Help! My blennie thinks she's a cichlid.

[LisaJill]

Greetings all,

Some of you may remember that I had a pair of bicolour blennies courting in my tank (one totally black, one normal colouring).

I recently lost the male (disappeared entirely, may have jumped, not sure).

Anyhow, since about a week ago I have noticed something very odd.

The all black blennie - whom I believe is female, lives in a shall in the centre of the tank, against the back wall. She has always lived there, at times co-habiting with the male (short term).

Now, I have only just noticed this, but around her shell (a large hermit crab shell) she has completely cleared the sand. Its down to the glass. There is sand all over the corals surrounding the area (very annoyed corals, the elegance in particular).

I thought it might be a fluke, but I've been paying more attention and she's doing the exact thing I've seen from mating cichlids. She goes down to her shell, picks up a mouthfull of sand, takes it somewhere else and dumps it.

Now, I compare this to a cichlid instead of say - a Goby - as she's still eatting caulerpa, so she's not confused on her diet. It's much more akin to mating behaviour. I've been tempted to replace the previous male with a new one but have been hesitant as I do not know the cause of his disappearance.

Plus, the tank is at peace and what I believe was courtship behaviour was sometimes very ... active, I suppose. Much like territorial displays, only they often ended up at in the same er... hole. Plus the ... midwater dancing they'd do would last quite a long time (45 minutes was the longest I clocked) and this seemed longer than a short, territorial dispute.

Anyhow, I was curious if anyone had any insight into this behaviour. Is it indeed part of what would normally be a courting/egg-laying ritual? Or is she just psychotic? Or none of the above?

Thanks!

-Lisa

[Reinhold]

Do you think it's possible that the male is still alive in the tank? I've had fish "disappear" on occasion, only to find them many weeks later hiding in a crevice or cave, for totally unknown reasons.

Maybe the male is still alive, and they behavior is mating ritual. Just an offbeat idea.

[LisaJill]

Well he's been missing missing for almost 3 months so.... relatively confident he's gone =)