I have read about cichlid females mating with each other often in absence of males but I have never seen similar behavior in killifish until today. And by the way a "male" was present.
I have one late-blooming (soon 3 months old) "not-so-colorful" male of N. rachovii and one female of the same age and one 4 months old.
Today I watched the older female trying to mate with the younger female in the presence of the late-blooming male.
What to conclude about this observation?
The only rational explanation that comes to my mind is that the older female want's to make sure that her eggs have the advantage in the next generation. But I also feel the rational speculation might not always be the truth.
Any comments to my observation?
Erik Thurfjell
SKS 138, BKA 838-05, AKA 08998, SAA 251
Just now looking at the two Notho Rachovii Beira98 female. I realise they are behaving a bit wierd. As the "male" is still relatively small, i would researve my comment until after Chinese New Year break.
I hope i was wrong about the sex of the younger "female".
I just looked at a movie showing some probable infighting among a couple of Tricolor sharkminnows and thought what I experienced of the rachovii females might just be an infighting phenomenon among females.
Less of a struggle compared to the infighting between males.
A perhaps a little bit more boring explanation but may-be a more probable one - any opinions about that?
Erik Thurfjell
SKS 138, BKA 838-05, AKA 08998, SAA 251
Its quite possible to see this happening Erik. If I recalled correctly one of the fellas here lost an S. auratus female when it got hurt by another female of the same species in the same container.
I believe the aggression comes into play when males are not around thereby causing the females to assume some form of territorial behaviour. This is easily seen in cichlids during brood care, especially in Apistogramma species. The mother apisto is a true-blue guardian.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Hi all, today collected some egg from the pair of lesbian Notho. Rachovii. I guess the younger might be a male after all.
Kee Hoe, would it be possible for you to photograph the two "lesbian" nothos so that we can have a good look at them? Just out of curiosity.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Hi KeeHoeOriginally Posted by keehoe
The younger one should be a male. If Im not wrong it should be a young
male with the colour characteristics of a male not so prominent yet i guess
2 female fishes cant possibly mate and produce eggs, correct me if Im wrong
Regards
Rob
Its possible that two females may go through the spawning ritual and release eggs at the same time but naturally the eggs will be infertile. If fertile eggs were collected then one in the pair is a male.
This two-female spawning act has been documented in cichlids. I wouldn't be too surprised if it occurred amongst killies.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Hi StormhawkIts possible that two females may go through the spawning ritual and release eggs at the same time but naturally the eggs will be infertile. If fertile eggs were collected then one in the pair is a male.
This two-female spawning act has been documented in cichlids. I wouldn't be too surprised if it occurred amongst killies.
Thanks for the input. It has broaden my horizons in killie keeping
Regards
Rob
Hi I suspect this Beira98 is a male instead. Can help me verify?
The Female is:
Thanks. Sorry the image might be too big for dialup user :P
It's a female, Kee Hoe. Some N. rachovii females have streaks of red on their bodies.
Loh K L
Yah, i though so too. Seen male rachovii of this size in your place would have all colour up.
In that case i stop collecting egg from this "pair" and concentrate on the Notho. Rachovii Nicuadala.
Keep that she-male separate for a time. I bet it will colour up as male once it is far from the big male.
I've seen "female" vosseleri pull the same trick to escape being bashed by the big males. Remove the big males and they quickly colour up as per usual.
tt4n
I found this interesting photo which is yet another twist to killies urge to breed.
http://joaocb.planetaclix.pt/aquario...guentheri.html
The same picture appears in one of my books - Aquarium Fish Survival Manual so I wonder if there's an infringement of copyrights. Anyway, I've seen that happened often when I had the Notho guentheri's in my tanks. As far as I know homosexuality exists in the animal kingdom but it's usually as a form of practice for young male adults for the real thing later.
Loh K L
Well at least the owner of that website did mention that the images came from Brian Ward's book "Guia do Aquario".. or probably Guide to the Aquarium? I know nuts about Spanish or Portuguese for that matter.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Well now this actually has some relevance to my tanks.
My two kafuensis(supposed females) are 5 weeks old. Not only do they fight, but just now I saw what appeared to be an attempt at the spawning ritual. When one fish rushed the other the defender flared back and then pointed its nose to the ground. They spent the next couple minutes nudging each other around similar to the way a male notho uses his chin to guide a female into the peat. They never actually spawned(sometimes they were facing opposite directions and other times one would be behind or above) but I noticed one appeared to quiver. I'm thinking at least one must be a male if the are doing this...but they've both got those pointed anal fins. Why don't they just hurry up and tell me already?
Well if one or both are males then I suppose something in the water is stopping them from showing their true nature.
When I previously had Notho. eggersi, the males only began to colour up when they were 2.5cm in length and even at that size, only the dominant ones would colour up and the subdominant males would look really like females.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Let me go you one better, Jianyang.
I had a poor hatch of EGG Kilimani TAN 02-15 (?)
Two survivors were male, and one was suppressed and smaller. Gradually as the older one aged, he became a belly slider, but the small one lost some color and became a bit more like a female, but with distinct male fin markings and shape.
When the big one died, I removed the peat and searching carefully, found three fertile eggs!
I have never, ever heard of a male to female sex change, before. Is this something for the Guiness book?
I should try to hatch them soon.
Wright
01 760 872-3995
805 Valley West Circle
Bishop, CA 93514 USA
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