The Bow of Grace

I have a few fish starting to do the bow of grace (one known female does it with two suspected males). What are the probabilities involved with this activity? Is it a sign that they are interested in each other? Will eggs be layed soon for sure? Is it just a random discus activity and doesn't necessarily mean anything? No cleaning going on yet...

brad

[darcy]

Hi Brad.
That dance is neat to watch eh? I don't know about all discus but when one of my pair's do that it is not long before they are going at it! :o :o Good luck with them and let us know what happens!!!
darcy

hey,
I've had my pair do it before, but this was more of a theoretical question. I enjoy learning about behaviors and all that stuff. I wonder what the overall trend is? I would have done my higher level psychology experiment on discus but it has to involve people. Instead I'm doing Hatfield and Clark's "Will you sleep with me" experiment...it's great fun!!! Anyone else have answers about the bow of grace?

[peety]

I have noticed mine do it when they "tag off" as well. That is, when they swap guard duty on the eggs, they do a bow to each other, just like sentries handing over duty ;D ;D

They really do have some silly habits.... :P

peety

[ChloroPhil]

Any luck with your experiment yet Brad? ;D

BTW, I've got a potted plant I want to give you. I don't have room for it anywhere in any of my aquascapes and don't want it in my grow out tank. It's a small bushy sword that would look good in any of your tanks.

[John_Nicholson]

Although I think bowing is normally associated with pairing here is a pic of 2 known males (Icurrently have fry from both of them) finishing a bow, so I think it means more to the discus then just male/female pairing.

-john

maybe it's a sign of affection???? Gay discus???? I know that when BF Skinner gave pigeons a treat every 15 minutes, regardless of what they did, they developed strange habits that are considered "superstitious." Maybe that's what this is too. Dunno...it's very interesting to watch these fish though. The bowing is still going on, no cleaning yet, but the bowing has increased. The fish are on flubendazole but Cary says his fish love to breed in the stuff, so we'll see.

Brad

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

A young pair can go through the bowing for months before they are mature enough to spawn.
And yep sometimes fish of the same sex do it to, I have witnessed in a community tank fish bowing at each other like they are pairing of, but they were known to be the same sex, I think this happens more with male to male than female to female.
Dennis

Hey Dennis...thanks for the info. I know that one of the bowing fish is of breeding age because she's laid eggs before. The suspected male that she paired with bows, but i think he's still young. The last one, the breeder told me he was a male when i got him, but he's only around 12 months and is a ss.