Mating Or Fighting?

[Terriann]

Hi guys,

I am quite new so please don't laugh at the questions I am about to ask.

I bought some pencil fish about a month ago (5 I think) and two of the darker ones that have more red in them keep rubbing up each other, I thought they might be fighting so I seperated them, when I returned them I did it again. They tend to rub their back end more than anything. Any way, a friend of mine who keeps fish and has done for several yearshad never seen anything like it. Is this how they mate ? I keep a close eye on them and they haven't caused each other any damage at all.

Any way, about a week or so after my chocolate gouramies settled in a couple (my smallest one and my largest one) dance together, these two are inseperable! It is very cute.

Any way, when I came down this morning my two silver sharks are doing exactly the same thing as my pencil fish (I bought the silver sharks the same time as the pencil fish) which is why I wanted to make sure there is nothing wrong with them. Again, my sharks don't have a single nipped fin or chunk out of their side and when they are seperated they just swim back to each others side and very clumsily rub together again.

 

[kribensis12]

Might be parasites.

 

[Azaezl]

Hiya,

Don't worry we are here to help not mock

If there are no obvious signs of fighting(fin nipping, chasing, etc) other then rubbing up against each other then they probably aren't fighting. I've never kept pencil fish so couldn't tell you about their breeding habits, I do however have white cloud mountain minnows and the males quite often 'bash' each other / what you may call rub against each other but in a very fast swift movement. It's not strictly fighting, they are just showing off in a way.

Do any of the fish flick / rub themselves against anything other then other fish? Such as rocks, ornaments, glass, etc? It could be a number of things but most likely it is a disease esp. as you've recently introduced some new fish. Do any of the fish have any spots or growths or anything out of the ordinary that you can see?(other then the rubbing)

Also if you can give us some information about your tank, volume in litres or gallons(or the measurements if you don't know this, height, length, depth), what types and how many fish, your tank stats(ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, etc) it would be a great help

 

[Essjay]

Are they golden pencilfish? Are they behaving like this?
http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/20...-Male-Fighting/
When I had some of these fish, the two males would behave like this, then break off and start chasing the females. I always assumed the males were competing for dominance prior to mating, but I could be wrong!