Centromochlus perugiae: Is this fighting or insemination?

[bekateen]

Hi all,

For the second time in a week, I've found a male and female oil cat engaged in a repetitive circling behavior, and I can't tell whether this is an aggressive interaction or a spawning event where the male is attempting to inseminate the female. Since these oil cats are the only Auchenipterids I've ever owned, and I've had them only since August, I just don't have much experience with this group of catfish.

Honestly, I think it's an attempted, although maybe not successful, insemination event (but at the same time it seems too violent to be insemination). Other than this behavior, which I've only seen on two different days, I have never seen any other social interactions between my oil cats that are this spectacular. On many occasions in the past I've witnessed one oil cat push another out of a pipe (open at both ends), which I would certainly expect to be confrontational, but even that wasn't as active or violent-looking as this. And since this is specifically a male-female interaction (at least in the two instances I've observed), I think it's sexual.

In the video, two things stand out to me:

1. At certain moments, one fish appears to form a reversed T-position pose with the other (reversed meaning the male's head is oriented to the female's midbody, not vice-versa); while I expect this for corys, I don't think I would have expected this for oil cats, given the fact that the males have the specialized anal fin/copulatory organ. I think I was expecting a behavior more like what is seen in guppies and other live-bearers with gonopodia.
2. At one point in the video, the two fish appear to be locked together. While this is promising for mating, it doesn't appear that they are locked together at the midsection. In fact, it appears to me more likely that one of the fish has its pectoral spine locked against the other fish somehow, or perhaps the one fish is biting the tail or rear body of the other.

Does anybody know? Is this what aggression looks like in oil cats? Or is this courtship and mating?

https://youtu.be/xT0mfS4zMiA



Thanks, Eric

P.S., The larger fish in this video is the male.

[catfishchaos]

Fertilization is not a pretty scene in nature. If you've ever seen ducks mate, you'll soon wish you hadn't

I'll be optimistic and go with spawning behaviour

[bekateen]

Thanks for the well-wishes.

Fertilization is not a pretty scene in nature. If you've ever seen ducks mate, you'll soon wish you hadn't

Indeed. Have you ever been to a Grateful Dead concert? Very similar.

And yes, some fish are quite aggressive when spawning. So even though this does appear to be hectic and antagonistic, it may be the dance of romance.

I'll be optimistic and go with spawning behaviour

Well, since one of my females (I don't know if it was this one) laid eggs last Friday, I already know that somebody in the tank is breeding, so to that extent, I'm well past a need to be hopefully optimistic (hope isn't needed once results are confirmed). But I'd like to know what it looks like, so that I can properly name/identify this video and share it with others. Myself, I benefit from watching videos of other peoples' experiences, and I'd like to let others benefit from mine. So if I can confirm that this is in fact what mating behavior looks like, then when other people watch this video and then see their own fish performing the same actions, they can know that spawning is occurring. But if it's merely an aggressive interaction, I wouldn't want to tell people that this is what spawning looks like.

Cheers, Eric

[catfishchaos]

(hope isn't needed once results are confirmed)

I saw your success in your thread and I must say Congratulations!

I'm being optimistic about them doing it again soon!

[bekateen]

Thanks, I am too. Regarding my first batch of eggs, my hatching tank is so densely filled with Java moss that I can't see any of the little babies any more. On the upside, I've found only one dead fry, so I hope the others are just hiding well.

You're talking about getting some too, right? Good luck with yours. Although secretive, they are fun to watch... And they have such a nice color pattern.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Bump? Can any auchenipterid keeper (or better yet, C. perugiae keeper) offer an experienced judgment? I'm "pretty sure" this is insemination but I'd like to get this confirmed if possible.

Thanks,
Eric