Just a few minutes ago, I'm sitting here on the couch, and some extra-frisky movement caught my eye. I look over and hey, whaddayaknow, they're breeding! I told them that this is NOT ALLOWED, as I have not yet attended the seminar on the subject, but they ignored me.
When I glanced over, the male and female were hovering over and around a clump of wisteria. Side by side, they shivered their flanks, and eggs floated down into the plant. The male's job is being made rather more difficult by the other two males, who keep trying to sneak in on the sly.
Now that they've finished, the female is swimming around as usual, but the male is charging all over the place, alternately courting the females and displaying against the males. I also note that the spawning male has developed a dramatic orange stripe down the top of his head.
I suspect I may have to relocate the adults to a different tank, before the male chases everyone else to death. For crying out loud, fishies, this is why I have a perfectly nice spawning tank! I suppose there's no point interrupting them to transfer a pair into the spawning tank. Ah well - I suppose love chooses its own time table!
- Erika