blue acara behaviour?

[paul mansel]

I have got 3 acaras in my malawi set up(yes I know, its not good!) but they
seem to be getting along fine and no fighting anywhere.
I was just watching them now, and the larger one I think is a male seems to
be 'shivering' is there something wrong with him, or is it some sort of
mating ritual, or territorial thing??

thanks
Paul

[Skug]

"shivering" is usually a male trait for blue acaras (and dempseys, and
firemouths, and a few others that i've owned) when they feel like having
babies. you can usually tell it's a mating thing, if he only shivers like
that when one of the other acaras are in very close proximity to him.

in fact, if your fish are too young to determine their sex yourself, this is
usually a good way to figure it out, 'cuz your fish will know what sex they
are before you do :)

now, if your acara is shivering like that with no other acaras around him,
that may be a bad sign. but, if he swims up in front of the other acaras,
stops, and shakes like crazy, then it's a mating thing.

when the female acara turns darker colors, and starts nudging the male in
the side, and makes him shake even more, get ready for babies.

skug

"paul mansel" <paul....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
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[paul mansel]

Thanks Skug, you are spot on I've just come in from my weekends binging to
see the female extremely protective over a rock, so I turned the light on to
discover a rock full of eggs!!

What should I do?? Move the rock and mother to a seperate tank or should I
wait until the fry hatch and then move them?? I've never had this happen so
I'm well pleased at the moment!!

Paul

[Skug]

it would be best not to move them, actually. your acaras will do a fine job
of guarding the eggs without destroying your tank or getting into any
fights - unless you have another fish belligerent enough to ignore the
acara's warnings. usually the acaras are defensive, and will leave everyone
else alone as long as there's no threat.

it'll take a few days to a week for the eggs to hatch. the male is probably
already digging pits in the substrate, unless your gravel is too big for him
to move. the babies will get moved into the pits as they hatch.

if you disturb the tank or any of the decorations in their vicinity, there's
a chance it'll scare the parents, and they'll eat the eggs or babies out of
fear that the tank is no longer safe for them to live in. that's not always
the case, but it's likely.

if you choose to help keep the babies alive & let them grow up, get ready to
get some brine shrimp eggs hatching in a mason jar... but you won't need to
do that until the young's egg sacs are nearly gone, two weeks after birth
(approx)

have fun!

skug

"paul mansel" <paul....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message

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