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Kissing Chromis (1 Viewer)

  • Thread starter KarenB
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KarenB

I observed a new behavior tonight with my chromises. I have four, and two of them were "kissing." They'd touch lips three or four times rather quickly, and then one of them would "display" to the other one, half on his side, do a little shutter, and then the other one would do a little shutter more nose up, and then they'd kiss again. This went on for about five rounds, and then those two joined the other two, and then it was schooling as usual. All my chromis are about the same size, with maybe one of them being just a hair bigger than the other three. This kissing behavior was between the "larger" of the four and one of the other three. I wondered if it was a dominance thing or they just really like one another :) It sort of mirrored some of the behavior I've seen in my clowns. I have observed obvious dominance behavior with one of them basically chasing the others, but anybody got a theory about this?
 
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rxonco

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Katy
With my marine biology training and education, I'd say it's some type of mating ritual. :kiss: Wait, I don't have any marine biology training or education. I would still guess the mating thing. :wink:
 
G

Guest

Sounds like some of the aggression behavior of some freshwater, when they are determining dominance of the school. But that is freshwater.
 
G

Guest

I would have to agree on the aggression... I believe clowns do something similar when they lock lips to show who's boss... "Come here baby!! Let me show you who's boss!!"
 
G

Guest

Hey Karen, I have seen this all too often in my green chromis that are in my 120g. It is definitely a form of aggression. Usually between the one that is most dominant and one of the smaller wanna be's.

When they begin mating rituals one will lay down on the sand bed and flop around stirring up a small sand storm depending on how much sand you have. I have a small indentation where my 2 get busy. :-o
 
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KarenB

Very interesting, y'all......I thought it was probably aggression, but I could not find any literature explaining the behavior. It is very controlled aggression, if it is aggression. I haven't observed any of the fin flapping and sand digging yet, so maybe it's just a hierarchal ceremony at this point.
 
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