Designer Occelaris cleaning\courting behavior

[stevers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RJhv1o6Rk0
Cool video of my clowns, cleaning a rock. They have been doing this off and on for around two weeks I wonder how close they are to laying?!?

 

[Oiva]

That is awesome. I have two black ice but they are rufly 1 year old and have not yet changed sex. My OC are doing the same thing, i am waiting for them to get down n dirty.

 

[D-Nak]

How long have they been together? What makes you think this is courting behavior?

 

[stevers]

I think it looks like courting behaviors they have been together since march (7 month), and host a large toadstool. They sleep together at night and explore the tank together. I feed 3 times a day and run my tank temp high. They only clean that spot just next to the toadstool, and its usually when the lights are off or evening time, and have shaking fits clearly getting excited. The dominance has been very clear since I bought them with the black ice being the female and the blacker ice being the male. The females anatomy is also slightly different than the males, she is getting shoulders, like a wider chest in last three months. These observations in addition to the frequency of these cleaning episodes leads me to believe this is more than a dominance display.
D-Nak, do you not believe this to be courting behaviors? If not then what?

 

[D-Nak]

To me, it looks like they're still working out dominance issues (the female is asserting her dominance). They also look a bit small, but it's hard to tell in the video because there's not much to compare to to get a real sense of size. I know that size varies, but with my pair the female grew larger so the male is only 3/4 the size of the female.

It doesn't look like they are cleaning either. Cleaning typically involves the male using his mouth to pick off algae and whatnot to clean an area. The female participates as well, but with my pair the male does most of the work. They may wiggle to clear sand or debris, but I've never seen cleaning behavior that involves wiggling against a smooth surface.

But, I could be completely wrong and they'll lay tomorrow.

 

[stevers]

How long does dominance take to establish in your pairs? I have had 3 mated pairs of clowns and the aggression stops within a month, which to me indicates the genders are dictated.that was 6 monthes ago that the aggression stopped. Occelaris are typically easier to get to spawn and spawn younger than percula. The female is 2 inches plus, male is 1.75, yes the female gets after the male but I think its just because she is getting excited.