[quote=”helene” post=4033]
And then I am just thinking, – perhaps, as we know, – it could happen that fish caught from two or more small localities are just put into one bag and exportet as such, – and perhaps when I bought mine, there were more ‘species’ or variants, and perhaps this can explain the stage behaviour ? The non interest in spawning behaviour.[/quote]
I know that my answer comes late but I would like to say something to this assumption.
I don’t believe that belonging to different species or variants results in no interest in courtship or spawning behaviour.
I observed instant courting in the following “combinations”:
– pahuensis female and rubrimontis male
– quindecim male and female of unknown species, supposedly belonging to the harveyi-group (surely not quindecim!)
– nagyi male and female of unknown species, supposedly belonging to the harveyi-group
At least pahuensis and quindecim are so different from other species like rubrimontis that I saw the immediate courtship behaviour with really great surprise. This corresponds to the explanations Peter gave: Paro “species” are very young in evolutionary terms – and in my opinion only persist by being geographically separated. As soon as natural barriers are removed, the “species” will mingle and produce new forms.
So I think that belonging to different forms is not the reason for the disinterest in spawning behaviour of your fish.