Re: M. altispinosa spawning behavior

[Sarah LeGates <slegates@yahoo.com>]

Doug,
what sort of showy behavior, specifically?  I'm trying to sort out
exactly what my fish are doing with each other, and I can't tell if
they are courting or just being bullies.  In the week they've been
together I've seen a fair amount of "get out of my territory"
chasing, usually without physical contact between the fish.  I've
also seen, to a lesser extent, some gill flaring coupled with
contortions of the body into various s-shaped positions--one fish
flares, the other contorts.  I've also seen a very small amount of
what I can only call "staring", when the smallest (and least colorful
and generally best tolerated) of the three gets very close to the
other new fish that came in, with a plant leaf separating them, and
does the head shimmy/body wiggle that I've associated with courting
in my H. severus pairs.  Is this a courting behavior, or is this fish
trying to dislodge parasites?  Now that the three cichlids in the
tank have established their own distinct territories, I am curious to
know what to watch for as far as possible courting behavior goes.

Thanks for the input,

Sarah LeGates

--- Doug Dunlop <baddog@telusplanet.net> wrote:
> Sarah,
> I have some regularly spawning M. altispinosa.  The spawning
> typically involves
> a lot of very showy behaviour without a lot of real violence. 
<snip>
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