Cirrhilabrus earlei displaying!

[Len]

Ok, I must have mixed salt with wine and not water because both my male wrasses are now romancing their females. The C.earlei is displaying! Here are some photos tonight. First photo is of the male in his normal form (I love this fish!)

 

[Len]

Another photo of him in his normal state, but with intensified coloration.

 

[Len]

And here he is, displaying! I could only get one photo of it tonight, but I will try again tomorrow if he continues to display.

 

[Len]

FYI: The rhomboid and the earlei display differently. The rhomboid assumes an triangular, compressed "arrow" shape and darts rapidly around, sometimes chasing the female. The earlei, on the other hand, puffs up its body, rapidly shakes his dorsal fin (mostly the rear half), and swims fast circles around the female.

 

[ChrisRD]

Stunning!

 

[Hiroyuki Tanaka]

Len,

How fantastic ! I too hope to keep male and female pair so soon.

 

[Len]

I haven't been able to snap new photos (been sick with the flu this weekend ) but I've been watching the pair do their courting rituals. The male will chase the female, doing circles around her with occasional "nips" at her head. The circling chases regularly shoot vertical (like C.jordani) so I feel a lot better that my canopy is sealed.

C.rhomboid mating is completely different. The male never goes vertical. When chasing the female, he will nip at the tail sometimes but never aims for the head area. He also never circles her. All his fins are compressed during his display whereas the C.earlei male will enlarge all his fins as large as possible.

 

[Len]

:!:

I think my female C.earlei just broadcasted eggs tonight! After the end of one of the courting sessions (when male chases the female), the female released a jelly-like (viscosity of snot), semi-translucent mass into the water column which quickly dispersed/disappeared. The female wrasse and the two rhomboids then commence to eat things from the water column, but nothing I could see under the actinic lighting. I can't be sure exactly what happened, but something strange happened for sure.

 

[Hiroyuki Tanaka]

LEN,

I think that the female spawned , but other fishes ate them 8O .

Could you catch the same behavior in video ? I really hope so. I do not know any record of such a behavior in the aquarium.

 

[Len]

I will have a video camera around the tank from now on The whole series of events only lasts a few minutes, so I'm going to have to get really lucky to observe it, let alone video-tape it. Let's cross our fingers Until yesterday, I was wondering if Cirrhilabrus laid eggs on the substrate or broadcast them.

 

[shane 1111]

how much do the earlei wrasses go for price wise usually?

 

[Anonymous]

how much do the earlei wrasses go for price wise usually?

I believe retail on them is $1,000 per pair.

BTW, nice to see you here, bud!

Peace,

Chip

 

[shane 1111]

you too.
i will never be able to get that fish