Female Perc Bulging Belly?

lawndoctor · #1 03/23/2003, 11:40 AM

Is this the sign of an impending spawn?

MJI · #2 03/23/2003, 02:18 PM

Can be, but can also be a sign of a well fed fish!!

More info needed - how old is "she"?, does she have a mate?, is she indicating any kind of cleaning/spawning behaviour like biting rocks?, or increased agressiong/body shimmering?

richardb42 · #3 03/23/2003, 04:03 PM

Does she have a sister?

lawndoctor · #4 03/23/2003, 10:38 PM

I have her sister's number if anyone's interested.

I'm not sure of her exact age - probably between 1 and 2 years. I bought her as part of a juvenile TR pair from IA last August, so she has a mate. For the first 6 months, they totally ignored my H. crispa, followed me around for food whenever I approached the tank, and stayed in the same corner together at night.

Then they discovered the anemone suddenly about a month ago. Ever since that day, they have stayed very close to the anemone and the female has attacked anyone (me) and anything (scarlet cleaner shrimp) that gets within 6" of the anemone. Now I have to provide food close to the anemone, because they refuse to chase food more than a few inches from the anemone. I actually saw the female bring food to the anemone yesterday - I never saw that before.

Anyway, given all this new behavior I thought they might start spawning, but so far nothing has happened. Today I noticed her belly was way larger than usual, so I thought maybe she was ready to get to it. Then again, they are well fed - they get frozen brine soaked in garlic and Selcon every day - say maybe she's just putting on weight.

Thanks for your responses and ideas.