[David]

Can anyone tell me what sort of behavior I might expect to see if I have a male/ female "pair" of orchid dottybacks? I have read Moe's book on the species cover to cover and it really doesn't help. My first attempt included one large (2") presumed male with dagger tail and slender body and one smaller (1") rounded tail specimen. The big guy beat the snot outta the little one and I had to hospitalize. A few days ago I tried again, this time equal sized fish with round tail but still slender body. There is a good deal of chasing going on and the original "male" is clearly dominant, but no actual fighting and no damage to submissive fish. On the other hand, they seem at best indifferent to each other, certainly not acting like lustful young lovers. Any thoughts?

[Ninong]

Originally posted by David:

Any thoughts?

Well, four days have gone by and no one as replied to your post so I guess I'll go ahead and give you my thoughts. I, too, read Moe's book, Breeding the Orchid Dottyback, about a year ago. I thought I got the idea from his book that it would be easier to start out with two (or more) juveniles rather than attempt to start with a mature male. If he didn't write that then I guess I read it some place else.

Anyway I would think that the easiest way to do this would be to get two captive-bred juveniles from ORA. You could order them through any vendor (like Premium Aquatics) that gets regular stock shipments from ORA. You would want to get two from the same batch because siblings are less aggressive towards each other. Place them in the tank at the same time and just wait out the sexual determination process, which will take a few months. If you start out with two juveniles, you will eventually end up with a pair. If you start out with three or four juveniles, you will eventually end up with a single male and the rest females.

If you are purchasing wild caught specimens from stock at your LFS, you should make sure that only one of them is an obvious male. But it just seems so much better to start out with captive bred juveniles.

However, since you already have two Orchids in your tank now and they are not destroying each other, it is likely that at least one of them is not yet a male. So you probably lucked out this time. I suspect that you will see the more dominant one develop even more obvious male characteristics and the new one a typical female appearance. But if they aren't shredding each other to pieces, I think you are over the hump so to speak.

Good luck,

Ninong

[David]

Thanks for responding and yes, it is said that any two juviniles are likely to form a pair. The problem is getting them so young, it seems they mature very quickly. I did get a few responses to the post after I forwarded it to The Breeders Registry. I even got a note from Martin Moe himself! Boy was I impressed. As you say, the fact that they are not tearing each other to pieces is encouraging. I have added more complex substrate and will keep a close eye on the situation. Thanks again, David.

Oh, my best guess is that these are all (3) wild caught, but I can't say for sure. I know they came from LA wholesalers.