angelfish "sucking face"

[DT]

My two angelfish, who have been spawning of late....are 'sucking face'
today. Is this a mating ritual?
I've never seen them do this before - but they are literally locked, lips
to lips, and appear to be sucking each other's mouths...

Thx

[NetMax]

Post by DT
My two angelfish, who have been spawning of late....are 'sucking face'
today. Is this a mating ritual?
I've never seen them do this before - but they are literally locked,
lips to lips, and appear to be sucking each other's mouths...
Thx

Not having hands or fingers, fish use their mouths as manipulators. This
mouth-wrestling behaviour is very typical, especially for cichlids. It
can be combative (between competing males or females), it can be
posturing (scaring off a new arrival from changing the pecking order), it
can be to assess the strength of a potential mate (prior to breeding) etc
etc. For established breeding pairs, it's probably to ascertain whether
their mate is still healthy and strong, providing the best survival
chances for the fry.

[DT]

fascinating...thanks for the reply - you are indeed quite knowledgable and
I'm happy to have found this ng...

thanks
L

Post by NetMax

Post by DT
My two angelfish, who have been spawning of late....are 'sucking face'
today. Is this a mating ritual?
I've never seen them do this before - but they are literally locked,
lips to lips, and appear to be sucking each other's mouths...
Thx

Not having hands or fingers, fish use their mouths as manipulators. This
mouth-wrestling behaviour is very typical, especially for cichlids. It
can be combative (between competing males or females), it can be
posturing (scaring off a new arrival from changing the pecking order), it
can be to assess the strength of a potential mate (prior to breeding) etc
etc. For established breeding pairs, it's probably to ascertain whether
their mate is still healthy and strong, providing the best survival
chances for the fry.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[NetMax]

You're very welcome Lee, and there's really no need to thank me. We all
help each other out. You might want to check out
rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc which might be more informative as it has
more traffic (and more fish-nuts ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

Post by DT
fascinating...thanks for the reply - you are indeed quite knowledgable
and I'm happy to have found this ng...
thanks
L

Post by NetMax

Post by DT
My two angelfish, who have been spawning of late....are 'sucking
face' today. Is this a mating ritual?
I've never seen them do this before - but they are literally locked,
lips to lips, and appear to be sucking each other's mouths...
Thx

Not having hands or fingers, fish use their mouths as manipulators.
This mouth-wrestling behaviour is very typical, especially for
cichlids. It can be combative (between competing males or females),
it can be posturing (scaring off a new arrival from changing the
pecking order), it can be to assess the strength of a potential mate
(prior to breeding) etc etc. For established breeding pairs, it's
probably to ascertain whether their mate is still healthy and strong,
providing the best survival chances for the fry.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Fish2Keep]

Post by DT
My two angelfish, who have been spawning of late....are 'sucking face'
today. Is this a mating ritual?
I've never seen them do this before - but they are literally locked, lips
to lips, and appear to be sucking each other's mouths...
Thx

Sound like there kissing :)

[Koi-lo]

Post by DT
My two angelfish, who have been spawning of late....are 'sucking face'
today. Is this a mating ritual?
I've never seen them do this before - but they are literally locked, lips
to lips, and appear to be sucking each other's mouths...

=============================
Sounds like typical pairing behavior for cichlids....... expect MORE eggs
any day now.