Today in the Fishroom~ 6/11/12 F0 P. managuense "Honduras"

The pair are beginning to breed in their new tank.

The male





The female...a little ticked at the intrusion.



A lot of posturing and lip locking







They selected a nice flat stone for breeding...field stone from our farm...nice stuff.



Flashing the female...or maybe that was dodging a side strike.



Him chasing her...



Her chasing him...



And so it goes...

Stunning pics Mo. What size and age are these two?

lost for words again ,,fantastic fish and pics mate ..keep them coming

fantastic pics mate-the fish are stunning and really nice colours on them!

Thanks folks. Here's a continuation on the same species:

I spend a lot of time photographing this particular pair of fish. They make it easy and they are really a good looking pair of fish. I've noted before that they have a pretty set pattern of behavior leading up to, during and after breeding.

This particular phase is about a week prior to the event. The male will begin displaying and nudging the female from below...mouthing her side and fins. What I find interesting is that the female more or less goes slack when the male drives her sideways and to the top of the tank. I have several shots like this.

One of the things I do when I want to "create some action" is that I will spend a few minutes right in front of the tank, moving my hands along the glass, annoying the pair with my presence...then I step back and use a 105mm VR lens with three flash units (SB-900) two on top and one on the bottom. All flash units are diffused and output adjusted between +1 and -.75 depending on how much light I need at a particular angle. When you can dial in the correct exposures, the results are quite nice.



Still able to see me outside the tank. I have found that these fish...the parachromis in particular..have very good eye sight for about 6-8 feet in front of the tank. If I stand motionless within that range they will stare...and after a period of time (on their clock) they will resume activity. I try and dress in non contrasting colors and turn off all extraneous light. If you move even a couple inches left or right, they will zone back in on your image. Lot of time spent standing with the camera up to my eye...waiting.

Shortly after they forget about me, the male will begin by puffing himself up and kiting along side the female...fins erect and operculum popping. This photo was part luck and part keeping the lens to my eye for ten minutes. The fish looks insane. :D



And here he is kiting in over top of the female...completely blocking her from view.



I took these last two pictures and was pretty excited. When I see an image I capture and I know I have something...I get excited and it's like a drug. It just feels good. The question is always, do I put it on the computer now...or keep shooting. I always ultimately default to taking more photos. Like I said, I shoot these a lot and have hundreds that I haven't posted. I was able to get the male doing his "nuptial T-bone" to the female.







That last shot is a killer. B)

more gr8 pics and info there!
the pair are fantastic but the male stands out so much-the blue in the fins is so eye catching! patience pays off with these kind of pics!

Stuning fish, and amazing photographs

ricki_85 wrote:more gr8 pics and info there!
the pair are fantastic but the male stands out so much-the blue in the fins is so eye catching! patience pays off with these kind of pics!

The blue comes out for two reasons. First is that this particular variant of fish has a bit more blue along the back, spine and fins. Second is that I throw a tremendous amount of light on the tank when taking the pictures. The reflective nature of the scales on the fish enhance the overall color saturation.

Thanks for the replies.

Really enjoyed this thread Great read and fantastic photos

NIce bit of info on both the fishes and taking a good picture here Mo; thanks for sharing

I am jealous of your camera skills. Extremely nice fish too.

It's all practice, Ricky. I've had a camera in my hands for over 40 years.

Thanks for the props!