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So my male bristlenose is guarding his second clutch of eggs. And my brown female is cool with this, leaves him alone. But the albino is incredibly gravid, and up his butt all the time. She hangs out by his cave constantly, and tries to go in it every time he takes a break to eat. He HATES her. He gets pissed off when ever she comes near him, chases her around, won't let her stay in or near the cave. And it has been going on for over a week. She was gravid before he even started getting this cave ready. Has anyone else had this happen, with a male rejecting a very obviously interested female?

Also, is it detrimental to her health to be rejected like that? As in, carrying the eggs for so long because there is a male, but not being able to lay them? I don't need more baby plecos, so I really don't care if she has babies or not. But if it is detrimental to her health, I can move her or get her an albino boyfriend or something.

Just curious!

Never heard of these guys being "racist". Term should never be used for these or any other animals.
Not uncommon for males to select mate/s and reject others. Its just simply preference.

Coldhands wrote:Never heard of these guys being "racist". Term should never be used for these or any other animals.

I've changed the title of the post as I'm sure the OP didn't mean to anthropomorphize and have used the word selection as it's a more commonly used biological term.

To answer the question, a good starting point would be to work if if the fishes involved are even the same species.

Hope that helps,

Jools

My male BN has his two favorite females. Any others he might, MIGHT let spawn in his cave, but he'll kick the eggs out the second one of his fave ladies comes around. I think it's preference on his part...and the fact his faves are much larger than the others, so if he's going to sit on a clutch of eggs, he wants it to be worth his time and investment. So far I've managed to scavenge up two kicked-out clutches and reared them outside the tank, while he happily sits on a clutch twice the size.