Today In The Fishroom~12/19/10 F0 P. managuense "Honduras"

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)

Ben anlamadım ama inşallah güzel şeylerden bahsediyordur. oliverzeg2010-12-20 05:54:10

Thank you. İncredible shots, magnificent fishes.

Thanks folks. I appreciate the kind remarks.

Perfect photos.Thank you Mo.

They are great photos, as your others and welcome to akvaryum.com.

Wonderful.Excellent examples of.Good days...pckobat2010-12-20 21:21:49

Teşekkür ederiz.

=)

This pair provided you with some of the best fish photos on the net. This last batch is also amazing.




This one really captures the "managuense beauty". I had jags in the past and this kind of particular show-offs from the fish used to attract me. Only for a moment though, cuz the fish would quickly presume the usual state. Now I see that you managed to catch the "peak moment" off the show-off. A male jag cant really look any better than that. I must also note that jags look incredible under direct sunlight.

It's nıce photos,congratulatıons.

[QUOTE=oliverzeg]Ben anlamadım ama inşallah güzel şeylerden bahsediyordur. [/QUOTE]

Shot aynı zamanda fotoğraf karesi içinde kullanılıyor. Yani burda öldürücü (vurucu) bir kare demek.