Funny Business

[mooster]

i`m reasoably new to fish keeping and have just noticed my two cobalt blue`s doing strange things!!

they were locked together by the mouth then one was sort of sucking the side of the other , then they swapped. it didn`t look to be very agresive and i`ve never seen them do it before. i`ve had them about 2 months now and purchased them together, they have never been aggresive to any other fish or each other before.

both fish have egg spots, i know that is not a definate way of telling male`s/female`s so i don`t know if this is fighting,mating or play.

could someone shed any light on the matter.

 

[Ferris]

If it's persistent - it's probably 2 males fighting. Difficult to be 100% certain unless you are sure of the gender as it can also be part of a mating ritual - IME it's far more likely to be aggression though.

 

[dthoffsett]

If it's persistent - it's probably 2 males fighting. Difficult to be 100% certain unless you are sure of the gender as it can also be part of a mating ritual - IME it's far more likely to be aggression though.

Absolutly agree, I have two males that duke it out for alpha position at least a couple of times a week. I've never seen one of my males lip-lock with a female, and they breed regularly. My money is on aggression. IMHO this is a species that definately does better with 3 or more females per male, and preferably only 1 male per tank (excluding tanks 6-feet or over).