# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Characins >  pencil fish mating dance???

## kelstorm

those who have pencil fishes.. pls advice..

i bought 3 one-lined pencil fish last week and i noticed that there is this 2 particular fishes that is swimming very closely together.. and most of the times, are rubbing their bodies together.. are they mating??? if so, i must put them into breeding tank already.. hehehe[ :Grin: ]

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## Simon

ya, i think they r pairing off.... I have a 1-lined pencil who loves to do acrobat.. think maybe got some bladder prob

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## kelstorm

the two are swimming together.. ignoring the other poor pencilfish.. perhaps i should just get one more..[ :Grin: ]

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## stormhawk

kelstorm, sometimes they will pair off by themselves. what u saw might be a pre-spawning ritual, or just combat between between two territorial males. i used to see it quite frequently when i still had a shoal of pencils last time.

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## hwchoy

I have about 15 dwarf pencils, and they exhibit this behaviour as well. A pair will suddenly chase each other round and round in a very tight circle (practically head-to-tail), with their fins flared (very pretty) and then suddenly park parallel to each other and rub against their abdomens. They would repeat this many times.

While it may seem to be mating ritual, I am confused because I have two morphologies in my shoal of dwarf pencil, one type has very bold dark stripes and broad bodies and another type which is more slender has pale stripes (also golden all over). One would assume one must be male and the other female. What is confusing is that I am witnessing two specimens of the same type to be performing this ritual. Usually the dark striped ones do this. Might this be territorial display? But I thought they are shoaling fish?

To make matter worst my Harlequin rasbora also exhibit this behaviour although much rarer. Interestingly my harlequins are very small in size (max 1 inch) and I would thought they're not sexually mature yet.

Any ideas?

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## stormhawk

hwchoy, they are territorial fishes in their own right. two males will willingly spar with each other in the sight of females to show their superiority and pecking order in the group. the dominant male is usually the best-coloured of the males. u can see the difference very clearly in the Beckford or Golden pencils. the males are more red in colour and when they spar, this red turns into a deep red. the female on the other hand just remains drab olive. [ :Grin: ]

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## kelstorm

after reading this.. me removed one of the males (brighter one) into the other planted tank.. and i dun see the rubbing of abdomen.. the two pencil inside my bumblebee tank is now on their own.. but will chase each other from time to time.. [ :Grin: ] thanks guys..

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## hwchoy

stormhawk, so you're a pencil-siao is it? [: :Smile: ] 

anyway based on what you're saying, I now believe the chasing and rubbing is not mating ritual liaoz. In a mating ritual the two fishes must have the two sexual morphology right (unless the fish does not exhibit any dimorphism lah).

So I suppose the Harlequin is also similarly territorial.

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## stormhawk

the lesser the numbers the more likely the males will fight more frequently, which may lead to either one dying sooner or later from stress. hwchoy, no lah i not pencil-siao, just remembered i read somewhere regarding their territorial nature. males and females should be easily distinguished for some species in terms of colour or size. during breeding season the males will spar and the usual chasing like that of the tetras should apply to the pencilfishes as well. 

as for the harlequin rasboras, sometimes the males will flare the fins at one another in display and may try to take nips at each other. this seems harmless but they will only breed in acidic conditions and the provision that u have broad-leafed plants in the tank for them to lay eggs on the underside of the leaf.

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