partyof5
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Okay. My dalmation molly has been preg two times. Each time she gets close to birthing, I put her in a floating birthing chamber in the same tank. Each time now she has gone in looking huge then in the morning the bottom of the tank is filled with reddish 'poop' (aborted babies I think) and she's thin again. I'm not going to separate her the next time she has babies but instead increase the floating and stationary plants to provide hiding places for the fry.
Here's the question. Ever heard of a mating dance resulting in the death of the male? The next morning after her aborted preg. I released her. Fed the tank. My daughter noticed strange behavior about 2 hours later. She thought the female was attacking the male. After watching for several tense minutes, I believe it was a mating dance. They were circling each other and appeared to be 'kissing' 'nipping' each others sides. The female was doing most of the nipping but the male wasn't trying to get away at all. On the contrary his sailfin was up and he was circling her in turn. (this was all today around 11am)
This morning they ate fine. Tonite, I went to feed them and the male was nowhere to be found. I turned over the sunkin ship to find him floating dead inside it! WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?
Did I do something wrong? Was she hurting him for some reason? HELP!
Monica
Here's the question. Ever heard of a mating dance resulting in the death of the male? The next morning after her aborted preg. I released her. Fed the tank. My daughter noticed strange behavior about 2 hours later. She thought the female was attacking the male. After watching for several tense minutes, I believe it was a mating dance. They were circling each other and appeared to be 'kissing' 'nipping' each others sides. The female was doing most of the nipping but the male wasn't trying to get away at all. On the contrary his sailfin was up and he was circling her in turn. (this was all today around 11am)
This morning they ate fine. Tonite, I went to feed them and the male was nowhere to be found. I turned over the sunkin ship to find him floating dead inside it! WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?
Did I do something wrong? Was she hurting him for some reason? HELP!
Monica