Hey all.

This afternoon/night, for the better part of an hour, my earth eaters were 'lip locking'. My guess is its a pre-mating thing??? The PH buffer in the tank (sand) keeps the PH at a little above 7, so they shouldnt actually breed due to the higher PH.

Anyone else had this experience? Seen it all before?

gotta love kissing fish

can be pre spawning behaviour, or just regular sparring. it looks even funnier on jurupari's cause of their horse faces

have bred jurupari's in pH or around 7.8 before so shouldn't be an issue, plus most are tank bred nowdays anyways. keep an eye out for lil babies hiding in their mouths

btw love the tank setup for them, they must love the sand

btw love the tank setup for them, they must love the sand

Yea, they love the sand. I'm forever trying to find ways to clear the water of particles that they continually sift up and put in the water column. I'm currently investigating a small filter-wool type setup on a power head, but not having much luck. I dont want anything too big in the tank, so an internal filter is not an option, and increasing flow from the Fluval 405 (placing a higher powered in-line pump) doesnt change much. But yes, they love the sand!

try playing with the direction of current flow, pushing it downwards on the sides may help

Could be breeding, could just be aggression. How big are they? How many do you have?

IIRC S. leucosticta prefer having something mobile like dead leaves to spawn on, maybe try adding a few oak leaves to try encourage them.

Could be breeding, could just be aggression. How big are they? How many do you have?

I have three, and they are aout 3.5 years old, and around 5 inches long. Might try the leaves, I haven't tried that before.