mating ritual?

[Tanked]

I was wondering if anybody knew if swordtails have mating rituals? I have 2 males and 1 femle. today the larger of the 2 males would not let the smaller one near the female. very aggresive and has never been this way. afer he chased the other male off he began chasing the female. he would stop, swim backwards (tail first) about half way around the tank and then resumed chasing the female. when ever he did the backwards swimming he made sure the female was watching him. kinda showing off "look what I can do, you want to make some fishy noookie?" or has he just completly lost it ?

 

[Dogsby]

He has totally lost it. He needs a fishy psychiatrist NOW!
Actually my male swordtails swim backwards too. Its probably just trying to impress the girls (we all do it).

Shawn

 

[Tanked]

I think the girl is pregnant, she has gotten verry plump over the last 2 days.

 

[William]

I think the girl is pregnant, she has gotten verry plump over the last 2 days.

Females usually slowly get fatter over the timeframe of about a month when pregnant as the babies slowly develop, not so rapidly. How much are you feeding?

Fish often "flare" their fins to attract a partner and the swimming backwards could be part of his routine

 

[Tanked]

I am not feeding much right now (all food gone in under 1 1/2 minutes) as the tank is overstocked (my old tank broke). I will have a new tank soon though and feeding will still stay low until it fully cycled then I will bump it back up to 2-3 minutes worth of food. they all seem to be scavenging right now. every one is performing algae eating duty