Oops, I meant to update this thread over the weekend. Hi guys! So the day after I posted this I was able to get in contact with someone from BIOTA, the company that breeds this species and the company I got the fish from, but through Algae Barn. Someone by the name of Jake responded to my email to them and he was awesome! He had also concluded from looking at the video that the fish was carrying eggs and looking to spawn. Because the fish looked very close to spawning and releasing the eggs, he also typed out a whole crash course in fish husbandry since I had mentioned I've never had experience with this. So that was really cool!
He also requested pictures of the other cardinal to try and determine the sex, which I sent a couple days later. Unfortunately, it looks like the other Seale's is also a female, so no Cardinal babies. Since then, it looks like the egg-filled cardinal released the eggs since she was not so plump anymore and no longer exhibiting the spawning behavior. So, without a male to carry and fertilize them, they were likely eaten by the other tank inhabitants.
Since then, the aggression has died down and the two swim together again with no one exhibiting any weird behaviors. I assume since they both seem to be female, that reproductive competition was the root of the aggression. I haven't heard back yet but, I did ask if it would be possible to request a male if I place an order when they are back in stock. I really would like to try and successfully breed them at least once because I think it would be a really cool experience! Also, I recently got a really young Yellow-Striped Cardinal and plan to get Ochre-striped Cardinals in the future. They're both the same genus as the Seale's so maybe there could possibly be hybrid babies in the future in the absence of a male Seale's lol. That would be really interesting!
Thank you all for checking in and offering your insight! I really appreciate it!
