Greenfield
New Member
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- 3
Hello all,
I have two very small Apistogramma borellii in a 36L tank. I've had them for about three weeks and have been keeping them in this tank until they're big enough to sex. Both have started to colour up really well and I'm almost certain they are one male and one female. (I was hoping for two females since I already have a fully grown male waiting for potential mates in a larger tank but that's a separate issue at present.)
Over the last couple of days I've seen quite a lot of what could be aggression – chasing each other, darting at one another as if to nip – but there has also been some tail-flapping and backing into each other, so it could have been courtship. But, today, the aggression seems to have increased and they've engaged in lip-locking, even while tolerating one another at close distance for periods of time.
So, my questions are:
1) Do experienced keepers agree with my sexing of these two? The female isn't terribly yellow as yet, but there's no hint of blue to her body at all and she has very pronounced black edges to her pelvic fins. The mail does not have these has a definite bluish-purple tint to his body, and increasingly flowing fins – these have become much larger over the last few days, with a shape very similar to those of my adult male.
2) If so, what's causing the lip-locking?
3) What's the recommended course of action here? Is this something they will resolve or should I consider moving the female to the tank with the adult male. She is presently around 25mm in length (and her juvenile male tankmate about the same); the adult male in my 90L tank is around 40mm. The larger tank is also much more heavily planted.
I have attached some pictures – as ever, apologies, they are poor quality as I'm not master of aquarium photography.
Any advice appreciated!
Greenfield
I have two very small Apistogramma borellii in a 36L tank. I've had them for about three weeks and have been keeping them in this tank until they're big enough to sex. Both have started to colour up really well and I'm almost certain they are one male and one female. (I was hoping for two females since I already have a fully grown male waiting for potential mates in a larger tank but that's a separate issue at present.)
Over the last couple of days I've seen quite a lot of what could be aggression – chasing each other, darting at one another as if to nip – but there has also been some tail-flapping and backing into each other, so it could have been courtship. But, today, the aggression seems to have increased and they've engaged in lip-locking, even while tolerating one another at close distance for periods of time.
So, my questions are:
1) Do experienced keepers agree with my sexing of these two? The female isn't terribly yellow as yet, but there's no hint of blue to her body at all and she has very pronounced black edges to her pelvic fins. The mail does not have these has a definite bluish-purple tint to his body, and increasingly flowing fins – these have become much larger over the last few days, with a shape very similar to those of my adult male.
2) If so, what's causing the lip-locking?
3) What's the recommended course of action here? Is this something they will resolve or should I consider moving the female to the tank with the adult male. She is presently around 25mm in length (and her juvenile male tankmate about the same); the adult male in my 90L tank is around 40mm. The larger tank is also much more heavily planted.
I have attached some pictures – as ever, apologies, they are poor quality as I'm not master of aquarium photography.
Any advice appreciated!
Greenfield
