Hello, I am brand new to both aspistos and this forum so please bare with me lol. My local fish store sold me this pair of cockatoos 4 days ago and after much research I see that many people get "sneaker males". Their behavior is as follows; they will be next to each other peacefully for a few moments, then the male will flare his fins and gills, do a sort of tail slap at her until she swims away and then chase her, looks like he tries to nip her tail, then he lets her swim off. Then the process continues and this goes on all day. Is this normal behavior? Attached is a photo of the pair. Please let me know what you think!! Thank you!
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Female or male cockatoo??
- Thread starter huntermac
- Start date
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- 2,766
- Location
- Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Normal behaviour if they are male and female, and that is certainly what they look like.
He is try to look as big and impressive as possible, and presumably wafting pheromones at her, she looks like she will be receptive fairly soon.
cheers Darrel
Normal behaviour if they are male and female, and that is certainly what they look like.
He is try to look as big and impressive as possible, and presumably wafting pheromones at her, she looks like she will be receptive fairly soon.
cheers Darrel
Last edited:
Darrel,
Awesome! Thank you for the reply I have been watching them every chance I get while im home because i did not want him to be hurting her or something lol.
I have that drift wood in the background of the pic and it has a "cave" running through it, on the other side of my tank (20g long) i have a few rocks and a drift wood root for a make shift cave as well. Should i get like a real ceramic cave? Would that help?? Thanks for the reply
update; before I could get to a store to get them a legit breeding cave, I could not find the female anywhere last night. I thought she was dead somewhere so I looked around for 20 min and finally she stuck her head out from behind a piece of drift wood. Seems like she was moving gravel with her mouth from under the wood. This morning she was still there and would not come out to eat or anything. Any thoughts??
Chances are she is about to lay or looking for a place, if she does not come out dont worry, if she is on eggs you may not see her for about 7 days, she may turn yellow most do, but if there first batch dont work out dont worry about it sometimes it takes a batch or two, do you have food for them yet? I may have missed it but what size tank?
Ah ok good to know! I have yet to get a good look at her to be honest because she is between the back glass and back of the drift wood, only saw her in the reflection of the back glass. I do not have food for them. Will I need a separate tank set up for them to be put in? MY stock is pair of cockatoos, 10 rummy nose tetras, (and overflow from my old tank); 1 ADF, 3 zebra danios and 2 cory cats. I plan on finding the over flow members a new home soon. My tank is a 20g long planted. Aquaclear 50 and tank is at 80F. I will attach a photo below of the setup.
Ok i see. I am going to try to get a coconut cave today after work and while im there I will see if the shop will take my zebras back from me. I have never dealt with BS but i can definitely learn more on it and try. If fry do survive, will I need to move them or anything?
She will turn yellow like this [not cacatuoides] I had a Hongsloi that would turn canary yellow when she was on fry. I have a female cac. on fry and I'll try to get a pict. of her.BBS are simple to do, just do a google search on hatching, I use the simple [ceap] two litre bottles. You might be able to get eggs from your local shop and make the rest, once you watch homemade hatchery you'll see how easy it is.
So good news. I went home for lunch and as all of the fish came to greet me (looking for food) the female finally came out! I can definitely tell she turned much more yellow now, maybe there really are eggs? I am going to my lfs later to get the coconut shell, I will definitely see if they have the BS eggs. Will the female find the new cave I get today and move in? or is it too late for this time? Here is a photo from just now, tell me what you think compared to my original ID photo up top!
Attachments
She sure looks ready, if she has laid the eggs are where they will probably hatch but once the eggs hatch she may move them, she must feel secure there, if she lays and nothing happens dont worry. I have a pair that it took three tries till they finally got it and a mac. pair that I have to remove the male because he will eat every one of the fry.
My female Cac. on fry.The tank looks bad but it really is not, just keep the water clean and they will grow. Good luck
My female Cac. on fry.The tank looks bad but it really is not, just keep the water clean and they will grow. Good luck
