I know that they have sharp bone structure in their mouths to bite/scrape but, WOW, it is interesting you have seen them using their spikes in battle (to inflict wounds/scratches on each other I presume). I have quite a collection of Videos and pics of botias in general, battleing, and I have seen a modesta use his mouth to mark two parallel lines/scratch on my clown ( I seperated him) but I am thinking I should take a closer look to update my point on this.Emma Turner wrote:
They do use their spines during these battles, it's just that they can flex them so quickly that it is very hard to capture on camera. Both fish were quite scratched up by the end of this argument, but these sort of wounds heal very quickly in this tank (tip-top water quality ).
This is a picture I was lucky enough to capture a while back of Stripes with his spines raised. Stripes being the size he is has spines just a bit bigger than a cat's claw:
Emma
Great shot with the spikes!!! I am never able, nor am I quick enough to capture one of their stretching the ocular spine moments on photo.