Signals ?

[anewbie]

I'm trying to understand apistogramma signals. When my female nana swims near a cockatoo female frequently they will wag their tails at each other and one will swim away (I presume this is some sort of aggressive signal) but when my hognosli female swims into my nijjennsi female area she will sort of shake her head once and the hognosli will swim away before she charges.

So my question is there a difference in meaning between the turning around and wagging the tail vs the head nod or are they the same signal in two different forms ?

 

[MacZ]

Likely the same signal of "beat it!" in two different languages. Would be interesting to see how the A. cacatuoides would react to other Apistos instead of the Nannacara.

 

[anewbie]

Yea. I thought about running an experiment but it would be a bit disruptive. I have to move in 14 1/2 months so i might try the experiment when i move or if i am forced to remove my other spare female cockatoo for some reason (she is in the guppy tank with a male). They are suppose to eat frys but are not very astute at that task.