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Ivanacara adoketa fighting

skoram

Active Member
Messages
135
Last night I noticed my pair of wild Ivanacara adoketa "lip-locked" in battle. I purchased the fish about 10 months ago and have never witnessed anything more than some occasional light harassment until yesterday. The vast majority of the time they have gotten along peacefully often swimming together in close proximity.

The tank is a 100 x 45 x 45 cm riparium. The only other fish in the tank are 2 otocinclus. The tank has a small mirror and both the male and female often flare into it (but never at each other). It may be of potential relevance that it rained yesterday here in Seoul, Korea. I mention this because one theory I have is that the male may have had the strong urge to mate (I also recently lowered the pH of the tank slightly) whereas the female may have been disinterested, and decided to fight back to put an end to his sexual advances. The male and female are similar in size (the female may even be *slightly* larger). Thankfully, just before I went to bed, the fighting seemed to have calmed down. The female clearly emerged the victor and the male seemed, in my eye, to have become more timid around her. She did not chase or attack him, even when they were in direct line of sight, but did become aggressive whenever he got too near her.


Since these are quite expensive and also, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful and richly colored adoketas I have seen (photos and video do not do them justice), I would like to do everything in my power to avoid injury or death to either fish. Please post here if you have any experience or insight about this.
 

skoram

Active Member
Messages
135
Interestingly, one of the videos that automatically popped up after watching my video similarly showed a pair of adoketa "lip-locking," although just briefly. Strangely, this video is titled "Adoketa pairing." If this title is to be believed, is this some sort of mating ritual or precursor to mating? I am doubtful.

 

skoram

Active Member
Messages
135
Mystery solved. After coming home from work today this is what I found:

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Full Tank Shot:

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My adoketa had finally spawned and the female was guarding her eggs against the male! Until now I had no idea that I. adoketa were not biparental. The spawn looks fairly small (I counted around 20 eggs) so it looks like perhaps the male ate some of them already? Anyway, I'm left to figure out what to do about the male. He's still in good condition, but I've seen this behavior (constantly hiding in a corner) in other cichlids and it usually leads to death. I can move him but all my other tanks are populated and I have little doubt that he will terrorize the other inhabitants. I never considered the possibility that I would have to move one of the adoketa out of a 50 gallon tank that they occupy alone, though admittedly there is not really much dense cover for them to hide in. Perhaps using some large stones to create barriers and "walls" will address the problem?
 
Last edited:

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Congratulations on the spawn. I can't comment on this particular species but I've had some cichlids where the mother guards the eggs but both parents later care for the fry, and other species where the mother does all the raising and chases all other fish away.
I think your idea of breaking up the lines of sight is a good one, and will reduce stress for both the fish.
 

skoram

Active Member
Messages
135
Good and bad news. The good news is that the male and female are getting along once again. the bad news is that the female apparently ate all the eggs - I witnessed her eating a few of them the other night and the next morning they were all gone. I assume that they became infected by fungi or bacteria (probably the former). Apparently many people who have successfully bred adoketa had to dose their tanks with large amounts of methylene blue in order to prevent the eggs from getting infected. I will have to give that a try next time. At least now I know that this pair is capable of breeding.
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Really nice fish and video! Is that typical among I. adoketa for both sexes to have long pointed fin extensions? In their close cousins Nannacara, the females have distinctly shorter fin extensions than males do.
 

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