Today I released the “male” PNG Maroon into the Lightning Maroon’s tank once more. For most of the afternoon, NOTHING happened, because the Lightning Maroon spent the evening hiding it it’s cave, and the PNG Maroon mostly wallowed in the ORA Red Goniopora at the far opposite end of the tank. However, in the middle of their night, the Lightning finally realized what was up, and started harassing the smaller male PNG Maroon. Once again, I returned the PNG Maroon to the safety of the specimen cup.
Meanwhile, the pair downstairs has made progress. Once again, I released the larger FEMALE PNG Maroon into the tank with the male, and once again, the male went through massive body contortions to appease the female. After a few hours with virtually no aggression witnessed, and no visible signs of attack, I’ve decided to take a big chance and let them spend the night together. Hopefully, come morning, I have a good stable pairing, and not a tattered, or worse murdered, PNG Maroon.
Keep your fingers crossed. If I can get that PNG Maroon pair to spawn downstairs, it offers yet another viable method for me to get a “male” to the Lightning Maroon. While I suspect the main issues with the pairing I’m attempting is the relative similarity in size, it is conceivable that in 6 month’s time, I could get a juvenile PNG Maroon raised up from the other pair, and paired with the Lightning Maroon. Of course, that means that PNG pair needs to get their butts in gear and start spawning immediately, and not a year from now (which is probably more likely).
And again, sorry for no pictures or videos – my wife still has our good camera on vacation!