Dragon Fight

[Willie]

These are Green Dragon and Albino Green Dragon males fighting for dominance in my 75 gallon tank. Green/Albino Dragons are how Greg Sage/Select Aquatics market his strains of bristlenose plecos which were bred for extra long finnage and a particular shade of green.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8x4cXBibIA

The Dragons grow slower than BN's and are more difficult to spawn. Then of course the discus comes over to see if I have food.

My batch is mostly males, hence their frustration... Anyway, the best part of Saturday afternoons in the Fall is watching meaningless college football games while messing with social media. Hope the link works!

[BrendanJ23]

It’s saying video unavailable to me?

[jimmyjoe]

Willie do something I can't see what your trying to let me see......................

[Willie]

Maybe now?

[danotaylor]

It's working now Willie. Good times in the Fall. Nosey discus ;) :thumbsup:

[Disgirl]

Who won the battle Willie? What beautiful fins, did any fins get damaged?
Barb

[Willie]

Hi Barb;

This morning, there's an albino tail sticking out of the cave. So I guess the albino one won. What's interesting is that they seem to use their opercle to fight. The opercle is that thing which stings your fingers if you ever touch a bristlenose by mistake.

Among loricariiads, some genus like Ancistrus have evolved these as a weapon. I had never noticed it before, but the video shows the two fish pressing sideways against each other - presumably using their opercle like a weapon. A little research (http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16949806/)shows that this adaptation is unique to Ancistrus.

Corydoras can also hurt like h*ll if you grab them carelessly. So maybe an example of convergent evolution. Enough pontificating for a slow Sunday morning...

Willie

[famtsberg]

Fish UFC. Maybe your starting something. :)

[jeep]

That's really cool to watch. All my BN's are in gravel bottom tanks and spawning like crazy. I never kept them in a bare bottom. I should toss some into the discus tanks because the cheap LED's are creating a nasty algae problem...

[Shan_Evolved]

Man that is so cool. I was always told to keep plecos away from my discus, but yours look so good together

[LizStreithorst]

Will you be breeding these, Willie?

[Willie]

There's a couple of females in there, Liz. I did find a batch of eggs kicked out last month, but those didn't hatch. That tank is getting my daily 100% W/C and usually that does not promote spawning. They have caves, they have plenty to eat and they like to hide behind big sponge filters. Beyond that, I'm not going to do anything else for them. It's a discus show tank so that's the #1 priority.

[LizStreithorst]

I just looked at Select Aquatics website. They get big for BN! They'd be a hoot to breed.