Ok, in the past I've had bad luck with GBR, previous 4 died during acclimation. So I gave them up for a while. Had good experience with Bolivians though, but it was hard to find females. So one day I'm going into one of the LFS they had a great looking stock of GBR, nice size too, the largest I've ever seen in a store, most of the ones I've seen other places are about the size of a quarter, but these where great and active.
I picked out what appeared to be the dominant male, largest and most active in the tank, and the best colored female. These fish showed good colors, plenty of blue spots on the face and tails.
Now that they're in my tank the male is active, eating and exploring no signs of stress, the female however is a little more shy, with very slight signs of stress coloring. From what I've noticed when mature GBR show vertical striped along the tail, and lack the blue spots this is a sign of stress.
The male chases the female when he sees her. So now she spends most of the time in the middle and top of the tank, sometimes coming down to the bottom when the male isn't looking.
They're both eating and looking for food, but the female is a little more apprehensive about food near the bottom. Right now she's hiding in the Amazon Sword. The tank is planted with a few other swords and a large piece of driftwood in the middle to break-up the sight line.
Should I get a second female to make it 1m:2f to lessen the male picking on the female or will he allow her to settle in after a while? They've only been in the tank for 2 days. The male seems fully settled but not the female yet.:help:
I picked out what appeared to be the dominant male, largest and most active in the tank, and the best colored female. These fish showed good colors, plenty of blue spots on the face and tails.
Now that they're in my tank the male is active, eating and exploring no signs of stress, the female however is a little more shy, with very slight signs of stress coloring. From what I've noticed when mature GBR show vertical striped along the tail, and lack the blue spots this is a sign of stress.
The male chases the female when he sees her. So now she spends most of the time in the middle and top of the tank, sometimes coming down to the bottom when the male isn't looking.
They're both eating and looking for food, but the female is a little more apprehensive about food near the bottom. Right now she's hiding in the Amazon Sword. The tank is planted with a few other swords and a large piece of driftwood in the middle to break-up the sight line.
Should I get a second female to make it 1m:2f to lessen the male picking on the female or will he allow her to settle in after a while? They've only been in the tank for 2 days. The male seems fully settled but not the female yet.:help:
