2 males in a cave???

Jo · Post by Jo » Wed Mar 23, 2005 8:24 pm

I was watching a rather nasty fight last night between 2 of my males over a cave. I think what happened is the alpha male was out for a munch and the other male zipped in on the fly and tryed to steal it. What happened next was all out war after about 30mins the alpha could not get the other one out so he decided just to barge the other male to the back of the cave and hold him hostage until early this am. I know what your thinking why did i not go in for the rescue, well i secretly hoping it was a male and female as ive never heard of 2 males in a cave at the same time. Has anyone else known for this to happen? cheers

Des · Post by **Des** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:20 pm

Hi Jo,

I have had another male try an occupy a "taken" cave, while the occupant was out for lunch, but was soon evacuated after a quick tussle in the cave. Never yet seen a male trapped at the back of a cave by another male as a hostage. The weaker one normally leaves, at the earliest opportunity.
You may have 2 males that are fighting for supremacy.

Des.

Jo · Post by Jo » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:32 pm

Well the 2 shared the cave overnight and the original occupier won he finally let the other male out this morning. He is in some state a lot of tail damage and very very faded down 1 side of his body (hope he recovers ok). Not sure why this started as there are plenty of caves guess it must be the best position or something. Damn last night i was hoping it was a male n female getting frisky.

Des · Post by **Des** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:18 pm

Jo,

Have you identified the males and females that you have?

Regards,
Des.

Jo · Post by Jo » Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:20 pm

No not all, I do have a couple of possible females but im not 100% yet. The male that was beaten up passed away today

im so p**sed at myself for not stopping it when i seen both in the cave ooo well we learn from experience dont we.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:24 am

So sorry to hear that you lost the male Jo

. Unfortunately territorial disputes can be quite vicious. You were particularly unlucky that it resulted in the death of one of the males involved, it usually doesn't get this far before one of them backs off. Sounds like he must have been injured very badly for him to die.

Sorry mate.

Jo · Post by Jo » Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:18 am

Cheers Adam he was - once he was actually allowed out the cave and i seen him i only gave him a 50/50 chance to last the night . His tail was almost gone and he was totally white on 1 side with what looked like a deep cut. If there is a next time im not taking the risk again of letting them sort it out between them.

Could have been worse could have been a dead lady zeb.

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:02 am

I have two zebras myself that are in a cave. Not sure if they are a pair but am hopeful. They went back in Wednesday and do not seem to be fighting. Wish me luck!

~Jeremy

Jo · Post by Jo » Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:45 am

Sounds promising mate i've read the male can trap the female for up to 3 weeks. I hope all goes well, is this your first sign of breeding behaviour with them? keep us updated.

best of luck

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:49 pm

Well as it turns out, I've got a breeding male and female. I caught the sight of at least one egg in the cave with the male this morning. After losing my original colony of 6 in a move last August, this is a welcome relief. I randomly purchased two individuals from someone on Aquabid.com. They are obviously male and female. I still have 16 fry from the colony of last year as well. Should be a pretty good gene pool to work with from here. I just hope they are fertile.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:55 pm

That's fantastic news, you certainly deserve it after the previous bad luck! Good luck - and post pictures of the little ones when the time comes then?

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:16 am

I will try to get some photos but I do not own a digital camera myself yet. Perhaps the zebras will help me get one, who knows. I am just hoping they hatch and I have success once again.

I do miss breeding these guys and seeing the fry with the dad in the hole together. It is funny when they try to leave dad and he won't let them. Eventually they get away from him though and his job is done. Then is it just a matter of time before the pair go back into the hole together once more.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:19 am

Hi Fishboy,

That must have been a terrible blow to lose your breeding colony. I'm sorry to drag it up again but was it due to a cycling problem?

Glad to hear that you managed to find a male and female and that they are spawning.

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:19 pm

I thought at first it was due to the move and too much chlorine (I still used dechlor however). Then I stuck my hand in the tank to get the dead fish out. The tank was over 100 degrees, they like it warm, just not that warm. Both heaters got wet and since they were titanium heaters, the sensor broke when it got wet. They both stuck on the whole time I was at work that day. I came home to fried zebra pleco stew.

But I still have 16 of their fry and with a new pair spawning, I am hoping to rebuild what I have lost. I've got fish in more then one tank this time around with hopes of setting up a few more if the pair keep going at it. Here is hope!

~Jeremy

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:28 am

As it turns out the female laid 17 eggs!!! Nine of which were fertile. They hatched Monday into Tuesday and so far are looking pretty good. I have one fry with a white, clear belly. The other 8 have the characteristic yellow yolk sac. I will keep everyone updated. I thought perhaps I could use my dad's digital camera but at this point I think I will just enjoy watching the fry turn into the baby zebras. Rob has some nice photos of fry development already anyways. If I end up spawning a new species, perhaps then I can justify taking more photos. Here is a link to some fish of mine:

http://www.angelfish.net/yabbse/index.p ... 0#lastPost