Abynum1
Premium Member
Ok, I have a 3 1/2" (approx) assumed female, dark maroon in color.
Today about 7 pm, I added a 1 1/2" juvenile, much lighter in color almost orange like a percula.
I floated him then acclimated him over about an 1 hour period,all the while the female never paid any attention to him.
I then put him in a clear floating breeder and let him float directly over her and she never gave him a 2nd look.
I then put the lid on the breeder, turned it upside down so the air could escape, and placed it on the bottom right next to her and the BTA she hosts (the breeder has slits for water flow by the way.)
She swam up to it a couple of time but never charged it.
I was thinking "cool,this is gonna be easy." I was wrong.
I let him out,he made a b-line for the BTA and she made a b-line for him, running him all the way across the 6ft tank.
A few minutes later he came swimming across the top and she swam at him so hard that she ran into the brace glass!
I thought she broke her neck, but she was fine.
During the next 10 minutes of these random attacks,she actually attacked my yellow clown goby who happen to swim between the two, and killed him!
I was sitting there in shock trying to decide how I was going to fish it out and prevent the same thing from happening to my new clown, when the female grabbed the goby and fed it to the BTA, which promptly devoured it.
She charged the male a couple of more times and I started getting worried as I really don't like my BTA enough to feed it 2 expensive dinners it one night.So I picked the rock up that the BTA is attached to and moved it to the other side of the tank.
The female kind of sat there in shock trying to figure out where her house was and the male who was right next to the BTA's new location swam over to her instead of going into the BTA.
This time she wasn't nearly as aggressive,more of or less ignoring him.
After a while she found the BTA and he followed. She would still lunge at him but with no where near the ferocity as before.
He'll start doing the quivering thing and then kind of dodge her and tap her on the cheek.
After a while, I moved the rock back to its original spot and they both followed.
It's now 1am,just the romantic moonlights on,she's in the BTA and he's about 9" away, beside a mushroom.
They're both just sitting there looking at each other.
Every so often he'll ease over to her, she'll let him get about 3'' away then she'll slowly come over,do a little lunge,he'll do the quiver/side step/kiss thing, and she'll go back to the BTA.
And that's where were at right now.
I really don't think he's in any danger at this point as he's got 110 gallons of water to swim in yet he chooses to keep coming back to her.
Plus, she has no inclination to chase after him now except when he crosses that 3-4" threshold.
He's got one little bite out of his tail fin,but other than that is fine.
I'll say this for the little guy,he's persistent.
Anyway, do you guys think were on the right track here?
Any feedback is appreciated!
I'm still in shock that she killed the goby. He was very small,about an inch, and she had ignored him up until today. I was really floored when she grabbed his tail and fed him to the BTA.
I don't guess it will hurt it,that's about as natural of a food source as you can get I guess.
It's funny though;even through the worst of the attacks, she would still tolerate the cleaner shrimp who kept going between both of them trying to clean I guess, and running all over the BTA trying to steal the goby.
I was sitting there thinking "Dude, you picked the wrong day to trespass into that B****'s territory."
But she would just nudge it out of the BTA, and never would attack it.
Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted. I'm going to make one last check then go to bed.
Today about 7 pm, I added a 1 1/2" juvenile, much lighter in color almost orange like a percula.
I floated him then acclimated him over about an 1 hour period,all the while the female never paid any attention to him.
I then put him in a clear floating breeder and let him float directly over her and she never gave him a 2nd look.
I then put the lid on the breeder, turned it upside down so the air could escape, and placed it on the bottom right next to her and the BTA she hosts (the breeder has slits for water flow by the way.)
She swam up to it a couple of time but never charged it.
I was thinking "cool,this is gonna be easy." I was wrong.
I let him out,he made a b-line for the BTA and she made a b-line for him, running him all the way across the 6ft tank.
A few minutes later he came swimming across the top and she swam at him so hard that she ran into the brace glass!
I thought she broke her neck, but she was fine.
During the next 10 minutes of these random attacks,she actually attacked my yellow clown goby who happen to swim between the two, and killed him!
I was sitting there in shock trying to decide how I was going to fish it out and prevent the same thing from happening to my new clown, when the female grabbed the goby and fed it to the BTA, which promptly devoured it.
She charged the male a couple of more times and I started getting worried as I really don't like my BTA enough to feed it 2 expensive dinners it one night.So I picked the rock up that the BTA is attached to and moved it to the other side of the tank.
The female kind of sat there in shock trying to figure out where her house was and the male who was right next to the BTA's new location swam over to her instead of going into the BTA.
This time she wasn't nearly as aggressive,more of or less ignoring him.
After a while she found the BTA and he followed. She would still lunge at him but with no where near the ferocity as before.
He'll start doing the quivering thing and then kind of dodge her and tap her on the cheek.
After a while, I moved the rock back to its original spot and they both followed.
It's now 1am,just the romantic moonlights on,she's in the BTA and he's about 9" away, beside a mushroom.
They're both just sitting there looking at each other.
Every so often he'll ease over to her, she'll let him get about 3'' away then she'll slowly come over,do a little lunge,he'll do the quiver/side step/kiss thing, and she'll go back to the BTA.
And that's where were at right now.
I really don't think he's in any danger at this point as he's got 110 gallons of water to swim in yet he chooses to keep coming back to her.
Plus, she has no inclination to chase after him now except when he crosses that 3-4" threshold.
He's got one little bite out of his tail fin,but other than that is fine.
I'll say this for the little guy,he's persistent.
Anyway, do you guys think were on the right track here?
Any feedback is appreciated!
I'm still in shock that she killed the goby. He was very small,about an inch, and she had ignored him up until today. I was really floored when she grabbed his tail and fed him to the BTA.
I don't guess it will hurt it,that's about as natural of a food source as you can get I guess.
It's funny though;even through the worst of the attacks, she would still tolerate the cleaner shrimp who kept going between both of them trying to clean I guess, and running all over the BTA trying to steal the goby.
I was sitting there thinking "Dude, you picked the wrong day to trespass into that B****'s territory."
But she would just nudge it out of the BTA, and never would attack it.
Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted. I'm going to make one last check then go to bed.
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