal as the male has gone off on her. After she has healed I will let them hang together and it might be okay for days, weeks then I will need to separate her again as she gets beaten. Once he decides to go after her he is relentless. She would be killed if I left her in there. For 7 months or so they were a strong pair no real damage. Then for the past 4 months or so it has been this rough behavior. There are a couple thing going on. First I think once I get the 360 up and running this may help this aggression. Also I have left the fry in there multiple times for a long time. They have even had multiple spawns at once. A couple times the female has taken care of older spwans, other times the older fry finish the young fry. I will see what happens when they get in the larger tank.....I am worried the strong bond may not be there. The male may blame the female for the lost spawns or she has not laid still protecting the of old spawn when he is ready.........either way I will let you all know down the road. To say its one thing or the other based on other aquarium set ups and pairs in IMO is a guess.

 

[JK47]

My pair will get pretty rough. In the past 4 or so spawns it was typical lip locking and so forth. Then for a while the female got very rough with the male hitting him hard or at least she though she was. A lot of hard hits to the fins also. For the past month or so I have had to separate the female to let her heal as the male has gone off on her. After she has healed I will let them hang together and it might be okay for days, weeks then I will need to separate her again as she gets beaten. Once he decides to go after her he is relentless. She would be killed if I left her in there. For 7 months or so they were a strong pair no real damage. Then for the past 4 months or so it has been this rough behavior. There are a couple thing going on. First I think once I get the 360 up and running this may help this aggression. Also I have left the fry in there multiple times for a long time. They have even had multiple spawns at once. A couple times the female has taken care of older spwans, other times the older fry finish the young fry. I will see what happens when they get in the larger tank.....I am worried the strong bond may not be there. The male may blame the female for the lost spawns or she has not laid still protecting the of old spawn when he is ready.........either way I will let you all know down the road. To say its one thing or the other based on other aquarium set ups and pairs in IMO is a guess.

Well the reason I think I get away with not keeping a divider or having to split them up (so far anyway) is due to tank design because from anywhere in the tank, there is a place for her to get away from him within about 20" that he cannot fit into. Their bond is amazingly strong as well.

The bottom of the background is hallowed out for her to get under there quickly and him not be able to follow. Look in the bottom right of this pic and you'll see what I mean.



The area behind him in this pic is a wood pile only large enough for her. The large piece of wood I have in the center of the tank is carved out so she escape under there as well.



I have a few fry left from a previous spawn I haven't been able to catch, they do pick off a lrage number of new fry but I do not have many places to take fry so it works out.




So does your male do the same thing Nick? I know they are aggressive I am used to that but this same day every time thing is puzzling.

 

[NWatson]

No, nothing to do with the day, time or not much of a pattern at this point that I can tell. Also I have built more then a few caves and places for her to get in and hide. I have had drift wood spots that he could not get into that she would dig out for shelter and sooner or later he scares her out. He will get in some small places that I would not think he could get. He has knocked rock "caves" apart, he will find little spots to get in far enough to ruin her comfort level then she will flee that spot. That is another reason I think things might work out better in the 360.....I will build a deep large "cave" for her to get away into that he WILL not be able to poke into and make her flee. She will hopefully trust that he cant make in there or break things down. Also they had a great bond for 7 months or so. No hiding spots or spousal abuse.

 

[cacichlids]

Beautiful pair. You should be ready and record a video of it next time, it sounds really interesting. Never heard of anything like it before.