Possible Courtship Behavior in P. russellii

[M.Dandaneau]

Just a quick post on something we've never currently seen before.

Last night, our pair of Pterois russellii began exhibiting behavior very similar to that regularly shown by our breeding pair of Dwarf Fuzzy Lions, with the smaller fiish (6"-7") swimming up to the larger (10" and about 2 years old) and putting his head down and then spreading and rapidly vibrating its widely spread pectoral fins.
We witnissed this about 10 times in the course of approximately 1 hour, with no "charging", gaping displays or other activity normally associated with conflict, making us hope and suspect that we are observing courtship or at least pre-spawning behavior.
We've also noticed that the larger fish, quite plump, has begun to "blush" for lack of a better term, on a regular basis with the entire fish becoming enfused with a deep overal reddish to pink hue, then resuming its normal red/white color pattern within a few hours.
To date we've had approximately 25 spawns out of the dwarf fuzzy lions, with 0 success as far as raising fry past 9 days, but haven't given up trying.

We'll keep you posted on further developements.

Mike

[FMarini]

Awe mike, your tank of love.
it reads to me like your doing something right and yes it appears to be breeding or courtship behavior.
I'm crossing my fingers for ya

[M.Dandaneau]

Thank you Frank, more than you realize.

I just finished checking, and there are no signs of any eggs having been laid during the night, but both fish now have clearly evident descended egg tubes, and as I suspected, the smaller fish is definitely the male.

The egg tube of the male is small and appears bi-lobed, but I suspect in actuality it's simply puckered at the end, much as if drawn tight with a drawstring.

The egg tube of the female is flat and open, almost splayed.

I've set the 125 gal. tank up with red lights and will attempt to photograph spawning activity this evening....if they are like the Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish, breeding would commence approximately midnight.

My primary concern as to the actual spawning is that the 20" height of the tank may be insufficient, according to reports on P. volitans, but this may be an unnecessary concern due to the smaller size of P. russellii and their purported tendency to be more bottom oriented crustacean feeding specialists.

As this is your feild of specialization, I'd like to report that, in my opinion, this definite "blushing" of the females is part of their display to males that they are in spawing condition.........actually, since P. russellii have no "common" or trade name and are most oftenfound being sold as P. volitans, what about the moniker of "Blushing Lion"?

Mike