small horobagrus brachysoma behaving romantically

[vulkoq]

Yesterday two of my small (4.5-5 in.) h. brachysoma tangoed pretty intensely for about 1-2 mins. They were sort of nuzzling one another, rolling around, sort of half-intertwining, and then sort of shimmying and rippling slowly, side to side.
Whatever they were doing looked pretty sexual. I had just done a 30% water change a few hours earlier, too. It doesn't seem, though, that what will eventually be an 18" fish would be ready for sex at 5".
They do get very touchy-feely when they run into each other, but it has never been like this. What's the story? Whatever it was, it was cool.

[Caol_ila]

hi

i just had a pm talk with shane bout this sort of thing.
It happened with my Pseudomystus siamensis a couple of days back.
Ive seen similar "dances" with my pair of Mystus leucophasis without the shivering though. Read Shanes article on scotcat about trying to breed siamensis.

My theories about this is that its very probable that it is a territorial dance or just practicing like you see on Betta splendens...fake mating sessions.

greetings
C[/i]

[vulkoq]

Thanks for the heads up. My cats didn't "shiver" per se; it wasn't that violent or fast. More sinuous and fluid. Really stunning.
I think may have put a premature stop to the action when I stuck my face right up to the tank to ogle them.