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Note: M1 is the dominant male, M2 is the sub-dominant, and F is the female.
5-21-05: I removed M1, who was getting just too aggressive. M2 and F have a good balance of power, and I suspect she's fanning eggs. The fry look great - they have their pearls, now!
4-17-05: The fry are growing so fast! They're really real little fish now, at just under a month old. Although I thought there were only about 15, I was able to get a quite accurate count this morning and triple-check it, and it came out to 21. I'm going tosay 20, though, on the assumption that I'm somewhat likely to have double-counted one. 20! And they're all so lively and lovely.
4-8-05: Here's something I'd never noticed before about stappersi: the blotchy coloring is actually a specific pattern, similar in every fish. Its very irregularity makes it appear random, but the basic contents of design are the same. The head and neck are covered with a splash of brown which looks as if a pain bucket was overturned between their eyes. It extends to the lips but not onto them and behind it continues past where the dorsal begins. It covers the gill plate, though the dark, highly reflective spot there means one doesn't tend to notice. And immediately behind the eyes a strip of lighter color, very narrow and well-defined, extends from the top of one gill plate across to the other.
Behind that, there's a vertical strip of color, pretty even. Then a break, folowed by a rough H or M shape. There's a spot just before the caudal peduncle, on the top half of the body.
Here's the interesting part: the juveniles have the same pattern. It's tiny, but it's there. They may lack the "pearls" until they're older, but the basic meleagris color is on every fry from at least the second week.
Some more observations (can you tell I've been watching these fish for a week? It's the ideal way to take a break from writing papers on environmental policy in Japan and Brazil): One of my fry is missing an eye. He'll have to grow up a bit before I can see much detail (he's among the smallest, probably because he has some trouble finding food) but it's very interesting. Also, I'll be curious to see if it looks more like a healed injury or something he was born with; after all, during her Kick Out the Older Generation campaign, F could've damaged him with her pharangeal teeth.
When stappersi flare out heir gills (F is particularly prone to this, presumably because she's smaller and needs a little more oomph to convince them she means business) you can really see how related they are to certain species in the lake. F, flaring out her beard, looks like some tiny Enantopius melanogenys, orsomething else large and not exactly a sibling to this species.
Speaking of F, I wonder if stappersi hierarchy is a bit like lupine social groups. Since her first batch of fry, her "status" has grown steadily higher; at this point she controls a larger territory than M1! Although to be fair M2 is a not-uncommon interloper; I'm always amused that M1 comes over to harass him away, as well, for all that F thinks they're both treading on her turf. She patrols her barriers if so much as a fry tries to approach, and M1 gets a stern glare and flare if he even looks in her direction.
4-5-05: The saga of the "abandoned" fry gets more and more interesting. First I should note that for shelldwellers, their growth rate is astonishing! I put this down to multiple daily feedings (of crushed NLS, natch) and frequent water changes.
In any case, the female has stopped protecting or caring for them, though she's also stopped going after them since they stopped returning to her territory. Now they live in M1's area, completely - they're in and out of all his shells, including the ones he's filled with sand. They steal food right out from under him, and they play around with no regard to their safety. Does he touch them? Not so much as a glare. He patrols around and above them and keeps M2, who also seems to be no threat at all, at a distance. They move too much to be certain but I'm not aware of having lost any since the first count, and this indeed is what I love about keeping shelldwellers in tanks larger than the typical 10 gallons.
4-3-05: A very interesting development! F is indeed fanning eggs, although in a different shell from the last spawn. However, she's apparently concluded that the older fry are a threat to the eggs (goo to know I'm a slightly faster thinker than my fish - I though of this a week and a half ago). Yesterday I was convinced, and a bit horrified, that she was eating the older fry. Today I've seen that's not waht she's doing - she herds them by lunging, or, if they really wander too close, she picks them up in her mouth, with their little tails sticking out, and spits that toward M1's territory. He and M2 aren't eating them, either (knock on wood).
4-2-05: Part B I was right. Poor M2. M1 uses every possible break in the spawning to come over and bully him into a corner. Have I mentioned that M2 sleeps on a silk plant leaf?
I'll be happy to get home and be able to trade M2 out for my other female; he may not be getting physically injured but all of this can't be too fun for him.
4-2-05: The poor stappersi got woken up at 5am this morning (I'm trying to get a jump on Daylight Savings). But they were good about it, and I can't have irritated/stressed them out too much - the pair are spawning as I type. The current generation of fry are about a quarter of an inch long, and still veeeery skinny; I have a good shot of mom and some fry that I'll add to the photo page. M2 is, as always, taking advantage of M1's distraction; he's actually digging around a shell right in front of the keyboard. I hate to see him work so well on something, knowing that M1's just going to kick him out of it in a few minutes. There are still, I belive, between 15 and 20 fry, and feeding crushed NLS several times daily seems to be having a wonderful affect on their growth and health.
