Dominant females

[mjc]

in my 4*18*18 i have a colony of lithobates - 1 male to 5 females.. and i was just wondering if one female has dominace over the other females or doesnt matter

cheers

[Ducksta]

Generally females will sort out some kind of pecking order. These "dominant" females will make sure they have choice at the males when they are ready for breeding etc. In the absence of males, females occasionally become mock males, showing male behaviours and some male colour, generally though, not very much compared to a truely dominant male.

[MikeWs Fish]

Yes, i beleive there is. I'm not just talking about lithobates specifically. I've noticed with a few of my fish, its usually the one of the largest female that breeds. Before the courting session begins, the alpha female chases away all the other females and sometimes sub dominant males(so does the alpha male), from the site that she and the dom male have chosen to spawn. Ive also noticed with my pseudotropheus, its always the females with the strongest (darkest and most contrasting) barring that always end up with the mouthfuls. Maybe this is a signal to the males that she is ready to breed, or maybe not- i just dont know for sure. I have a girl with a mouthful at the moment her bars are stronger than all the otherfemales. Also her dorsal fins are mostly erect, similar to a displaying male, I think it has something to do with her dominance as well as the fact she is guarding something (the eggs in her mouth). Then again, I'm no fish expert or professional fish watcher, just stating observations that i have made.

Any other thjoughts?

[BaZ]

I once had a dominant RTBB female who even coloured up like a dull male. This happened when I swapped males in that tank, and she somehow reached the top of the pecking order.

For weeks I wondered if maybe she had just been a subdominant male, until finally I found her with a mouthful. It seems the new male finally put her in her place hahahahahahahahahahaha (oops can I say that here?)

Still, even with a moutful, she was busy herding the rest of the females around the tank until I caught her out to spit in a floatie.

After spitting and recovering, she went back into that tank but seemed to have forgotten about the power kick. She was another normal female once more.

[fiona]

When I read the heading in the new post bit, I thought the topic was about me!!

JK! (a bit).

One of my original male Hongi ended up being a female, the males outgrew her. Funnily enough, she didn't grow to be my biggest female. Perhaps she was expending too much of her growing energy on being dominant?

[folkner]

I have kept back a few batches of Cobolts to get some more girls and the biggest fish in the tank is a girl. She has taken over a flower pot and harasses everything like a boy would do.

Also bought a big female Lombardoi once from a LFS as she had a mouthful. She was bigger than anything else in the tank and ended up going bright orange.

Cheers! Folkner