Strange McCoskers harem behavior

Discussion in 'Tropical Fish' started by Screwtape, Feb 17, 2010.

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  1. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2008
    Messages:
    2,289
    I have a trio of McCoskers flasher wrasses settling into my 30g quarantine tank (old display tank). The male has been in for 2 weeks and the females for one week (maybe not ideal to have the male in first but that's what happened with shipping loss and some mixups). They have been doing some weird things that I'm curious if anyone else has ever seen and can explain maybe?

    The first three videos are this weird bobbing "dance" they did for at least an hour or two last night after I heard a splash from the tank. They managed to synchronize the bobbing movement between the three of them several times and it looked really cool but kind of eery with the females' fins all flared out.

    The fourth video is a strange display one of the females did one night for a couple hours, paling up and flaring her fins and sort of "stalling" with her pectoral fins fluttering.

    Excuse all the poor quality, algae and dirty glass, I wasn't prepared to be shooting video when they decided to do some crazy stuff. This was just shot on a canon powershot point and shoot camera so it's nothing special. I have a more complete description in my build thread if anyone wants to know more.

    YouTube - McCoskers Dance 1
    YouTube - McCoskers Dance 2
    YouTube - McCoskers Dance 3
    YouTube - Female McCoskers strange display
     
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  3. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    New Freedom, PA
    looks like the male is flashing... except SUPER slowly!!! usually they are in and out of rocks and all over the place shooting right in front of the females
     
  4. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

    Joined:
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    The male is but the females are too which is strange. Also it is strange how calm it was all happening. Like I mentioned in my build thread the male is almost always zipping around, then I heard the splash and everyone was super calm just doing this weird bobbing movement.

    To clarify the fish towards the front is the female, the male is more towards the middle/back of the tank most of the time.