I think it's clear (and fascinating) that the fry already have the ability to change their color like the adults do. In areas where the sand is fresh and light, they lose all traces of patterning. In areas that have brown algae (the water here's a bit high on phosphates and possibly silicates, it's no big) they go dark and patterned. The affect is to render them almost completely invisible, it's quite impressive. Of course, then they move and they're far, far too cute to miss.
3-20-05: FRY! They're very much free-swimming, I should have seen them earlier. And they're SO CUTE!
2-11-05: Partially because the shell she chose was too close to M2's "territory" and partially - I admit it - because I kept trying to sneak a peek and scaring her half to death, F abandoned the shell. However, she is at this very moment laying eggs in a shell on the faaaar left, with M1's help. The cool part is, because escargot shells are fairly thin and translucent and because I have a strong floor lamp over that way, I can see her fairly well in the shell. There's much more movement associated with laying eggs than I would have thought! Poor M1 is more or less pacing the waiting room - he's sitting on the rim, looking bored, then dashing over to harass M2, then back to boredom.
Ooh! F is out. Is she done? Seems likely.Yup. She's sitting on the rim fanning like crazy, and M1 has gone back to the center to keep M2 far, far away.
2-5-05: The digging has slowed with the final design: the small shell's opening is pointed directly at me. It's not horizontal but within 15 degrees of it. There's a large moat surrounding it but the shell itself is surrounded by a mound of sand that covers its bottom half. The highest point of the mound is about half an inch in front of the opening, toward me, and it slopes down toward the opening, which has some sand in it. It's almost like a ramp for the potential fry right toward me. She's now spending all of her time protecting it, although she has an odd habit of moving six inches away and waiting for threats (M1, M2, me typing) and then flares or dashes into the shell as necessary.
The shell is ideally sized for her to protect it: when she's in the opening, nothing could possibly get next to or around her; you'd have to rip her to pieces to get at the fry, and I mean literal pieces. For some reason M1's control over M1 has become almost random. M2 still spends most of his time on the right, 6" up, but sometimes moves toward the center of the tank, seemingly unnoticed by the preoccupied M1. This morning M2 was using the shell closest to F's, and wearing his full colors. Very odd.
F will definitely flare at M1 and scare him away, although she seems as scared of him when he charges. However she seems not to worry about M2 much; I hope she's correct in assuming he's safe.
2-4-05: Major earthworks courtesy of F; she's ruined all of M1's work to create a moat around her shell and, I notice, to turn the opening away from me. Darn.
She's fighting off all comers now, including M1; the poor thing already has M2 cowed and now can't help F, so he's taken to pacing a bit and attacking rocks (they provoked him?).
2-3-05: M2 is still taking the brunt of the bullying and is hiding out 6" up on the far right. He rarely seems to care much, though; he's like a big dog that will get up when the little terrier goads him, but won't fight back and doesn't care. He just likes the easy route: stay out of the way, don't cause trouble.
While M1 focuses on him, F has moved into one of M1's shells! Right in the middle of his territory, it's one of the shells I collected in France. It's the smallest shell in the tank, one M1 doesn't fit all the way into, which is likely why she likes it. He'd previously covered it almost perfectly. If they spawn in this it'll be rather like Bower birds; he finds a good-size shell for her and covers it just the way she'd like and finally she accepts his offer and moves in. Her color is back to pretty normal; she's all-over dark and looks a little cowed but not COMPLETELY FREAKED the way she did yesterday and this moring. She's been cleaning sand out of the shell a little at a time but I think my typing scares her. Sorry, girl!
When M2 is suitably high, M1 comes over to hover above F and her shell. He's not flaring at her, just haning out, but she goes halfway in when he approaches, then comes out again. He moves away, almost apologetically, color calming down. He's flitting from shell to shell as if unsure what to do.
Not to get my hopes up, but the female could be described as fanning, at the moment; her pectorals are going nonstop even though she's sitting on the substrate and isn't having to move her caudal the way they do to stay in place. It could still be current fighting but is this simple movement fanning? M1 tells her to go inside twice more, but she only stays in long enough to appease him. I'm glad M2 is in the tank; he can take M1's aggression, but F can't. M1 never actually touches M2, but when only he and F were in the 7 he ripped her up a bit. If M2 is really in danger I'll move him out and get some danios or something, but or now he's perfect. A great, loyal friend.
M1's now keeping F in the shell, and he's where she was - but not wagging his pectorals the way she was. So fanning it was, looks like. Knock on wood, fry are a-comin'.
F is building a bit of a nursery pit alongside the shell already.
