Bolivian Butterfly Behaviour

[moeldner]

I have 2 female bolivian butterflys in my tank. One of them, over the last week or so, has been hollowing out a bowl in the gravel.

She's been building it in 2 ways:

• Moving stones individually with her mouth and placing them on the lip of her "bowl"
• Settling down into the gravel at the bottom of the bowl, and then with a quick flick of the tail, using her body as a bulldozer to push a pile of rocks out of the depression

Is this nesting behaviour?

I did buy a male when I got the female, but sadly he passed away soon after I got him. I have been a little hesitant to introduce another male, as the two females are now quite large, and I can only find very small juveniles at the LFS in the area.

Will it be a problem introducing a young male? Should I look around for an older male?

The females are realtively nice to each other - as long as they stay in their own territories in the tank.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[guppymonkey]

Those are Rams right? Its probably nesting behavior, they are a type of cichlid and that is consistant with most cichlid nesting behavior.

 

[moeldner]

Yep - they are Rams.

 

[moeldner]

I did buy a male when I got the female, but sadly he passed away soon after I got him. I have been a little hesitant to introduce another male, as the two females are now quite large, and I can only find very small juveniles at the LFS in the area.

Will it be a problem introducing a young male? Should I look around for an older male?

Can anyone advise me on this part of my questions? Thanks

 

[black angel]

I would look for an older male, but i dont know how aggressive these fish are if either one isnt old enough to breed.

Best to ask in the new american cichlid forum

 

[Katchan]

In a tank the size of yours (I assume its the the one in your sig) it could easily handle another ram, (if a pair didnt form) the hard part would be getting a male, when subadult they are hard to sex. It might even be wise to get two males, because their is the risk the lone female would get picked on by the m/f pair, and let the pairs form up as the males mature

HTH

Andrew

 

[ox5477]

If you rearrange the tank before you put the new ram in, it will give the new ram a chance to fight for some territory.

It would be better to have a ratio of 2 females to one male than 2 males to one female.... so make sure the ratio is more females than males..... this will keep fighting to a minimum in your tank.

 

[moeldner]

Thanks all, I definitely have 2 females at the moment - will consider getting 1-2 males. I was ging to re-arrange the tank this weekend anyway - my plant growth is getting out of hand a little since my amazon sword spawned 4 new plants.

It is the tank in my sig, but a lot of the bottom of the tank is taken up with a large piece of driftwood - although as part of the re-arrangement, I am considering cutting this down a fair bit in size (it weighs 9+ kilos when dry) which will give me more optins for layout and more spcae for them to make territories in.

Do there territories need to be inplaces where they can't see each other? My 2 females tend to chase each other alittle when they can see each other.

 

[Katchan]

Do there territories need to be inplaces where they can't see each other?

While not an absolute need it can help, I'd say arrange to your satisfaction with mind of rams territory with the possibilty to change if needed (I always prefer to work around my fishes needs not my visual desires)

 

[moeldner]

Thanks all for your advice - will have to see what I can find in the way of 6-12 month old males now.

I appreciate it.