Female Blood Parrot Tremoring/shaking/shimmying.

[Jackiee]

I have a 5 inch female blood parrot that is a few years old and when I've been watching her lately, occassionally she will do this sort of shimmy dance.
She'll shake/vibrate for a second, swim around for a few more seconds, and then shake again. She doesn't do it constantly,
but every now in then she'll have a couple episodes of it in a row.

Is this some sign of stress, or is this a behavior related to breeding and spawning?

She's been doing it off an on for a few days now.

I have her in with a 7 inch male severum, but he doesn't seem to be displaying any interest in her.
Sometimes he even chases her when she starts to do this little shimmy dance, it seems.

 

[Monty-2010]

Are you sure it's a female? i usually see my male fish do that sort of shimmy but only when he really wants to get jiggy!

 

[Jackiee]

Haha. Yes, I'm positive she's a female.
She used to be paired with a male parrot fish and continously laid eggs with him.
And even after he passed away she still continued to lay unfertilized eggs, so I know it was her.

Maybe both sexes of blood parrots do this during spawning?

 

[adzilla88]

I've seen my male Bolivian Ram do this, but never a female. I'm certain its some sort of breeding behaviour. He will often shimmy, shake etc just above the substrate when he creates pits for the eggs, I think it's a way of trying to impress the female. He's also taken to "flexing" (his fins) infront of her and then tail slapping her when she pays him the least bit of attention lol

As for a female doing this, I'm not entirely sure...

 

[Athena]

Well, I have seen this behaviour lots of times in my female convicts. They sometimes do it to warn me (or other tankmates) off e.g. when they have laid eggs or have fry and you come too close to the tank (even worse if you rest a finger on the tank or try to do any maintenance!). The female will do this shaking/tremor thing (like she's in a real rage LOL) and rush forwards and backwards quickly. Sometimes they go as far as headbutting the tank glass to warn me away LOL.

The males also do the same thing when protecting their mate and nest.

So, yes, if she's in perfectly good health then it's a behavioural thing, I reckon.

Regards, Athena

 

[Jackiee]

Thanks!
Yeah, she used to just lay eggs with or without her male BP, in this bell/cave decoration that she always sat in. She had it all to herself after the male BP died, but even when she laid eggs in it, she just kept the male BP out and chased him away from him. but ever since we moved her to the larger 90 gallon tank, she hasn't laid any yet.
Not that i'm aware of anyways, but she usually makes it pretty obvious when she has eggs.

It could be because sometimes her and my male sev bicker about who's gonna stay in the Bell decoration, and she doesn't feel comfortable
laying her eggs there? But I would figure she would just lay them anyways and just keep him out like she had before to my male BP?

hmm, not sure.

 

[Athena]

Yes, I think you'll find that she won't lay eggs in a place where she feels they will be threatened. They choose their nest place carefully. Once she has laid eggs, if anything then happens to make her feel insecure, she will move her eggs to another location (have seen that done before, too).

Could you perhaps get another dome shape cave so that they both have a hidey hole instead of squabbling over the current one LOL?

Regards, Athena

 

[Jackiee]

Yes, I know, I really need another hideout for them..
I will as soon as I come across some extra cash.


I seen her acting extremely strange last night, I was watching her from the reflection off the back of the tank, she was flailing around the back side of a rock that I have in the tank, doing the shimmy dance, and turning sideways almost as if she was trying to aerate eggs or something, so I got up and got a flashlight and looked around the back of the rock, but didnt see any signs of eggs.

I was like uhm... okay?
Strange haha. Maybe she wants to lay eggs? But is afraid theyll be eaten by my Pleco or Sev?


*Edit: She's seeming very restless again tonight, almost as if she's trying to find a place to lay eggs, and is being very explorative of every little inch of the tank.
She keeps constantly swimming around, shimmying/shaking, and also keeps returning to the back side of that rock.

At times, when my sev sees her shaking, he chases after her.
not quite sure what that's all about?

he still is not displaying any signs of spawning with her.

 

[Athena]

Has she attached her eggs to the side of the rock perhaps? Or underneath it in a gap? Can you view your tank from underneath at all to peek under the rock? (I know, it depends on type of aquarium stand you have it on). From the description you gave it really sounds as though she has laid eggs. But unless they are fertilized then obviously nothing will happen. Could be she laid eggs and they've died off but she is still looking for fry to hatch?

Anyway, whatever it is she's up to, at least you know it's just normal behaviour and she's not ill.

If you need an extra cheap hidey hole for them and don't want to pay extortionate aquatic shop prices, you could always buy a clay pot and lay it on its side in the tank (put some plants near the entrance as extra shielding from other fish. Lots of people use clay pots (flowerpots) in their aquariums as nesting boxes.

Regards, Athena