2-2-05: The interactions in the 20 are quite fascinating. The dominant male (M1 until I name him) has claimed the center of the tank, and M2 and F live on the far left. Occasionally M2 ventures to the right, which causes hours of trouble. M1 and M2 rarely if ever hurt each other, though.
At the moment, F is in the center, although I missed how she got there - M1 gave chase? - and he's scared her into a medium-size shell. Her coloring has gone wonky, the top of her head is very dark and her whole body is vaguely darker rather than patchy and quite dark in areas. Her fins are clamped, but she's not fleeing. He's sitting on the shell rim, watching her; when she makes a move to leave, he feints at her. M2 is watching the scene from the back left corner but inches closer - M1 dashes over to stop him. They flare, and F takes the opportunity to escape. M1 rushes back and resumes his patrol. She's moving inside the shell, whether trying to escape, trying to turn, or laying eggs. Her ventrals have gone almost black! And her gill plates are dark as well. He's chased her off and is guarding the same shell without her. Now he's entered it and come back out. She's still oddly colored. M1 scares M2 up 7" off the substrate then returns to the same medium shell, enters, pauses, and comes back out. Chases M2 again; M2 had returned to substrate level in the left back corner. M2 has had enough and flares back briefly. M1 outflares him but M2 isn't very intimidated, although he stays as (nearly) always quite pale. (Pause for photographs as M1 and M2 flare).
M1 leaves to chase F, who entered the middle of the tank, then returns.
M1 chases F again.
I leave to get some frozen brine shrimp. When I return, the tank is filled with fry. Just kidding.
F still looks VERY strange.
The frozen brine shrimp melts and distracts them all, for 30 seconds at least. F seems VERY happy until M1 drives her off. M2, the slob, has bits dripping out his gills. Use a napkin!
I love that these fish eat to satiation and then stop, even when food drifts right toward them. Smart little buggers.
I also caught M1 doing a lot of digging today - I even got some photos, we'll see how they come out.
1-20-05: I'll do some rearranging tomorrow, but the long and the short of it is, the meleagris are settling into this tank nicely. They're having definite territory disputes but with nary a ripped fin (one of the reasons I love this species). At the moment one is hovering above the heater but he hasn't squeezed himself in, he's just staying up high. If he was squeezed, I'd move him out - that's my cue that the balance is upset too much and his life is in danger. As it is now, he's merely avoiding a bit of abuse, and he'll surely sleep in a shell tonight and eat breakfast with the rest.
They're starting to really get digging, and the smallest, who I've been thinking of as a girl and will henceforth call Violet (because she has lovely blue/purple, and she's quite violent) in particular is rearranging the and around her shell.
This morning I spotted, and managed to get some visible photos of, one of the other two buried under the sand to hide from Violet. His head and spines were visible, and she was displaying full out but not hurting him. It was amazing! I saw the burying behavior when I caught them to move, because the shells had been taken out of the tank, but there are plenty of shells now. Interesting! God, I love these fish.
1-6-04: The three gorgeous meleagris are moving out to the 7 at the end of the break but for now I'm enjoying watching them. They have an interesting dynamic; the smallest stays fully colored up in the corner and (argh!) never allows me to get side shots of him because he always turns to face the camera. The other two have a continual feud but aren't doing each other any damage; one seems to be sent off to the back of the tank from time to time, but spends the rest of the time shacked up with the other!
10-31-04: I put a flowerpot in the tank, not because I think they'll have much use for it, but because I was removing it from the 125 (I had forgotten it was there - its presence certainly explained the odd growth patterns of the vals in that corner!) and it had such a lovely firmly-attached growth of java moss I couldn't just toss it. Hopefully it will become a lovely moss-coated piece.
8-21-04: The brevis were sent off to my friend, but the tank, home to five GloFish, was going to stay up anyway, so I moved my meleagris (who hated the community) over from the 44 just next door. Their color is 100% better and their attitude as well. So, the meleagris page moved over here!
5-15-04: I found and bought extra large escargot shells. I wasn't sure the still-small meleagris would like them, so I tossed one in - it was immediately taken over. So, I've removed the small, unnatural-looking turbos and put in about a dozen escargot shells. It's a much nicer look - now I just have to clean all the algae off the decorative shells so I can get a new shot of the tank!
4-30-04: I've been watching the meleagris a bit more lately. Of the six, there have always been three with the mottled coloration and attitude, which seem to have claimed the three delineated territories. The other three are basically one color, don't display as much, and seem to almost school at times. They often venture all the way up to the top of the 2' tall tank, largely (I think) because they're not always allowed at the bottom. My thinking thus far is that they're juvies, not necessarily females, but I'll take advice from anyone with more knowledge than me.
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