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3-inch male shortly after introducing him to the tank.

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4-inch female at same time.  She's much heftier.

She Ate First.  Within the first hour she ate four of the Massivore pellets.  He hung back.  They'll get half a nightcrawler each tomorrow,..  For some reason worms sort of trip their trigger at spawning time.  If you soak them inwater for an hour or so, you'll be amazed at the amount of dirt they excrete.  Getting the dirt out probably makes them tastier.

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20H with added stuff to protect the male.  There's about an 8-inch piece of slate on the bottom.

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He quickly adopted this hideaway.  I'll add a convict tomorrow to take more pressure off him. 

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Next morning he's beat up anyway.

She Whupped Him.  He's pretty much out of the picture by the next morning.  I replaced him with a larger male.

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Her new mate flipped out of this net and hit the floor.

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He's none the less for wear and ate as soon as I offered food.

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She sidled right up to him immediately.

Dither Fish Added.  Just in case, I added a male convict to unite them against a common enemy.  They pretty much both ignored him.

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Second male was much more colorful than the female.

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Quite a bit of lip-locking and tug-of-warring.

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So there was little doubt the new guy was in charge.

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His mouth looks a bit worse for wear.  Still no spawn.

Fed Them Small Nightcrawlers.  In addition to their Massivore Delite pellets, I gave them some half-grown nightcrawlers.  They both ate them.  The male convict zipped in and ripped the last nightcrawler from the male's mouth.

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He's looking great.

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She's doing her best to stay out of his way.

Another Dither Fish Added.  Just this morning a customer traded in a hefty female convict about the same size as the male convict.  The male dempsey started vigorously chasing both convicts.  The male and female dempsey both started eating Hikari Gold pellets.  The male dempsey devoted a geat deal of his time chasing the two convicts.  This took the stress off the female.

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Male looking super, January 16, 2012

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Female looking good but not as impressive.

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Female convict in the lower right flower pot.

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Female convict playing it safe.

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Male convict fearlessly checks her out.

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Male and female getting along great, January 18, 2012.

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Female displaying to male?

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Female has finally cleared off the potential breeding slate, January 21, 2012

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Female convict in lower right corner looking great.

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Preparation but no action, January 23, 2011.

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Convicts have taken over these flower pots, January 23.

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All getting along fine, January 28, 2012.

Whoops.  Paul sold all four of these fish February 5, 2011.  LA

Additional Dempsey Info.  For more details on spawning behavior go to Dempsey Info.