>
> Peter
>
> Yes, it does help. Thanks. :-) Can you tell me if those females were
> engaged in any prespawning behaviours when you noticed them flashing? If
> not, were they aggressive behaviours? Other? I am curious on this. Thanks
> again.
>
> Julie Zeppieri (RSG) <><
>
Hi Julie
I am afaid that I can't answer your question completely because of the
tank itself. It is a heavily planted community tank on which the lights
come on after I have left for work. What I have observed is the boesmani
female getting a blue "shield" just behind the pectoral fins, this I have
seen in spawning mode when the boesmani were the only adult rainbows in
the tank. She also has had an imitation of the males nape flash, it is
paler and not as intense, nor does it last as long as the male. She also
changes colour rapidly in my tank.
I think that the general water conditions in this tank are exceptional (I
know that sounds a bit over the top, but in a tank with zero ammonia,
zero nitrite and just 5ppm nitrate with 100% saturated oxygen I think
that it is justified). All the rainbows change their colour on a sub
second basis. The male coen river that I have was the first to start
doing it, now I have seen all of the fish in the tank doing it. The coen
would change from yellow to green to blueish and back again in a fraction
of a second. You can see the pigment chromophores change along the scale
rows and pick individual ones out if you look closely. The goyder's do
not change on such a grand scale, my lucustrus male also does it, the
male boesmani also, though at a greatly reduced intensity compared to the
other fish in the tank. I have praecox in another tank with similar
conditions and they do not do it, although again the coens in the same
tank do.
Hope this answers your question
Peter