# What is my fish doing?? (youtube video)



## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Take a look at my red jewel 35-50 seconds into the video. What is it doing??


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## non_compliance (Dec 4, 2008)

My guess is morse code.... LoL I dunno.... that's pretty nutty looking though... hehe...


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## nicksdsm (Nov 24, 2007)

I think it's her natural instincts, communicating with her babies about danger.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

I agree about signalling the fry. Some cichlids do it with color changes, others with fin postitions, or flickering.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

So should I back off from the tank when they start doing that I guess?? I must be too close!!


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## Randall (Jul 2, 2003)

Hello Beach,

Dwarfpike and nicksdsm are right. It looks like your Hemichromis sp. is communicating with the fry via signals. The signaling I see in your video, however, is not a danger signal (I don't know what the signal in your video means, but it's not a danger signal). A danger signal will cause the fry to group closer together and/or hit the dirt.

If you get too close to the tank and one or both parents make jerky head movements at you in conjunction with fin flickering, that means, "Don't tread on my fry, boy; get lost!" How does it feel to be reprimanded by a jewelfish?

Good luck!

Randall Kohn


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## Alistriwen (Jan 5, 2008)

I was going to say feeding signal. Had you just put in food for them? It looks similar to what my male JB parrot does when he wants to let the fry know there's food. They all swim near him and go after it. Sometimes he'll go down and use his fins to disturb the substrate too and all the fry know to come and eat whatever it is he's dredged up.


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## laksman (Feb 27, 2009)

food sounds right, did you just feed them?


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## css virginia (Jan 29, 2007)

I was thinking it was a signal to the fry and perhaps it's mate. Just what-I surely couldn't say. I have bred Jewel Cichlids-but have never saw that before...interesting. 8)


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