Blackbanded courtship video

I got some footage of a couple of my Blackbanded being "frisky" last night. Must have just been a fling as nothing is going on today..still, nice to see them getting along!

Giggity-giggity!


Good show

Could you see when gametes were extruded? They did not do "vent rubs" as far as I could tell. Are we certain it is the male which is the primary care giver?

Thanks. I've been through three generations, and never seen anything like that.

Look for wigglers. They're hard to see. You'll probably think they're mosquito larvae. Then you'll look closer and realize they're all over the tank. At that point, remove the adults.

There's a grace period, where they don't eat the fry. That only lasts a couple of days or so.

Feed the fry on just hatched baby brine shrimp. The brine shrimp will likely be bigger than the fry's head. Don't worry, they'll choke 'em down just the same. Don't waste your time with infusoria.

I got some footage of a couple of my Blackbanded being "frisky" last night. Must have just been a fling as nothing is going on today..still, nice to see them getting along!

Could you see when gametes were extruded? They did not do "vent rubs" as far as I could tell. Are we certain it is the male which is the primary care giver?

I am not even sure they spawned, and if they did, I doubt there are any eggs now as almost immediately the largest of them(and the one NOT involved in the actual performance), "horned in" and was trying to eat something...I'd guess, any eggs that were laid. The more aggressive fish did it's best..but it's a heavily stocked community tank, so I am not even thinking of trying to bring up fry, as I'll no doubt never see any! Still...it was cool to see them "in action!".

Thanks. I've been through three generations, and never seen anything like that.

Look for wigglers. They're hard to see. You'll probably think they're mosquito larvae. Then you'll look closer and realize they're all over the tank. At that point, remove the adults.

There's a grace period, where they don't eat the fry. That only lasts a couple of days or so.

Feed the fry on just hatched baby brine shrimp. The brine shrimp will likely be bigger than the fry's head. Don't worry, they'll choke 'em down just the same. Don't waste your time with infusoria.

Bob, there is unfortunately no chance of any fry even getting to the "seeing them" stage, I'm afraid. They are in a community tank with a number of shiners, darters, dace, and a half dozen perpatualy hunting mud minnows. Even a trifecta of gambusia..so a more "fry unfriendly" tank likly does not exist! IF by some miracle I do see some wigglers..I'll more then likely try to siphon them directly into another tank and try to make a go of it that way. The male(at least...I assume the male, it's more aggressive, and never been as "fat") has protected the location off and on..but not terribly attentive, and the flag fish have been hanging around it...
More then likely, any breeding will be just for show.

Bob, there is unfortunately no chance of any fry even getting to the "seeing them" stage, I'm afraid. They are in a community tank with a number of shiners, darters, dace, and a half dozen perpatualy hunting mud minnows. Even a trifecta of gambusia..so a more "fry unfriendly" tank likly does not exist! IF by some miracle I do see some wigglers..I'll more then likely try to siphon them directly into another tank and try to make a go of it that way. The male(at least...I assume the male, it's more aggressive, and never been as "fat") has protected the location off and on..but not terribly attentive, and the flag fish have been hanging around it...
More then likely, any breeding will be just for show.

Try siphoning with a turkey bastor the gravel directly below where the fish spawned. If in gravel, then likely some will survive until swimmup.

Edited by centrarchid, 09 April 2008 - 10:41 PM.

Oddly, the spawing(if that's what it even was, and not just going through the motions) was NOT over a gravel bed..but was actually over an exposed part of a stump that's in the tank. The stump is heavily overgrown with Java moss, but when I did a large moss harvest/trim the other day, the fish ended up "clearing off" a small area down to the bare wood, and used that area to do whatever it was they were doing! I was under the impression that these nested/bred pretty much like other sunfish(dig out a nest in sand/gravel), but don't know...so don't know the significance of the location.
On a whim, I did try what you suggested and siphoned the area with a baster, but found nothing in the way of eggs.

Oddly, the spawing(if that's what it even was, and not just going through the motions) was NOT over a gravel bed..but was actually over an exposed part of a stump that's in the tank. The stump is heavily overgrown with Java moss, but when I did a large moss harvest/trim the other day, the fish ended up "clearing off" a small area down to the bare wood, and used that area to do whatever it was they were doing! I was under the impression that these nested/bred pretty much like other sunfish(dig out a nest in sand/gravel), but don't know...so don't know the significance of the location.
On a whim, I did try what you suggested and siphoned the area with a baster, but found nothing in the way of eggs.

