Thursday 12 April 2007

Macropodus nest

The nest is built under and around an Echinodorus leaf that's right on the surface of the water. The male is being an attentive father, although he leaves the nest to chase the female every now and again. I'm not sure if he still wants to mate, or if he is keeping her away from the eggs.

The female, on the other hand, is behaving oddly - she has taken to chasing the angels, which is interesting, since the larger angels are about her size. She ignores the smaller fish, but seems determined to keep the angels out of the portion of the tank that includes the nest. The male, on the other hand, seems to ignore the angels pretty much, but chases any platies that get too close.
A shot of the nest through the side of the tank (and a nice shot of the camera, reflecting off the glass)

These are taken from above. The eggs are visible in the lower picture.
And here's the male Macropodus, sitting below the nest. No longer in breeding colours, he seems pretty washed out.

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