Interesting behavior of male A. psammophila

[martin_c]

Hi,
after a pair of A. psammophila recently spawned in the left side of a breeding tank, i added a small mirror at the right side of the tank, to keep the male busy and away from the female (it's just a temporary solution, i'll remove the male soon anyway).
After 2 hours or so the male was already somewhat tired of flairing, but it showed another interesting behavior which was new to me:
It kept picking up large chunks of detritus in front of the mirror just to carry them around for a distance and spit them out again. To me it seemed as if he tries to intimidate his opponent in the mirror by demonstrating what a strong guy he is.

I made a video of it. Sorry for the very dirty front glass of that tank.

 

[MacZ]

If it wasn't for that aggressive undertone, it could be a Dicrossus turning leaves.

 

[martin_c]

If it wasn't for that aggressive undertone, it could be a Dicrossus turning leaves.

Yes, it reminded me of that too. I once had wild caught Dicrossus and i loved the leaf flipping behavior. Unfortunately after a while they did it less, i guess they learned that food comes from above and turning leaves doesn't really pay off anymore.

But here it seems to be more about carrying stuff around, especially visible at 3:37. Maybe it's his way of anger management.

I have now removed the male. I've made the experience with this species (based on the 3 specimens i have) that after spawning the female doesn't like the male close by and the male doesn't tolerate being bossed around by her, so in the end the male chases the female away. He once kept protecting the fry for a day, but a day later they were gone. Since that happened i remove the male after spawning. I can't offer a footprint large enough to keep them together after spawning.

 

[anewbie]

Yes, it reminded me of that too. I once had wild caught Dicrossus and i loved the leaf flipping behavior. Unfortunately after a while they did it less, i guess they learned that food comes from above and turning leaves doesn't really pay off anymore.

But here it seems to be more about carrying stuff around, especially visible at 3:37. Maybe it's his way of anger management.

I have now removed the male. I've made the experience with this species (based on the 3 specimens i have) that after spawning the female doesn't like the male close by and the male doesn't tolerate being bossed around by her, so in the end the male chases the female away. He once kept protecting the fry for a day, but a day later they were gone. Since that happened i remove the male after spawning. I can't offer a footprint large enough to keep them together after spawning.

Do you have a feel for what size foot print would be required to keep them together ?

 

[martin_c]

Do you have a feel for what size foot print would be required to keep them together ?

All i can say is that this tank with a footprint of 50x70cm didn't work with the specimens i have, even though it was structured with some wood and stuff (i took that out recently when i had to catch out half grown fry and didn't put it back in yet). The female pushes the male out of the inner territory so much after spawning that at some point he always has enough of it and chases her away.

I have a larger tank (130x50cm) that currently serves as grow out tank, maybe i'll try it there when it's free again.

 

[Hanzle]

Heb het bij mijn eremnopgy ook gezien.....slepen met spullen. Gebeurt all1 na groot onderhoud. Heb 2 mannetjes n het grootste dominante mannetje legt ergens wat steentjes/houtsnippers neer n houdt het andere mannetje achter deze "barrière". Het andere mannetje weet dat en blijft aan de rechterzijde. De 3 vrouwtjes vertonen dit gedrag niet.
Perfect geregeld