Courting of C. cyanurus female by C. pyrrhogaster male

[TJ]

As an experiment, I have been keeping a Sasayama-type C. pyrrhogaster male in a tank with C. cyanurus (both males and females), with no C. pyrrhogaster females present. As a result, the C. pyrrhogaster male has been actively courting the C. cyanurus females. Here is a photo of the male in question (with a spermatophore floating underneath his chin) followed by a sequence of courtship photos.

After giving up on this C. cyanurus female, the male C. pyrrhogaster proceeded to court another nearby C. cyanurus female.

(Message edited by TJ on November 03, 2006)

 

[TJ]

Here's a photo of the spermatophore, which was deposited before the above sequence of photos was taken:

(Message edited by TJ on November 03, 2006)

 

[joseph]

LOL it sure looks like the female isn't interested.

These two shouldn't be able to hybridize right?

 

[TJ]

Hi Joseph.Yeah, I've yet to see a female respond to this male's advances. Here's a continuation of the above sequence, showing the male being spurned by another female:

I've read that C. ensicauda and C. pyrrhogaster can hybridize (in the lab, at least), so who knows, it might be possible....

 

[ian]

lol i've seen that look on females faces when i've tried my best chat up lines..poor lad

 

[TJ]

"If at first you don't succeed...."

Sure, but within limits

Here's something I've never seen before with Cynops, much less between different species of the genus, namely the male C. pyrrhogaster has been just as actively courting a juvenile C. cyanurus juvenile, actively fanning its tail and at times trapping the object of its affection between its body and the tail. Photos in sequence:

(Message edited by TJ on November 04, 2006)

 

[garrison]

My C. pyrrhogaster male was so intent on displaying when I first put his female in the same container. It would not surprise me a bit to see him doing either of these things based on the amount of energy he exerted. I guess you should be glad he hasn't started doing the biting thing like my male was when the female wasn't interested.