Pairing magic

[Zante]

I've come back from the fish shop where I went to get some frozen food. My friend there told me they had just received a shipment of coral banded shrimps, still all bagged up.

I pick up one: male.
I pick up another: female
We put them together in the same tank and keep a sharp eye on them. No aggression whatsoever. They get VERY close, feel each other extensively, and after an hour they are still in that tank close to each other with no sign of aggression.

Again: they had several coral beauties, all in separate tanks. I have been doing some research on pairing up dwarf angels on a marine breeding forum. We tentatively put a little coral beauty (most probably female) with another (not sure of the gender). Again, no aggression, but we saw the beginnings of a courting ritual. The larger CB was poking at the smaller one but there was no territorial display and flaring and there was no real aggression, just "poking".

Once some brine shrimp was dropped in the tank the large one (at this point suspect male) started eating and stopped poking at the small one. Once feeding was over he resumed poking, but with much less enthusiasm.

All through this the little one was trying to escape the attentions of the larger one, but she didn't seem stressed, more annoyed. When the food was dropped in the tank she didn't cower in a corner or anything, she ate as calm as anything together with the other.

My friend working there will keep an eye on them (CBS and CB) for a few days yet. There is no particular concern regarding the CBS. They paired up or they would have already attacked each other. We are less sure of the CB. I had no intention of getting them so early, this is more of an experiment to get them to pair up, but if they do pair up I might take home them too.

 

[Alberta-newb]

Excellent! Looking forward to updates. Captive breeding of dwarf angels is a long term goal of mine as well. I think you are in good shape with the coral beauties, I had a pair for about a year that I matched up in a similar way. Sadly I lost the female a while back when I found her carpet surfing. I should have known better as their spawning rises would sometimes be quite dramatic and they would often break the surface. I also had a pair of potters that would spawn almost nightly. Lost this entire tank due to a heater failure :-( which broke my heart. You'll find courtship gets really going just before lights out (almost to the second each night). The most frenzied and successful spawns (actual egg/sperm release) were during the time right after the new moon so I'm sure lunar cycles play a role.

I'm now working on pairing centropyge fisheri. This time I'm using a taller 30" tank to provide more distance for them to get the deed done ;-)

Good luck with your endeavors. Hope we can swap notes.

 

[Zante]

I'm not looking forward to doing any breeding, I just wanted the pairs (of many of my fish) to see the courting behaviours and because I like the idea of the pair swimming about.

I also have a pair of perculas (hardly unusual ) and I will get
- a pair of randall's gobies
- a pair of tiger pistol shrimp
- two pairs of firefish
- a group of flasher wrasse (1m 3f)

I am also considering getting another lawnmower blenny, but first I want to check more long term how the one I have deals with the current growth of algae long term.

 

[mikem101]

JMO going to start with that: The 2 pairs of fire fish wont happen as two males will not tolerate each other in the same tank. As babies they will be fine but will kill each other until there is only one left. Pistol shrimp and CBS won’t be great tank mates as they will kill each other. "Courting behaviors" will take much longer then 24-48hrs, they might tolerate each other but pairing up will take longer then that. Randall gobies and the flashers should be just fine in there but depending on your tank size added CB in there with those guys definitely going to have aggression issues.

 

[Zante]

JMO going to start with that: The 2 pairs of fire fish wont happen as two males will not tolerate each other in the same tank. As babies they will be fine but will kill each other until there is only one left. Pistol shrimp and CBS won't be great tank mates as they will kill each other. "Courting behaviors" will take much longer then 24-48hrs, they might tolerate each other but pairing up will take longer then that. Randall gobies and the flashers should be just fine in there but depending on your tank size added CB in there with those guys definitely going to have aggression issues.

Tank is 5x2x2, with two very separate reefs separated by sand. I have built it like that so that very clear territories could be established. The next to go in will be the gobies and the pistol shrimps, so I have plenty of time to check out about the firefish, but I am fairly confident they should be fine.

... still, better safe than sorry.

As for the shrimps killing each other, I have done plenty of research before choosing this stocking, and submitted the list here on the appropriate thread for "approval". This is the very first I hear of that.
And why should they? They live in different parts of the tank, they shouldn't interfere with each other.

Re: the courting behaviour, yes, I did exaggerate a bit, I probably should have said it looked like courting behaviour. In my journal entry (http://www.youtube.com/user/Dezzantibus) I specifically say that they are a pair in the sense that they are a male and a female tolerating each other and that proper pairing will take time.

I am now haunting a more UK oriented forum more assiduously, so I am a bit slacking on here, I'm usually quite better descriptive in my posts.