Is this love?

One of my new bristlenose ladies and one of my juvenile boys have spent the morning outside a hollow rock linking spines on one side like they're holding hands. They were very cute to watch - going up for their air bubble and back down to link up again. They didn't do it in the afternoon. Never seen this behaviour before. Has any one any thoughts?

Hrrmmmm, without a pic its hard to tell but my first thought is prob not. if they were just sitting there then that is odd, if its love the male should be trying to get the female into the cave, to which she will try to get out off unless she is ready to spawn. of course, they could have been dancing for a while and needed a breather

How old is the male? if he is still very young, only just becomeing mature, then it may well be his first crack at getting a mate. best way to tell if its love or if its fighting is to think is there anything they would fight over in the tank, hiding places, limited food, breeding caves etc. if not then i reckon you might have the beginings of some bristley love, if so nice work!

Also, just another point is that if they are shooting to the surface to get some air then the O2 in the tank is low. Bristlenose will very rarely breed in a tank with low O2 as it is un-natural for them. I would suggest and airstone or changing the position of the filter outflow so that it ripples the surface to increase the amount of O2 in the water. Bristlenose come for the headwaters of the amazon, in the fast flowing white water rivers where the O2 is always at 100% tthats why most breeders use a sponge filter in their tanks, it filters plus gets the O2 into the water, win win

Oh no. My bristlenose s and corys often do the bubble thing. First they release a large bubble and a few seconds later go up and get another. I thought it was normal for these bottom fish. None of the others do it. Do they have a greater O2 requirement? I will put in another source of air. It makes you wonder what else you don't know

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Sorry the first image isn't too clear. The fish weren't fighting, just holding on, easily let go and no apparent aggression. They're not doing it today! I love these fish.

truely odd!

I have never seen anything like it. I dont think its maiting behaviour, as they would be near a cave for that. maybe they are just good friends

Bristlenose and corys both need high O2, as they come from an environment that has it. The both have the ability to get atmospheic O2 unlike most fish who just hang around at the surface.

Doug -- I usually call this shaking whiskers lol...

as in us shaking hands..................

I noticed my albino L144 doing it with my teminckii a few months back though just took it as them
learning their sub orders in the tank....

they used to fight for the same shell as their cave, but can be seen doing this occasionally too.....

thought it strange at the time, but they usually get on well most of time...

can be strange fish sometimes with their own persoanilties....

kind regards...

I have put in an air stone and turned the filter outlet upwards to bubble the surface but some of the other fish used to obviously love swimming against the current which they can't do now so I will alternate that. No more 'hand' holding that I've seen.

High june , what sort of filter are you using? an internal power head perhaps?
If so ,do you notice a hole in the side of the outlet- if so you can plumb an airline into it , leave the other end out of the tank(just hanging out of where your lids are cut ) and this should help provide more surface aggitation and provide better 02 levels for your fish.

The spine locking looks more like territorial disputes to me.

J

fluval and power heads are good but I do notice that when you use the extra tube in the top it does increase
water flow and bubbles, but another effect it always seems to have in my tanks is a great increase in algae
growth around the top of the tank.

It also seems to leave alot of algae growing on the light reflector.

This is also with a decreased light period and also decrease in water level to compensate.

So you have to way the good up with the bad when using the venturi effect to add bubbles, since
I have so much algae on the reflector it periodically needs removing, cleaning or changing.

Good luck.

That is a very pos sign. Some plecos; say like My L204 Panaques communicate with those long tail threads they have. The male will lay head in his cavee and his Fav. lady will sitt outside tail to tail and their tips touch. She will do that for 2 days sometimes. I am sure there is so much we do not know about vfish comunnications. Try a large water change and temp drop 5'.

yeah, the venturi does cause a bit of slashing when the bubbles pop and this can cause algae to grow around the top of the tank. but it is a great way to get air into the tank.

Any bubbles will have the same effect, that why its always best to have the bubbles popping either under glass to protect the light unit, or in the middle of the tank, so the little splashes dont hit anything, and just land back in the water.

think i might have to get my mate to help me remove the lid,, coz i have loads of horrible white algae which i have not seen before growing on the fluval lid, so water level decreased slightly and light time redeuced just until it stops growing..

many thanks to all your help and replies