Hi

About two weeks ago I purchased 5 coldwater paradise fish and placed them all together in the same tank. I thought that these were lovely peaceful fish until yesterday.

I have noticed that 3 of them were darting at one another and appeared to be fighting. I am not sure which are male or female but deffinately 2 of them appear to have longer more colourful tail fins. I suspected that these are the males and the ones with the shorter less colourful fish are the females.

As a result of this fighting I removed the biggest most colourful one and a smaller plainer one into another tank so I will call this tank 1.

Tank 1

Two new occupants, one suspected male and one suspected female. Their behaviour has changed since moving together. The larger fish has changed colours. He has become brighter and far far more colourful. His body now has become much brighter coloured. he appears to have tiger stripes in red and blue and his tail fin has become all red. The other fish which I suspect to be a female hasnt changed in colour, the fin is short and hardly any colouration at all. These two fish swim constantly together, they seem to mimick each others behaviour they also swim nose to nose and appear to kiss and swim gently and gracefully around each other. If one swims up to the top the other will follow etc. They appear to be inseperable.
Is it likely in this instant that I have a male and a female together? Do y ou think they will breed? Do paradise have to be a certain age to breed? I have absolutley no idea how old these fish are, they could be juveniles or maybe older I have absolutley no idea.

Tank 2

Looking at these fish now, it appears that two are more highly coloured than the other. I suspect that I have 2 males and 1 female, but I could be wrong. It is likely that all 3 are males but I am just not sure. I have read somewhere that you can only keep 1 male in a tank becuase they will fight once they become adults. Likewise I have only had these fish about two weeks and I dont know what age they are. If these are 3 males together I have no where to seperate them becuase I have no spare tanks and no more room to put anymore. Can anyone suggest anything for my issues with Tank 1 or Tank 2

Regards

Andrea

Hi Andrea,

M. opercularis is quite a hardy fish, which I would not reccommend keeping with goldies. Incidentally males tend to fight between themselves when kept in small tanks and the only thing to do is either seperate, or the fittest will probably chase the others to death.

Re. Tank 1. I guess you're keeping your fish at room temp. They will definetely spawn in spring; you might condition your pair with live or frozen food. The female will look plump when she's ready to spawn. Make sure that you put lots of floating plants or hiding places since the male will chase the female after spawning, just like bettas. He will guard the bubble nest all by himself.

Re. Tank 2. I have to say (unfortunately) that you have to eliminate the males, or else you will end up with lots of mortalities.

Nevertheless, I wish you luck with your fish.

btw, have a soft spot for Paradise fish since this was one of the first fishes I owned at the age of 5, some 40 years ago!

Cheers

JohnF