Bela N
New member
I have 2 D. dactylophorus which I though were a pair, but I am not sure now. In the LFS they were parallel floating, no aggression of any kind, so I assumed they were a pair. First week or two in the tank (120 gal mixed reef) they were fine. Now, usually in the evening, 5:30 - 6:30 pm, they are exhibiting strong & distinct inter-specific behaviors. I am not familiar with male sparring behavior or mating behavior. I hope someone can tell me which it is.
Behaviors:
1. Face each other swim back & forth.
2. Fence with their snouts, often appearing as if they were trying to draw circles with the tips of the snout. Occasionally one will bash or bite the others snout/side. They look like they are fencing.
3. Make a circle with their bodies, snoot to tail, then swim in a circle chasing each other. It is a tight circle, 5" -7" in diameter, like a dog chasing its tail but with 2 dogs, each chasing the other tail. It looks like each is chasing the others tail to bite it.
4. If one swims away the other follows.
I have it all on video but the file is huge 3 GB. I took a few "frame extractions" to post. Unfortunately in my rush to capture the action I did not White balance, thus the color is crap, sorry.
In case you are wondering why I have Pipe Fish in a mixed reef - All fish are small non aggressive, the tank is teeming with amphiopods, copepods & ostrocods ( the purple dots you seen on "circle" pics 01 & 03 are copepods on the aquarium glass) & the rock work has numerous caves & hiding spots.
So is it male-male interaction or mating behavior???
Behaviors:
1. Face each other swim back & forth.
2. Fence with their snouts, often appearing as if they were trying to draw circles with the tips of the snout. Occasionally one will bash or bite the others snout/side. They look like they are fencing.
3. Make a circle with their bodies, snoot to tail, then swim in a circle chasing each other. It is a tight circle, 5" -7" in diameter, like a dog chasing its tail but with 2 dogs, each chasing the other tail. It looks like each is chasing the others tail to bite it.
4. If one swims away the other follows.
I have it all on video but the file is huge 3 GB. I took a few "frame extractions" to post. Unfortunately in my rush to capture the action I did not White balance, thus the color is crap, sorry.
In case you are wondering why I have Pipe Fish in a mixed reef - All fish are small non aggressive, the tank is teeming with amphiopods, copepods & ostrocods ( the purple dots you seen on "circle" pics 01 & 03 are copepods on the aquarium glass) & the rock work has numerous caves & hiding spots.
So is it male-male interaction or mating behavior???
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