Confusing Cichlid behavior
:scratch: OK, here is the situation. In my 300 gal, I have a crazy psycho male Hoga and his very mellow female. The other fish in the tank dont get out of hand, argue or even go to the bathroom, without the Hoga getting after them or giving his blessing for them to carry on with their duty. The pair have tried to spawn several times with no success. The eggs have always fungused over. With that said, The 2 of them have been moving around the tank, investigating all of the pots and looking like they want to spawn. Tubes are down and they look ready.
Two other occupants in the tank are a 8" Honduran Jag and a 6.5" Honduran Jag. I have been watching these 2 because they have been chummy with each other the last few days. So now its time for confusion #1. To me the larger of the 2 Jags looked female while the smaller one looked male. (and in my experience, I have never seen or had 2 fish spawn where the female has been considerably larger than the male. In fact, the female usually pays no attention to, or she flat out beats the crap out of the smaller male) With that said. This morning the 2 Jags were in one of the pots cleaning it, displaying spawning tendencies. Both tubes are down, and the females (the larger Jag) tubes were all the way down as if she was in the process of laying eggs. So I grabbed the flash light and investigated the pot. Nope, no eggs.
So, this evening I get home from running errands, and I did my usual visit to all my kids. I get to the 300 and the crazy psycho Hoga and his mate have moved into the pot that the Jags recently purchased. And the Jags are trying to get back into their newly purchased home. Wait whats that? Confusion #2!! The entire bottom of the Jags new home,( now being occupied by the crazy psycho Hoga and his mate) is full of tiny little eggs. Mom is aggressively keeping the 2 Jags out, while the male comes and goes has he wishes.
So now for the uber question. Do the eggs in the pot belong to the Hoga's, or the Jags?
So like I said earlier, the male Hoga has been shooting blanks. So if the eggs hatch, does that mean my male Hoga is finally fertile? Or does it mean that they were Jag eggs, and the female Hoga took over and took care of them?
Hence the confusion at this time. :suspect:
:scratch: OK, here is the situation. In my 300 gal, I have a crazy psycho male Hoga and his very mellow female. The other fish in the tank dont get out of hand, argue or even go to the bathroom, without the Hoga getting after them or giving his blessing for them to carry on with their duty. The pair have tried to spawn several times with no success. The eggs have always fungused over. With that said, The 2 of them have been moving around the tank, investigating all of the pots and looking like they want to spawn. Tubes are down and they look ready.
Two other occupants in the tank are a 8" Honduran Jag and a 6.5" Honduran Jag. I have been watching these 2 because they have been chummy with each other the last few days. So now its time for confusion #1. To me the larger of the 2 Jags looked female while the smaller one looked male. (and in my experience, I have never seen or had 2 fish spawn where the female has been considerably larger than the male. In fact, the female usually pays no attention to, or she flat out beats the crap out of the smaller male) With that said. This morning the 2 Jags were in one of the pots cleaning it, displaying spawning tendencies. Both tubes are down, and the females (the larger Jag) tubes were all the way down as if she was in the process of laying eggs. So I grabbed the flash light and investigated the pot. Nope, no eggs.
So, this evening I get home from running errands, and I did my usual visit to all my kids. I get to the 300 and the crazy psycho Hoga and his mate have moved into the pot that the Jags recently purchased. And the Jags are trying to get back into their newly purchased home. Wait whats that? Confusion #2!! The entire bottom of the Jags new home,( now being occupied by the crazy psycho Hoga and his mate) is full of tiny little eggs. Mom is aggressively keeping the 2 Jags out, while the male comes and goes has he wishes.
So now for the uber question. Do the eggs in the pot belong to the Hoga's, or the Jags?
So like I said earlier, the male Hoga has been shooting blanks. So if the eggs hatch, does that mean my male Hoga is finally fertile? Or does it mean that they were Jag eggs, and the female Hoga took over and took care of them?
Hence the confusion at this time. :suspect:
