Last night, we were watching t.v. and noticed we had total chaos in a tank. On closer observation, we realized that we've got multiple species ready to spawn, but the johannis were first in line.

We have 3, but I already had suspicions that it was a reverse trio.

So we watched in fascination as the dominant male stood by while the subdominant male spawned with the female...







I have never seen this happen before. These guys are about 3 - 3 1/2 inches, and although the fully coloured dominant male would attempt to spawn with the female, she clearly preferred the subdominant male (who isn't coloured up at all) over him, and he was so spastic and excited that he couldn't figure out what to do to interrupt them.

Ever had this happen in your tanks???

Kim

I haven't witness anything like that in my tanks, but you did a nice job of capturing it with the camera. Good Job

Nice shots!!!

Jerry Springer meets Melanochromis... who woulda believed it?

The only thing I can figure out is that they are still relatively young, so that is why they are confused. I always thought the dominant males got the girls and the subdominant just tried to stay out of the way! I did notice that the fully coloured male has a tear in his dorsal fin, so maybe they've been battling it out and he doesn't know he lost just yet???

This tank is going to be total chaos for a bit. Almost every female in there is ready to spawn, and the boys are just having to get in line and wait their turn.

Jerry Springer is right! :lol:

Kim

Interesting story, Kim!

Nice pics of the action as well!

Good luck with all the chaos going on in the tank as well!

Nice pics, Kim! This sort of behaviour occurs in the Tropheus world as well, where the dominant male allows subordinates to spawn, although I don't think your boss male was really crazy about someone else takin' care of business! :lol:

I want to echo PB: Kim, it's really fun when people share these photos of unusual behaviors. Thanks so much for taking the time to post these!

Great pics! Good Job

Maybe he's gay? blinky

You know, Brad, I considered that, but I was thinking more along the lines of the subdominant male being actually a female and faking the spawn. I just can't figure out why he hasn't shown more of a tendency to colour up, and with a Melanochromis variant, this is even harder to understand. The only thing I can contribute it to is their immaturity. A dominant Melanochromis male will usually dominate the whole tank, and be especially intolerant of other Melanochromis males.

Anyway, the female is in a breeder net, I thought she was too young to handle it in the main tank with those two boys acting like morons, and she's still holding, so it looks like they may be fertilized.

And my subdom male looks just like the female again! :unsure:

These guys aren't full grown, so maybe they'll figure it out soon. Meanwhile I need to pick up another female or so to take the pressure off of this one.

Kim

Kim, I lied. :D I actually have seen something similar in my tank - recently - I just don't remember seeing it. dumb dumb If it weren't for my camera, I don't know if I could keep any of it straight.



Big male lurking in the background.


Still keeping an eye on things.

Great capture, Aura! Cheers!!!

This is an interesting phenomenon to say the least! Hmmmm

So did either of those come away with eggs???

That is bizarre. If there were no eggs involved, I would say it was just the females squaring off and trying to determine dominancy.

I'm seriously keeping a close eye on the little johanni that is holding. I would not be in the least bit surprised if the eggs turned out to be duds, and that really was a female she mated with. There is just not enough aggression between them for it to be two males left in the main tank. They totally ignore each other, and the known male never once attacked during the spawn.

Strange...

Kim

They did the squaring off first and then moved behind the rock and went through the normal spawning motions, but there were no eggs that I could see and no one was holding afterwards.

I was pretty sure that one was a male who normally has the dark color, but they all look so much alike that I don't know for sure. roll eyes

I guess you'll know for sure about yours if your subdominant male turns up holding one day.