jawlocking

[thetim6]

I was in my room earlier and i was laying on the bed. I got up and saw my green terror and red devil jaw locking. At first i said, no biggie, but it started to get pretty nasty. They continued on and off for about two hours. There doesnt seem to be much damage to either fish except the top of the devils mouth and on his hump where the terror was jabbing into him, and on the botttom of the terrors lip. I think maybe it was territorial as the terror stays on one side of the tank now and the devil on the other in a big clay pot i recently put in the tank. could they have been fighting over this new territory?? I have never seen these two do this before and usually they have a pretty good temperent towards each other. I wasn't too concerned at first because my terror and dempsey use to do this a little, but these fish would win one lose one and keep coming back and i was worried they were going to fight till they were dead. Should i seperate them? Another thing, post attacking the red devil the green terror would swim up to him, turn around flare out his gills and shake really violently, to where i thought he might be having a seizure ( might sound dumb, but relaly i was worried) and i attempted to net him as i thouhgt something was wrong, but he continued doing this everytime before they locked up. i just want to know if this is normal and should i expect it to happen often. thanks for any help.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Are you sure your red devil is a male

The behavior you described is typical pre spawning behavior!! While I have never heard of a terror and devil spawning, I suppose it is possible.

Before you say "It's a male because he has a nuchal hump" keep in mind females also get these (although not as big).

I would watch them as this is more than likely disputes over territory.

CM

 

[thetim6]

Ok CM, i think that maybe my fish laid eggs. The red devil stays in the cave and wont let anything get near it, not even the green terror. on top of the cave it looks like there is well over 500 eggs!!! i thought it was eggs a few days ago but i wasn't sure and when you made that comment I started looking more and wow there is a ton. Way more than i have ever seen with my convicts. I am curious as to if these will hatch?? I am almost one hundred percent they are eggs and seem to be a light brownish color which i assume means they are fertilized?? If they do hatch, i am thinking of culling the amount of fry to around fifty and trying to raise one. Hopefully no one will hold this against me, as im curious to see what the fishes will look like, and dont plan on selling any. Has anyone ever had these two fish breed ( green terror, and red devil) . And in your opinion, which fish you think is the male? i think my green terror is, but the red devil is so protective of the eggs, but the green terror was the one displaying.

 

[cichlidmaster]

The female is the one standing guard. The male will "display" to get the females attention. This also is an idicator to the female that the male is ready to spawn.

The male will patrol the area keeping the other fish away. If the eggs start to turn white, then they are not fertile. Some may indeed start to turn white, as this is normal. The infertile eggs should be removed by the female to keep the other eggs clean!!

As far as raising some of them out....no problem as long as they don't hit the market!!!

CM