I was feeding the zebras just before lights out about two hours ago when I noticed that there were two zebras in one of the caves. I thought nothing of it as it's been happening for quite a while now so the excitement has sort of worn off.
While I was watching the zebras feeding I noticed a male swim up to the cave and stop just at the entrance. I thought he would soon move as the other male in the cave must have sensed him there and he began to flap his tail. I couldn't believe what happened next , he went straight into the cave and settled in a diagonal position. At this point the other male was flapping his tail even more furiously. Then everything settled down and all I could see was their tails quivering. I watched for about fifteen minutes, nothing was happening no tail slapping just nothing. All of a sudden the male trapped by the second male made a backwards snaking movement towards the entrance of the cave and evicted the intruder. The intruder made an attempt to get back into the cave but I intervened at this point and prevented him from going back in.
There's a bit of history between these two males. The intruder use to own the cave but at some point lost it to the other male, he has since taken another cave but doesn't seem to be happy with it. He leaves the new cave a lot but was very rarely seen out of his old cave.
I suspect that some sort of battle for supremecy is going on. What should I do as I can see a full scale fight breaking out between them soon. I want to take one of them out, I'm guessing that the intruder is subdominant and should be the one to go.
Any advice that anyone has will be much appreciated.
Adam
Three zebras in one cave!!!
I wouldn't take him out just yet. They need and want hierachy, so if you take the subdominant out, another one would take his place, which means more fighting coming up when they try to establish the new order.
Besides, sounds like you might have a spawn coming up, and disrupting the hierachy would also disrupt an attempted spawn, in my opinion... and you don't ant that to happen just now
Keep an eye on them and see how things evolve, if they do get into a full scale fight, don't separate them immideiately, but wait to see if they sort it out before any of them get too damaged, they should normally sort it out without one getting too damaged, even though we've seen examples of pretty severe damage recently. I still don't think that's the norm though, it's the extremes we'll see posted here.
Just my 2c, I'm sure more will reply to your post Adam, so that you'll know how to deal with this situation the right way!
How many are in that group?
Besides, sounds like you might have a spawn coming up, and disrupting the hierachy would also disrupt an attempted spawn, in my opinion... and you don't ant that to happen just now
Keep an eye on them and see how things evolve, if they do get into a full scale fight, don't separate them immideiately, but wait to see if they sort it out before any of them get too damaged, they should normally sort it out without one getting too damaged, even though we've seen examples of pretty severe damage recently. I still don't think that's the norm though, it's the extremes we'll see posted here.
Just my 2c, I'm sure more will reply to your post Adam, so that you'll know how to deal with this situation the right way!
How many are in that group?
Thanks for the advice McEve 
.
I sort of know that they need to be left to it but I just wanted it confirmed. Your right when you say that if I was to take the male out another would probably just take his place and a new pecking order would have to be established.
I haven't spotted any outright fights yet just a lot of tail slapping. I guess I'll keep a close eye on things and see what develops. I noticed that the intruder was out of his cave this morning and hanging around close to the other males cave. I think that he hasn't given up yet and wants his old cave back. Neither males have sustained any damage yet.
There are 9 fish in this particular group.
.I sort of know that they need to be left to it but I just wanted it confirmed. Your right when you say that if I was to take the male out another would probably just take his place and a new pecking order would have to be established.
I haven't spotted any outright fights yet just a lot of tail slapping. I guess I'll keep a close eye on things and see what develops. I noticed that the intruder was out of his cave this morning and hanging around close to the other males cave. I think that he hasn't given up yet and wants his old cave back. Neither males have sustained any damage yet.
There are 9 fish in this particular group.
Just rang home the Mrs is in today and got her to check out the zebras, now how sad is that 
. The male and female are still in the cave but more importantly the other male is back in his cave for the time being.
Believe me McEve I have crossed everything including somethings that probably shouldn't be
.
Keep guessing ladies, you're getting warm .
. The male and female are still in the cave but more importantly the other male is back in his cave for the time being. Believe me McEve I have crossed everything including somethings that probably shouldn't be
.Keep guessing ladies, you're getting warm
.
It's called foreplay Adam! 
They'll get it figured out. Usually a subdominant male that manages to get a female trapped will be rebuffed eventually, but keep an eye on them, you could get lucky! or well, they could get lucky or something!
Barbie
They'll get it figured out. Usually a subdominant male that manages to get a female trapped will be rebuffed eventually, but keep an eye on them, you could get lucky! or well, they could get lucky or something!
Barbie
[url=http://www.plecos.com][img]http://plecos.com/plecosbanner.gif[/img][/url]
Cheers Barbie,
WOW, can zebra foreplay last for two weeks? Definately want to be a zebra next time round .
All this cave and wife swapping has left me wondering what is going on, I don't think that I have seen anything posted about this here. Like you say they just need time to figure things out. As we speak there is yet another pair in the favourite cave. I've lost track of who's who and I cant tell if it is the same pair as yesterday as they are pretty deep in the cave. Fingers crossed that something happens soon.
WOW, can zebra foreplay last for two weeks? Definately want to be a zebra next time round
.All this cave and wife swapping has left me wondering what is going on, I don't think that I have seen anything posted about this here. Like you say they just need time to figure things out. As we speak there is yet another pair in the favourite cave. I've lost track of who's who and I cant tell if it is the same pair as yesterday as they are pretty deep in the cave. Fingers crossed that something happens soon.
