Unusual Sewellia lineolata behaviour.

[Martin Thoene]

No, not breeding behaviour

Been watching one of my females fiddling about. She was on the sand/gravel transition area and sitting in one place very methodically moving gravel paticles aside with her nose and fluttering her pectoral fins to shift sand particles.

First time I've had these fish on sand and I've seen nothing like this before. Up until now, their feeding on the substrate was more the continuous movement with fluttering fins that one sees in other Hillstreams.

Any other owners seen this sort of methodical food searching behaviour?

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Maybe, (keeping fingers crossed ) she is just testing the substrate, looking for a nesting site, like L. disparis do.
That would be sooooooooooooo cool!!

[Martin Thoene]

That's one thing I lova about you Jim. You're ever the optimist

Let's hope your a prophet too

Martin.

[mikev]

Nothing to report from here. The only consistent behavior is the largest male trying to sit on top of smaller males.... I doubt this is breeding...

[Martin Thoene]

It's Sewellia liteintheloafers you got there!

The "topping" is standard Hillstream powerplay. The term is used by freshwater Stingray enthusiasts because they do exactly the same thing.

Striking similarities in certain ways, but with Sewelia you'll never be going, "Crikey! He got me in the chest mate!"

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Why thank you, Mr. T.
I certainly hope I am prophetic in this case.
As far as the behavior I observe, its mainly chasing, which involves gliding accross the tank after each other or scurrying accross the glass, and the previous described "topping"
It seems they just don't like to be within about three inches of each other, whether feeding or resting, before a chase begins. The dominant male chases the female and the other male, and the female chases the subordinate male. My favorite is the gliding. They seem to do it much more than other hillstreams. Maybe since they are so wide, they are better at it than a gastro.

[Martin Thoene]

Yes, I've noticed more gliding in this setup too. It's more teired, so they can get elevation and use gravity and the water flow to glide across the tank. Neat to watch and something else about them that reminds me of Stingrays.

Martin.

[mikev]

Thanks for the "Topping" word explanation. Do you have any sense of which species actually do this? From my limited observations it seems that it is a "sucker game", with the exception of SpB (H.Hoffmani?). Neither Smithi's nor Vanmanenia play it.

On the 3" safe distance: not the case here. A female (at least I think it is) can be observed right next to a male pretty often:




these are the same two in both photos, but I've seen her with other guys too.

Now, 3" for two males is probably true...

[Graeme Robson]

I've often see mine acting the same way. There's this certain spot in which they seem particularly found of. I must admit, the 'glides' are wonderful to watch.

[Emma Turner]

I read that title and had my hopes up there!!!!
My Sewellia sometimes forage about on the sand in a similar fashion, more so after the lights go out. Must get that blue moon tube on there.....

Emma

[Jim Powers]

I saw some very amusing Sewellia behavior this morning after lights on at feeding time. All three Sewellia came gliding in from different directions toward the same rock formation near the feeding area. I don't think they realized what was happening until they got close to each other. They all landed on the top of the rock then scattered . I imagine it was the dominant male chasing the others off, but it happened so fast I wasn't sure. Very amusing these Sewellia.

[mikev]

Do you observe any behavioral difference between the sexes?

It appears to me that the females hide more than males: most of the time I see males on the front glass and females in places like behind filter or heater, even on the ground under a sponge filter. Is it the same with others?

[Martin Thoene]

Nope. Mine are pretty all much the same. The male is definitely the boss mind you, but the females chase one another around too. I have one female who is usually more visible than the other 3 though.

Martin.

[mikev]

Strange. A have a very definite pattern in two tanks. In the tank from where mine came from, the entire front glass was filled with males only.

As for the Alpha Male: yeap, such a thing is present here too. Had a fight with the largest Beaufortia already. Lost.

[Emma Turner]

The only difference I see is that my males bicker between themselves, whilst the girls conduct themselves with a little less aggression and don't really trouble each other. All seem to rest in a mixture of areas, sometimes on the front glass, sometimes on the side/back glass, other times by the filter intake or on the bogwood etc. That part of their behaviour seems pretty random.

Emma