2 males in a cave 99.9 % sure of it

Shell231 · Post by **Shell231** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:13 am

I keep gettin 2 males in the same cave, i know for a fact the first fish in the cave is a male and i am 99.9 % sure the second fish in there is as well, should i disturb them as to not cause any deaths in the family?

Would be glad to hear any comments thank u

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:54 am

do you have any phot's of the fish that are in the cave, (obciously before they went into the cave) so that we can make sure they are both males. We don't want to disturb them if they are not?

rob

alga · Post by **alga** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:58 pm

I know the two fish in my cave a while ago ,everyone that saw pictures said they were both males but I have viable fry from this pair....

I personally would wait and see, but keep an eye that things don't get overly aggressive.

Shell231 · Post by **Shell231** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:54 pm

The first fish deep inside the cave was the first fish i ever brough as it was a male, so even if the second is a female ( 99.9% it isn't ) they stillo have it all wrong

BUT....!!!! if the are 2 males wouldn't they fight one and other away from the cave, 1 fish is the large male and another is fairly small

Confussed by all this i will try and get a pic but i have not got a camera so u may have to bear with me on this

:D

alga · Post by **alga** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 3:15 pm

Two males will "fight" for the cave. If one is smaller as you mention the alpha male should have no problem taking the other out of the cave, hopefully without any damage.

I also had a smaller fish that I think is a female in the cave with my alpha male for 7 days and then she left, no eggs, no damage/injury. Then a week later the female that spawned before hopped in the cave for a day and laid eggs. So I still don'tknow the sex of the smaller fish....

Keep a close eye on them and if you have to intervene.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 5:16 pm

I might be wrong about this, but in my limited experience deaths as a result of males fighting have primarily happpens, and even then rarely, only if the males are about equal strenght and size.

If one male is obiously smaller, then he should be able, and allowed, to get away after a whopping. The whopping might be bad though, so you might have injuties to nurse after an incident like this. But death? very rarely.

I'm sure somwbody else will correct, or fill inn, more information on male fighting behaviour.

ops. edit edit!

I have myself witnessed a grown male killing two 6 months old fry, but he was psychotic, didn't work in a group at all, attacked everything in sight, except the one male he had been kept with for years (who is now the alpha in the group). So he doesn't come under the term "normal behaviour" - he was damaged. Sorry about that, it's about two years ago, and I forgot all about it.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:41 pm

Shell

Update? Are they still in the cave?

rob

Shell231 · Post by **Shell231** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:41 pm

Well............... No it has all done a turn around i just looked in the tank again and there is a totally different male with his nose right on the edge of the cave and the male who i thought as clearly the Alpha is hiding in a gap between 2 rocks weird!

does this mean there has been a turn around in the heirachy? or just trying out new hiding spots

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:50 pm

Hi Shell,

The shifting in the pecking order within your zebras is all part of the prelude to an eventual spawn. Now don't get excited, all it means is that your zebras are still settling in and each fish is trying to establish it's place in the heirachy. Sometimes this process can be fairly quick but at other times where the males are fairly evenly matched it takes considerably longer. I have seen this cave swapping habit go on for months before a dominant Alpha male is established in the group.

Adam