Rummynose harassing new Congo tankmate

[bharada]

I added 4 Congo Tetras to my tank today and my small school of Rummynoses took immediate interest in them. Now I have one particular male Rummynose that looks to be trying to court the Congos! He'll swim just below a Congo, tapping its belly with the top of his head. He'll do this for several minutes at a time before rejoining the other Rummies. Occasionally he'll even try to curl his body around the Congo as if getting ready to fertilize eggs.

The Congos are still young (under 2") so I'm not sure about sexing them, but the Rummy doesn't seem too particular as to which Congo he'll make advances towards.

There's no pecking or any other type of physical abuse (except for wearing the Congo out trying to get away from the Rummy). My school of Rummies seem to have at least two (or three) females so why the interest in inter-species romance?

Any insight in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Bill

 

[Lateral Line]

The thrill of the new?

 

[drobbins27]

Well, I sure hope he's not trying to mate with another male. If thats the case, I reccomend taking all your fish out of the tank and washing them down the sink!

 

[bharada]

Well, the Congos have been hiding out at the back of the tank or in the plants all day. Only one of them has been brave enough to venture out for feeding. They look like they were well fed at the LFS so I'm not worried about them starving, but I hope they start venturing out before they do start wasting away...regardless of how the Rummies treat them.

 

[bharada]

Well, my one brave Congo has decided to come out for a spell, and sure enough, the Rummies have locked on like Remoras to a shark. Now there are two Rummy males playing the game.

Maybe I shoud get a few more Congos...give them a greater feeling of safety in numbers.

 

[bharada]

Well, I'm happy to report that after five days the Congos are now confident enough to swim in the front of the tank. And they've been a lot more accepting of the occasional Rummy's quirky behavior.

I read somwhere that they're timid feeders, but these guy's go after it with as much gusto as the rest of the Tetras in the tank.

If belly size is any indication of sex at this size, then I think I may have one male and three females. When I got them their fins were a bit nipped up (they were in a tank with Serpaes at the LFS) so I'll have to wait and see.