Red Top Zebra Behavior

[DMasker]

I have two Red Top Zebra cichlids in a tank and I believe one is female and one is male. (One is brightly colored the the other seems quite dull) The one I believe is the male (brightly colored one) does this weird thing I've never seen before. He will all of a sudden start shaking, almost as if in a tonic-clonic state. Is this him trying to show off to the female? Or to ward off the others in the tank? Just curious.

I can't get a picture of the one I believe to be the female because she is either hiding or moving too fast when eating to get a picture.

 

[Larkspur]

Hey!! I've seen this same thing before displayed by 2 of our males. It was done by our red top zebra and also the bumblebee cichlid. It's like they have a "spasm" or something. I noticed when the red top did it that it was near a blue zebra we suspect is female. The bumblebee also did it around the same fish before, but we guessed he just has issues anyway. (He does...he's the most temperamental and hard to please fish)

 

[Steecy]

Your male is showing off to the female, dont be surprised if you end up with some young.

 

[Emissary of Pain]

Hey all ...

I have a Labeotropheus Trewavasae (similar to the zebra) and he\she does the spasm thing as well ... but I highly doubt it's for mating due to the fact its the only fish of it's kind in the tank ...

This has had me curious for a while so I will be watching this thread closely...

regards,
Richard.