Fish porn: E.sinensis var "red spots"

[mikev]

Youtube link.

On the left is a male, on the right is a female. The behavior is unusual, the way the male vibrates is not something I've seen in other species bred, and role-splitting between the two is different as well from either lh.disparis or pseudogastromyzons.

[Jim Powers]

I agree, that is very unusual behavior. Thanks for sharing!

[mikev]

Pleasure Jim,

Actually they are even more weird than I thought.... I saw the behavior similar to the shown on the clip a few times and convinced myself that they are nicely monogamous ... till yesterday, when I saw four trying to do this together ?!
The quality of the video is awful, not worth posting, they chose the most algae-covered corner, but this was eerie....

[Jim Powers]

Sounds like a fish orgy!
When I had L. disparis, I always had two males ganging up on the female so I was never sure if one or both fertilized the eggs.

[mikev]

If the fry survives, real fish orgy anticipated in a year.

Disparis-wise... I don't think I ever saw that... more typical was that the males were all uninterested and the female had to make multiple tries to get some male do something, trying one after another.... not easy, they could not see what is there for them except for hard digging work.

If you want disparis, drive to NY... I have F3's now.

Now, as for the red spots: a few shots so that it is clear what is the fish:






They probably are closely related to disparis... spawn size and fry development are similar too.... but they do not *feel* as the same fish. E.kalotaenia otoh does *feel* like a prettified disparis.

[Jim Powers]

Those are beauties!!

[mikev]

Not the best video, but here is the output :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJhkJcz ... e=youtu.be

at less than a month of age, > 1/3 of the adult size and adult markings (but no red spots I can see yet).

[Jim Powers]

Cool! Those sure are cute little guys.

[mikev]

Thanks Jim,

Pretty decent growth rate for just a bit over a month of age:

[Jim Powers]

Nice family photo.

[mikev]

Thanks, Jim,

Unfortunately, a dysfunctional family: they would not all assemble together, it is always half or fewer


Here is a bit more fish porn,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v6FhZLyjKo

This is a different group/tank... somehow moving them today from bare 5g to 20L with substrate/driftwood got them into doing *something* within an hour of the move. The two on the clip are the smallest/youngest in this group... I saw another, larger pair doing it in the back, but the intensity was subpar... these two were doing it for more than an hour until a larger female interfered and messed up the process..

[Jim Powers]

They went at that for more than an hour? That's amazing. I have only seen hillstreams (in my case gastros) fighting for that long once or twice.

[mikev]

I don't think this was fighting, more likely foreplay. The species is very mild (similar to disparis), fighting is uncommon and takes a second or two at most. But then the two on the clip look like males to me... so who knows.

Here is part 2, about 30 minutes later, the two are still doing it but something else is happening in the back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNHQ6_alQBo

the two in the back I think are of opposite sexes....

Anyway, looks like nothing has happened, everyone is back to the normal state ... hanging like slugs behind the filter.

[Jim Powers]

Yes, that does look more like foreplay.

[mikev]

I'm still not sure.

The fish is different from other hillstreams in several ways... I started by thinking that they are like disparis, well, not really.

Similar: mild behavior, produces large spawns using smaller eggs, buries eggs.

But: overall shier, digs with head and not just tail, digs to bury itself in the substrate (this seems to be always done with head rather than tail), providing hiding place under driftwood -- which most of other hillies appreciate -- is not of interest to them, they would rather dig a really small hole in gravel.

One more round of wall activity was triggered as follows: I noticed that a couple of animals were missing... moved things in the tank slightly to find them (were buried in the substrate all right)... but because of this disturbance, two more pairs started fighting/playing on the wall for a half hour.... not sure what this is anymore.

Incidentally, there is a photo above,

http://rainbow-fish.org/fishpic/ersi3.jpg

that shows one sticking from under stone... the software on the forum clipped the image so that the fish is not seen, you will see the entire photo by viewing the image.