Show me your Alpha in action!

[Melody]

I happened to snap this picture and while I was cropping it, I thought of how well it demonstrated dominance in a breeder's aquarium. The Alpha male L. nigrofasciata chasing off the other male, his dorsal up, stripes and colours vivid. By contrast, the other male's fins are down, he looks pale and his stripes are barely there.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Limia_Nigrofasciata-Alph.jpg

Do males ever look better than when they're displaying their dominance? Whether it's in breeding or defending their turf against other males, they're at their best in the looks department at those moments. I'd like to see yours in action! That Sailfin sail up proudly, a vivid whitecloud with splayed fins to charm the ladies, your husband with the remote control and a beer on the couch... actually let's skip the king of the hill and stick to king of the tank :laugh: .

[jewels]

Pretty tough act to follow ! That is a fine shot Melody. {Quickly changing the topic to Ameca Splendens}
Get a load of this one. I do not know if he is hungry, constipated, or just ready to bite off some poor sods tail clean off.
The focus is not so great but it must have happened very quickly, for you do not see Ameca still often ; never mind barking
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/th_P1120949.jpg (http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/?action=view&current=P1120949.jpg)
Nice Dorsal although not the Alpha Male
Others in there also show good colour.
I call this quaderaluaplle yellow
[/URL][URL="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/?action=view&current=P1120939.jpg"]http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/th_P1120939.jpg (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/%5BURL=http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/?action=view&current=P1120939.jpg%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/th_P1120939.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D)

[jewels]

Although not two full but every inch a man!
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/th_P11207221.jpg (http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/themotherjewels/FISH/?action=view&current=P11207221.jpg)
The photo was really dark and I had to lighten it a bit
His dorsal once grew @ a tight ninety like that before
I wish I had a picture....

[CACAdmin]

I'd say that ameca looks pretty ferocious at that moment. If I were a fish in the tank, I wouldn't want to cross him at that moment. :twitcy:

[Melody]

Wowsers - some struttin' males for sure.

I would have thought this thread would be pages long by now - doesn't every species have alpha displays to one degree or another? Or are they just difficult to catch on disc?

[Gobies et al]

I took a few pictures a couple of days ago. They are not the greatest but show some of what they are capable of displaying. The Boesemani's colors would be deeper with the front almost black if he were displaying for his lady love, but he was only trying to impress a M. splendida splendida male. I have 2 mixed up Paradise Fish that haven't realized there is an opposite sex. They display at each other frequently and are presently building another nest together.

[jewels]

Beautiful Rainbow!! I know little about them, although He must be mature as his body appears very deep.
As for the Paradise:eek:
Keep in mind that is legal in Alberta. We will just end up with a shortage of Grandparents !!

[Gobies et al]

The Rainbow is mature. I traded for him a little under 3 years ago. He is 4" long which is a good size, too! He is stunning when displaying for the female. :yes:

The Paradise, on the other hand, :confused: I don't know what went wrong. :frown: I tried to bring them up right. They were spawned in my tank 13 months ago. Oh well! :twitcy: It's a good thing I don't want grand kids from them.:rofl:

[Melody]

Absolute stunners - they must be amazing to watch in person. One of my favorite dawn activities (morning people have those) was watching Rainbows spawn or attempt to spawn. The males looked like entirely different fish in some cases and sporting colouration that would make a novice declare the fish a mutt, I'm sure. Simply breathtaking.

[Pamelajo]

When I had mine I would spend my morning coffee time watching them.

[CACAdmin]

Here are a couple of older shots of male mollies displaying. Shall try to find or get some of male platys.

Velifera
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Velifera2.jpg

Green Sailfin Lyretail
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/GSL-m-display.jpg

[Namor]

Whoa... Jay, that's one dynamic dorsal! :yes:

I appear to now have a clear cut winner in this category, but took a long time to become obvious. The first two shots were taken last night.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae196/SaskPicDude/xa1.jpg

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae196/SaskPicDude/xa2.jpg

When I first acquired this colony, two of the five were clearly male, and the other three all showed gravid shortly after. This next pic was taken a couple of months ago, shortly after I discovered one of the females had developed a gonopodium. Not a great pic, but shows the sword had not yet developed, and the size difference between one of the other males.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae196/SaskPicDude/xa3.jpg

Talk about a late bloomer. :rolleyes:

[CACAdmin]

He's a beauty and he's huge compared to the other males. I'm sure he'll be a winner with the ladies and I doubt he stands for any other males getting in his way. Can't wait to see his offspring.

[Pamelajo]

I just happened to be in the room the other day when my Mont. Sword was trying to impress one of the ladies in the tank. They really put on a show.