Pachytriton behaviour change

AngieD

New member
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Messages
388
Reaction score
5
Points
0
Location
Cheshire
Country
England
Display Name
Angie
I have 2 pachytriton (probably granulosus), and they occupy a decent-sized tank with plenty of visual barriers. It also didn't take therm long to establish their own territories within the tank when I first released them into it.

They were doing a fine job of staying out of each other's way until a few days ago.

The female has been tail fanning for a good few days, and has also been spending a great deal of time sitting on or in 2 of the caves in her half of the tank.

The male has developed white spots on his tail and has been a lot more active than usual.
I suspect that this behaviour suggests that they are in breeding 'mode', but this is not the problem.

The problem is that when the male approaches the female (presumably drawn by the tail fanning, as he does not normally venture to her side), she simply attacks him until he goes back to hias own half of the tank. He then starts pursuing her again after a few minutes of agitated-looking behaviour.

Is it breeding season for paddle-tails?

I know that these are known for their aggression, but is this level of teasing-and-violence normal for them?

I am also aware that I have very little chance of breeding them, it's just the fighting that is bothering me
 
This is the same behavior that led me to separate my pair of paddletails. The male became very amorous with pretty white tail spots. He pursued the female constantly only to be attacked - often viciously. The breeding triggers for males seem to be easier to achieve in captivity than for females as my male was always interested but my female never was. I did end up placing a divider down the tank after the female bit off the males back feet. If I were in your situation I would look into ways to seperate them before either gets seriously injured. Good luck!
Heather
 
Thank you. I am monitoring them closely. Since I posted this query, he has seemed to get the message that she's not interested, and she has mostly stopped tail fanning. Hopefully he'll continue to keep away from her now

Thanks again
 
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    Chat Bot: Kepuchie has left the room. +1
    Back
    Top