madasafish
Aquarium Advice Addict
As promised, here are my Rainbowfish pictures. Some *really* cool pictures here if you have even remote interest in mating behavior...
First: some pictures of the fish themselves. The best pictures I could take (and it tooks half an hour to get these pics!).
Second: A picture of a male Praecox flaring at the other males. Note that the dorsal (small fin at the middle of the back), adipose (large fin behind small dorsal), pelvic (ventral fin in middle) and anal (behind pelvic fin) fins all flare simultaneously. This gives the male fish a completely different body shape--rather than being streamlined and slightly odd, they are magnificent and threatening. The mouth also opens completely, allowing the premaxilla and maxilla to extend outwards, creating the tube used by many Teleost (most advanced) fish for suction feeding.
Third: Truly stunning to me. These males were competing so furiously for the females that they started to display mating colors. And these are still Juveniles!!! They're only an inch long. The males (have a more red tail than the females) first developed a green sheen on their sides, then came out with a highly unusual yellow streak all down their head from their dorsal fin to their mouth. This color shocked me, as I've never seen a completely unrelated color appear on a fish. This appearance can be likened to the bright purple mating female Kribensis show, but is much more shocking, as Praecox have no other yellow on their bodies.
You be the judges... I think these fish are quite extraordinary.
Alright, pictures in the next three posts...
First: some pictures of the fish themselves. The best pictures I could take (and it tooks half an hour to get these pics!).
Second: A picture of a male Praecox flaring at the other males. Note that the dorsal (small fin at the middle of the back), adipose (large fin behind small dorsal), pelvic (ventral fin in middle) and anal (behind pelvic fin) fins all flare simultaneously. This gives the male fish a completely different body shape--rather than being streamlined and slightly odd, they are magnificent and threatening. The mouth also opens completely, allowing the premaxilla and maxilla to extend outwards, creating the tube used by many Teleost (most advanced) fish for suction feeding.
Third: Truly stunning to me. These males were competing so furiously for the females that they started to display mating colors. And these are still Juveniles!!! They're only an inch long. The males (have a more red tail than the females) first developed a green sheen on their sides, then came out with a highly unusual yellow streak all down their head from their dorsal fin to their mouth. This color shocked me, as I've never seen a completely unrelated color appear on a fish. This appearance can be likened to the bright purple mating female Kribensis show, but is much more shocking, as Praecox have no other yellow on their bodies.
You be the judges... I think these fish are quite extraordinary.
Alright, pictures in the next three posts...