I could not see clearly what I call vent rubs where the female places her belly against the male's side, trembles and the eggs are extruded. Was this happening?

I could not see clearly what I call vent rubs where the female places her belly against the male's side, trembles and the eggs are extruded. Was this happening?

That I could not see for sure. They picked a very thick part of the plants to do the deed:D
There were several times they were side by side doing the "shimmy", but could not see details as to if any eggs were released. I'm still not certain which fish is the male, and which, the female! I now assume the female is the one with bright red fins, as it's maintaining a much "plumper" figure then the other two, but does not appear to eat any more(they are all pigs, and get their fair share and more!)

My pair spawned again recently and they too chose a peice of wood to spawn on just like a year ago when I had a group spawning. There may be something to that, when given the option of spawning on wood they seem to take it.

It is interesting that you suspect the red finned fish is the female. Do you think yu could sex the fish by inspecting the urogenital organs?

It is interesting that you suspect the red finned fish is the female. Do you think you could sex the fish by inspecting the urogenital openings?

Have you considered giving them their own tank? They're often hard to come by, and it would be good if folks would start breeding and raising them.

Bob, there is unfortunately no chance of any fry even getting to the "seeing them" stage, I'm afraid. They are in a community tank with a number of shiners, darters, dace, and a half dozen perpatualy hunting mud minnows. Even a trifecta of gambusia..so a more "fry unfriendly" tank likly does not exist! IF by some miracle I do see some wigglers..I'll more then likely try to siphon them directly into another tank and try to make a go of it that way. The male(at least...I assume the male, it's more aggressive, and never been as "fat") has protected the location off and on..but not terribly attentive, and the flag fish have been hanging around it...
More then likely, any breeding will be just for show.

I keep mine in bare bottom tanks, with small clear plastic tubs filled with gravel, and java moss growing over the tubs. I think the spawning takes place inside the tubs.

Oddly, the spawing(if that's what it even was, and not just going through the motions) was NOT over a gravel bed..but was actually over an exposed part of a stump that's in the tank. The stump is heavily overgrown with Java moss, but when I did a large moss harvest/trim the other day, the fish ended up "clearing off" a small area down to the bare wood, and used that area to do whatever it was they were doing! I was under the impression that these nested/bred pretty much like other sunfish(dig out a nest in sand/gravel), but don't know...so don't know the significance of the location.
On a whim, I did try what you suggested and siphoned the area with a baster, but found nothing in the way of eggs.

Ray Wolf says you can tell them apart by looking at the opercular spots. I can't describe it, but there are differences.

My pair spawned again recently and they too chose a peice of wood to spawn on just like a year ago when I had a group spawning. There may be something to that, when given the option of spawning on wood they seem to take it.

It is interesting that you suspect the red finned fish is the female. Do you think you could sex the fish by inspecting the urogenital openings?

Centra, I am not up to date sufficiently with sexing them by that method. Also...that would entail catching them, not an easy thing to do in my tank(given the nature of it, and it's level of hiding places).
That being said I am planning on placing them in a very large tank eventualy(likely 125 to 180 gallons), and when I do that I will be tearing down the current tank and transfering most of it's residents. This will be a long process, as I want to plant and establish the larger tank BEFORE I move the residents. Anyway...when I move them, perhaps I can do a closer inspection at that time.

Have you considered giving them their own tank? They're often hard to come by, and it would be good if folks would start breeding and raising them.

That's an interesting idea Bob, and perhaps I will consider it eventually. I am in a small aprt. at the moment though, and already have plans for two more tanks(a 20 long for dwarf crayfish, and a 125 to 180 for these and a bunch of other slack water small species). I just don't have the room or expertise.
However...I may look into the possibility of setting up a grow out tank for fry(a second 20, perhaps, as I do have an extra one), just in case I can at some point siphon of viable eggs.

Centra, I am not up to date sufficiently with sexing them by that method. Also...that would entail catching them, not an easy thing to do in my tank(given the nature of it, and it's level of hiding places).
That being said I am planning on placing them in a very large tank eventualy(likely 125 to 180 gallons), and when I do that I will be tearing down the current tank and transfering most of it's residents. This will be a long process, as I want to plant and establish the larger tank BEFORE I move the residents. Anyway...when I move them, perhaps I can do a closer inspection at that time.

The larger one is the male notice how his color is much paler. I've found this to happen to the males when breeding while the females remain or even intensify the black bars.