Oslo Norway Tel.
Males build a nest of algae and care alone for the eggs until they hatch.
During this parental phase he chases away nest predators and fans the eggs with his pelvic fins in order to supply the eggs with oxygen. Instead, females prefer males that during the subsequent paternal phase fan their nests in shorter fanning bouts. Such males enjoy a higher hatching success because such males fan more often compared to males with longer fanning bouts. Males performing a shorter mean fanning bout duration during the paternal phase were also able to increase their fin beat rate. Beat rate may be a condition-dependent trait, because males suffering a high weight loss were unable to increase their fin beat rate.