2x N. Wennare in the same tank male or female?

[rsteagall]

I have a female N. Wennare in my JBJ 12g nano that I've had for about 6 months now. A guy close to me has a N. Wennare that he's wanting to get rid of, but I don't know its sex as of yet. I'm kind of hoping that its a male since my female has produced unfertilized eggs 2 times now. Can 2 of these either female/male or female/female co-exist in the same tank of something this size?

 

[Gonodactylus]

N. wennerae typically mate only when the female is receptive. They will move into a cavity together and the male will guard the female until she lays her eggs. At that point the male leaves and does not return. I have shown that the male and female recognize one another and usually are not aggressive for a couple of weeks. However, after the larvae have left the female's cavity, all bets are off and fights are likely particularly in a small system. The real problem comes when one of the two molts. This is when the molting animal is likely to be killed.

If both are the same sex, the chances of them coexisting are not good unless you have lots of appropriately sized cavities and a fairly large system.

Roy