Firemouths Fighting

[stan1979]

my male and female firemouths have always chased each other around my tank since i first got them about seven months ago but in the last few days they have started to lip lock with each other, is this just them tring to decide on who is in charge or is it part of their breeding behaviour.

stan

 

[jayjay]

Could be either, how old are they and what size are they? Do they stay together alot or different ends of the tank? Also what is the tank size?

 

[furryrabbit]

same as jayjay , but also - nice to see another dublin based member

 

[stan1979]

the tank is a rio 180l (40g), they sometimes spend time at either end of the tank away from each other and sometimes they are beside each other, i have had the male about two years and the female about a year.
is there many dublin based members here

 

[furryrabbit]

well the tank is big enough - so i might go with breeding behaviour , what other tank-mates do they have?

and id said there are roughly 3-5 dublin members here

 

[stan1979]

well the tank is big enough - so i might go with breeding behaviour , what other tank-mates do they have?

and id said there are roughly 3-5 dublin members here

currently they are in with a pair of pearl gourmais, golden barbs, 4 lake katubu rainbow fish and three yellow rainbowfish,, some congo tetras and corys and a 7" royal pleco and a 4" golden nugget and a large angel fish

any other things i should watch out for to determine if its breeding behavior

 

[england]

yea would say thats breeding behaviour......my breeding pair do same 1 day hang together lockin lips every so often, some times they locate at each end of tank.........do they clean areas around the tank??like hoovering with there lips?dig pits around the tank?also look at base of fish for a white pertrudence which in female is stumpy<this is the breeding tube> and thick, in male is thin and longer ........make sure they have somewhere where she can hide.....when they lock lips and tug this is ritual and some times if they let go this is concidered weakness and the male could kill the female if she doesnt have somewhere to bolt...they breed for life.....first batch will prob be eaten<normal>female guards eggs n male guards the area

 

[stan1979]

yea would say thats breeding behaviour......my breeding pair do same 1 day hang together lockin lips every so often, some times they locate at each end of tank.........do they clean areas around the tank??like hoovering with there lips?dig pits around the tank?also look at base of fish for a white pertrudence which in female is stumpy<this is the breeding tube> and thick, in male is thin and longer ........make sure they have somewhere where she can hide.....when they lock lips and tug this is ritual and some times if they let go this is concidered weakness and the male could kill the female if she doesnt have somewhere to bolt...they breed for life.....first batch will prob be eaten<normal>female guards eggs n male guards the area

both of them clean and dig pits in different areas of the tank, from what i have seen the female gives as good as she gets when they lip lock

 

[england]

sounds to me like youve got a pair them..........have u noticed a white tube at base of fishes?