Lake Tang. Shell Dwellers

knashash

knashash

AC Members
Oct 28, 2004
517
0
0
I picked up a male and female from my lfs......very cool fish...VERY skittish...have had them for four days now and they seem to be doing better however I dont think they are a pair....my question is...will a male and female eventually pair up if they are the only 2 in the tank. Right now the male seems to be badgering the female quite a bit.....
 
What species are they? How big is your tank? With new colonies of fish in general, I usually get 6 or more to insure I get at least one pair out of the batch. With many/most species of cichlids, a male with one female can be bad news...1m/2f trios work for many.....for many shell dwellers, one male will often have a harem of females, each in their own shell...if it is a larger tank and colony with more males, you will often see the "shell hiding" game, where a male will bury a shell so they can use it for themselves later when another female is available. Have fun!
 
Fish boy.....the species is Neolamprologus brevis......I have the 2 in a 6 gallon tank with sand substrate and 5 shells....It is possible for me to obtain another female, but im worried about space requirments
 
Go ahead and get the other female...as they breed, you can pull out the fry and put them in grow out tanks...
 
Brevis usually form pairs rather than harems. I would get another female, let a pair form, then remove the odd female so she doesn't get harrassed.
 
Well...the tank that I got the male and female from had another female in there. The male was definatley hanging out with one of the females and we agreed that they seemed like a pair. The problem was that when we went to gather them they moved around so much that we werent sure If I had got the right female.....so I just called them and they said I could take the one female back and exchange her for the other......do you reccomend doing that or just getting the other female and see what happens?
 
They will probably pair up eventually even if they were not the original pair. It will just take them some time. Buying the second female will speed things up by giving the male some options, but then your stuck with third fish. The lfs will probably take it back, but probably won't give you any credit for it.
 
Let me ask this...... If the female in the tank at the LFS was indeed part of the pair, will replacing the one I have with her solve the problem. Will a fish recognize his partner after he has been separted from her and then reunited after a few days in different surroundings or will it be like starting from scratch?
 
Pair bonds with fish are a tricky thing...some males go postal on their mates for no reason at all, even when they haven't been separated....I would see if the lfs will take the "extra" female back, then see how things play out.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom