Re: Rotpuct match-making and Cacatuiode housekeeping

[Yvan Alleau <yalleau@coas.oregonstate.edu>]

Alan, 
i use to have this species breed in my display tank like rabbits. The male
set up 3 females, each of them having 1/3 of the 75 gal tank. He was super
nice with all of them, but clearly had a preference for the one he
installed in the middle of the tank. He was always spawning her first,
then taking his business to the two other females. As soon as the fry was
free swimming, he always stayed with that favorite female to defend them.
He nevertheless was regularly paying some visit to the 2 other females and
defending them against whoever. They were very harmonious. no aggression
at all. Maybe that depends on the set up. Maybe your female is a young
male that gets some yellowish coloration in order not to be bitten up by
your big male. Maybe she is just not ready.
hope that helps


On Fri, 13 Jun 2003, Alan Whitten wrote:

> I would like to publicly thank Rik Vandiver for the excellent Cacatuides and Rotputcs he arranged for me to get in late April.
> 
> Today, I think one of my Cacatuoide females is setting up housekeeping in preparation for spawning.  She
> has staked claim to one of the half burried flower pots in the 25 gallon tank, and is starting to aquire some
> yellow coloring.  After I fed them at lunch today, I noticed that when the male swam by the flowerpot, 
> she would come out and do a shimmy right in front of him.  I think she is trying to get him to come
> back to the flower pot with her.  I am guessing that I made the correct move when I moved them from
> a 10gallon with a ph of 6 to a 25 gallon tank in which the ph generaly hangs around 7.5.  I am hoping
> the other female in the tank starts to color up soon, but she is much smaller than the other female.
> 
> As for my Rotputcs, I recieved 6 from Rik, and I lost one of the smallest ones in May.  Yesterday evening, I picked
> out what I though was my largest Female, and I moved her into a 10gallon tank with my largest male.  The female
> had been showing good yellow color, and the male had been changing color to a nice blue/silver.  So I thought I 
> would play match-maker and move the two fin in together.
> 
> Well, in hind site that turned out to be a mistake.  The female got a bit stressed by the move (these fish are almost
> as hard to cactch as salt water Damsels!), and the male immediatly started chasing her around when I placed her in
> the tank.  She lost all of her yellow, and was swimming with clamped fins. So in the interest of keeping my
>  expensive livestock alive, I placed a tank divider in the tank last night, seperating the male from the female.
> 
> Well, today at feeding time, both of them were at the tank divder flaring their fins out at each other.  I thougth
> this behavior was only seen between males?  The females yellow color is starting to return, and I am going to 
> give her a week or two to get her strength back before I remove the tank divider.  Are Rotpuct males know for
> beating up females?
> 
> Heres to hoping for spawnings!!!
> --C. Alan
> 
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