- Messages
- 41
- Location
- Vancouver, Canada
It's looking more and more like I have a mating pair, so I've titled this thread optimistically and will post as we go.
The set-up: 29g aquarium with 1 male & 2 female steelblues, plus a few ottos and cories and one lonely rasbora (which will be joining some friends in another tank soon). There are three fairly large pieces of driftwood in the tank, each positioned to form a cave. Temperature approx. 78°F.
When first added to the tank, each of the fish staked out their own territories and claimed a cave. One of the females (the larger of the two) emerged as the dominant female. The male displayed for both of the females and they both responded favourably to his advances, flaring their fins and displaying their bellies.
After a few days he chose the smaller of the two females (the subdominant female) to focus his attentions on. He was constantly displaying for her and trying to lure her to the cave he had chosen, but she seemed determined to keep the cave she had chosen. This went on for several days. During this time, the larger female still dominated the smaller female.
This morning, I noticed that the male was defending his cave much more aggressively than usual. The only one allowed in his territory was the female he had chosen.
This evening when I got home I saw that now both of the pair were defending the cave aggressively, and that the female was pretty much staying inside the cave, only emerging to eat, chase away intruders (including the larger female), and to try to entice the male to join her. I saw her do a few shimmies & tail slaps, but he was too interested in defending the territory to pay her much attention.
A few pics: Here's the handsome boy. You can see here that he shows quite a bit of yellow on his face and throat. When displaying for the females, his darker markings fade considerably, almost to the point that he looks like an albino.
The females are surprisingly colourful with quite a bit of blue on the face. When displaying for the male the darker markings become much more pronounced and include several dark spots along the back just below the dorsal fin.
tbc...
The set-up: 29g aquarium with 1 male & 2 female steelblues, plus a few ottos and cories and one lonely rasbora (which will be joining some friends in another tank soon). There are three fairly large pieces of driftwood in the tank, each positioned to form a cave. Temperature approx. 78°F.
When first added to the tank, each of the fish staked out their own territories and claimed a cave. One of the females (the larger of the two) emerged as the dominant female. The male displayed for both of the females and they both responded favourably to his advances, flaring their fins and displaying their bellies.
After a few days he chose the smaller of the two females (the subdominant female) to focus his attentions on. He was constantly displaying for her and trying to lure her to the cave he had chosen, but she seemed determined to keep the cave she had chosen. This went on for several days. During this time, the larger female still dominated the smaller female.
This morning, I noticed that the male was defending his cave much more aggressively than usual. The only one allowed in his territory was the female he had chosen.
This evening when I got home I saw that now both of the pair were defending the cave aggressively, and that the female was pretty much staying inside the cave, only emerging to eat, chase away intruders (including the larger female), and to try to entice the male to join her. I saw her do a few shimmies & tail slaps, but he was too interested in defending the territory to pay her much attention.
A few pics: Here's the handsome boy. You can see here that he shows quite a bit of yellow on his face and throat. When displaying for the females, his darker markings fade considerably, almost to the point that he looks like an albino.
The females are surprisingly colourful with quite a bit of blue on the face. When displaying for the male the darker markings become much more pronounced and include several dark spots along the back just below the dorsal fin.
tbc...