My red melon got the shakes

Ive had my red melon now for 4 months and he was around 3 months when I first got him. Ive had no problems with him antil I bought that brilliant turk off Chris last week which is a female. He shakes non stop at her and sometimes it even looks like he is dancing and I mean all the time even though he is too young and she just ignores him. Will he ever get over his teenage crush as he is being quite agressive with the other 6 juveniles that are in the tank they arent even allowed to come out from one half of the tank. Is there anything I can do my son says maybe I should turn the heater up as he must be cold ha ha :lol: Any other sugestions bar that one. I was hoping he might get over it in time.

Leanne

lol love is in the water

Isnt 7 or 8 months to young for love the female looks at him as if hes weird mind you she stays with him and when they do swim they swim together my poor other fish are all jammed in the corner with stress bars showing while they happily take over the whole tank the only time they are allowed out the corner is when theres food but once its gone they get chased back :evil: typical male

Leanne

Some strains can, and do breed that early. Looks like your boy wants to be a man LOL

i have a very small discus trying to pair up with the dominent pair of the tank! weird? lol

Do you think this will continue or he'll carm down a bit once shes been in the tank for a while he was even shaking at her the whole time while I was doing a wc this morning nothing seems to phase the little bugger.

Leanne

lol

A water change will probably make him do it more.

Will he carm down a bit once shes been in the tank for a while shes only been in there 5 days :?: Is there anything I can do to make him stop as hes so agressive at the moment hes even cleaning my big castle I have in there but yet she doesnt shake back or clean with him will he get sick of it after a while :?:

leanne

Nothing to worry about. Just those raging teenage hormones. And yes, he will settle down after a while if she doesn't return his attentions.

All just part of growing up. Instinct is telling him this is the thing to do, but they rarely cause any real damage to each other.

Just as an interesting side line, your HE may in fact be a SHE. I've had lots of females act this way. :wink:

Thanks Merrilyn I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what happens. I just assumed he was a he as Chris said the one I got off him which hes shaking to is a she. What do people do if they dont want to breed I was thinking maybe having a tank with females and a tank with males when I get some more.

Leanne

Well, you could stop doing water changes, and stop feeding them so well ........oh no.......hang on - BAD IDEA. :x

Seriously though, why would you want to stop them breeding. It's just natural, and their colours become so gorgeous when they want to spawn. Just let them enjoy life, and give yourself a pat on the back for being such a good owner.

So What are you saying leanne, she is a He :?:
She or He was very friendly with my Big Red Turq for a while there :?:
But It does sound like your melon might be a Female, doing all the dancing etc cleaning the castle.
I do recall The Brilliant Turq of yours having the twitches a few times.
Really is confusing, lets hope He is a Male and you have so spawn to tell us about one day.
I never saw her or him spawn.
At the moment my Tanks out of control with fighting the Turqs are trying to spawn at the moment.
Its been like this before but it does settle.
Cheers for the advice on the nitrates every things better at the moment.
Im going to have to up my water changes, Im putting it down to, fish growing needed more food more wastes, equal more water changes.
Losing to the turq to you was sad but I think it had to be done.
Reduced the Bio load.
Im going to do two water changes a week one big and one smaller one.
Thanks again Leanne, a very Important lesson I have learnt.
How do you test for nitrites Is there a separate kit.
I bought a Nitrate kit. :?:
Oh and here i a pic of your Turq younger about 6mths ago, far bit smaller,
not the best shot its with my phone.
Cheers

Beautiful vibrant colour, and deep red eye. Verrry nice.

Nice fish, your phone takes a good picture mine is useless....

Chris you can buy a nitrite test kit from the lfs just like the nitrate one. Im glad youve got the nitrate problem under control 160 ppm was really to high and probably the reason why your fish were acting up Ive had no problems with shyness or being skittish from the turk since Ive had her/him at all. Im not sure whats going on between the rm and her though but I hope things relax in the tank soon I have 7 discus behind a piece of driftwood to scared to come out they even flinch when the rm comes near them. In the picture below would you believe there are 7 fish behind that driftwood and the rm sitting there not letting them out.

Leanne

she is a beuty leanne. very lucky

Thanks for that David she actually looks a lot better in real life I cant seem to capture her nice round shape and vibrant colour with my photography her only downfall is her eyes are a tad big but not overly and as Im just starting out I dont care she looks real good in my display tank everyone that comes over just loves her.

Leanne

What a lovely looking couple. Leanne they're both gorgeous.