Female Cockatoo Behaving Oddly

[chrisbassist]

From everything I've read, my female is displaying signs of breeding.

She has claimed an area around a fake plant (which she can get into and under) and seems to be protecting it.

The cories seem worst off with it.

But hers where I'm confused. My ph is too high for breeding, at around 7.2 currently. And she is completely ignoring the adf's which are waiting for their new home. She will swim right past them to shoo a cory away.

Could they be breeding? And what other explanations are there?

 

[chrisbassist]

Anyone?

 

[saz326]

Sounds like she has chosen a territory to protect. My female apisto has claimed a tunnel made of rock formation. She protects it mainly from the cories who also like to hide in it.

Perhaps the ADF's either pose no concern to her as they are not trying to get into her 'cave' under the plastic plant or she doesnt reconise them as a risk.

If she has coloured up to be more yellow then she may well have laid eggs. Even if they dont hatch she will go through the protective egg-sitting stage.

 

[chrisbassist]

Thanks for the info.

Just had a look. And the lower half of her is more yellow than the top, and more yellow than the bottom of the other female.

Got the other female yesterday since the male was icking on his other half a little too much. Almost instantly it was spread between the two, now he doesn't seem too worried about going for either. So I guess the 1 male 2 female ratio works.

The new addition seems to have settled very quickly too. Not like the others when they were first put in, they were hiding for ages.

 

[karin]

How big are your cockatoos? I have a female that is less than one inch and a male probably 1.25 inches. She is one tough cookie and takes no flack from the male or the two male borelli's I have.... at the moment. Right now the male just tries to get close to her and flairs and she sort of takes it in and then floats away. Should I expect more aggression when they are bigger?

 

[chrisbassist]

Mine aren't much bigger than that. But the female may well have been the same size as yours. So a bigger size difference.

In all honesty, it's not that bad. No ones hurt. It's just chasing away. Nothing much to worry about, I was just confused since I couldn't explain the behaviour.