Harlequin rasboras spawning

[Maggie]

Not great quality but they caught me off guard and I didn't want to disturb them by getting closer. 

 

 

[Cmike15]

That was cool to see

[JaredL]

Is that ludwigia they were laying eggs on? Wish mine would spawn again. Used to do it almost daily, but none of the eggs survived predation from other rasboras. Great catch though! Hope you get some fry!

Edit: just watched the rest of the video and noticed you were following the fish bumping each other. Wanted to make sure you were aware that those were 2 males fighting, not spawning. Harlequin Rasboras swim upside down and deposit eggs on the underside of leaves(which I thought I saw on the left, but may have been mistaken)

Edited March 10, 2021 by JaredL

[Maggie]

@JaredL, I respectfully disagree that it was two males sparring. I've seen my males fight (especially before I got 12 more fish, when there were only 7) and they attack pretty viciously (even some fin nipping), but it's not an extended battle and there was no synchronized swimming. I even made a post on this forum about the fighting, and that getting more curbed their aggression tremendously. Also there are lots of videos out there showing the exact same synchronized swimming behavior before and during spawning. It reminded me of the dancing that certain birds do before mating. Howrver, if there is a scholarly article or anything from a well-known fish expert to the contrary, I'll gracefully concede that I am wrong. 

[JaredL]

@Maggie perhaps you are right and they are not fighting, but instead doing a pre-spawn dance. However, if being scholarly is important then I believe what you filmed would technically be "courting", not spawning. When you see them swimming upside down with their bellies together underneath a leaf with the female depositing eggs and the male fertilizing them, that would be spawning.