crazy female Apisto - attacking her male

[MikeNYC]

Hello,

I am hoping to get some suggestions on how to deal with the following scenario in my 40 gallon breeder tank that houses a pair of Apisto Elizabethae:

My female Apisto has been guarding eggs in her cave for about a week now. The PH of my water is 6.5, so there is no chance of them hatching. Her color is amazing now and she has developed a very nice yellow tint. Her spots and marks are extremely pronouced.

The male (about 2X the size of her) has been mostly staying away. The female has been getting more and more aggressive with him every time he gets within 1 foot of her cave.

In the past 2 days, she has waged an all out attack on him - nipping and tail slapping. He is now very afraid of her and stressed. He does not come out for food and hides by the filter outtake and is breathing very heavy.

Is this normal behavior by the female who's eggs are taking too long to hatch?

What should I do to prevent his inevitable death from stress? I am considering moving the cave, so she gets over the eggs and calms down.

Any insight appreciated! Have a Happy Holiday!

-MikeNYC

 

[Mike Wise]

This is fairly normal behavior for a female guarding eggs/fry. I'd suggest removing the male for a while.

 

[Apistt_ed]

I agree.. I just move the males out. In my case, it's the male elizabethae that is overly aggressive. I added dithers, but it doesn't really help much, so I just moved everything out leaving the female to rear and raise her fry.

 

[MikeNYC]

Thanks for your replies. I am most surprised at how the smaller female could bully the male, who typically is 100% in charge of the tank.

In fact, the reason why she was so aggressive is that she was guarding actual fry. I removed the cave and poured the contents into a glass and saw very tiny dots swimming around in the water.

This is most surprising b/c I didnt think that my water was right for Eliza to spawn - PH barely at 6.0. Although, the water is very soft.

The male is still looking very stressed and hiding, his colors do not look good. I hope that he can snap back and the female stops attacking.

Now I will need to read up on how to raise fry in a tank, so next time I will be more prepared. I guess the first step is to seperate the female from the male...

 

[blueblue]

Congratulations!!

I was actually very disappointed in reading your earlier posts that you
pre-assumed that the eggs could not hatch because
Eliza's eggs can definitely succeed in hatching at a pH of 6... and i think i have mentioned it to you before...

Thanks for your replies. I am most surprised at how the smaller female could bully the male, who typically is 100% in charge of the tank.

In fact, the reason why she was so aggressive is that she was guarding actual fry. I removed the cave and poured the contents into a glass and saw very tiny dots swimming around in the water.

This is most surprising b/c I didnt think that my water was right for Eliza to spawn - PH barely at 6.0. Although, the water is very soft.

The male is still looking very stressed and hiding, his colors do not look good. I hope that he can snap back and the female stops attacking.

Now I will need to read up on how to raise fry in a tank, so next time I will be more prepared. I guess the first step is to seperate the female from the male...

 

[MikeNYC]

Thanks Blue,

Do you have any "best practices" for rearing fry? Is it absolutely necessary to seperate the parents? How do you make sure that there is adequate food for them? At what point/size do you take them out of the tank altogether?

I still am shocked at how that little female kicked her male's butt! I will also be very sad if he passes away due to the stress. He hasn't come out to eat in 3 days and is not sleeping in his normal driftwood cave area. I think she has kicked him out.

 

[blueblue]

Well, i doubt if there's any "best" method while i present in the following a method which i have used to raise thousands of eliza fry successfully over the past few years.

my approach is to keep the mother fish with the fry for 2-3 weeks,
feed them with freshly hatched bbs twice a day. Afterwards, i will separate the fry from their mother and start feeding them with some staple food for babies...

For the male fish, you may take it out and carry out a treatment
with SERA's baktopur direct tablet. This tablet is safe to use and its
main ingredient is an anti-biotic...

Thanks Blue,

Do you have any "best practices" for rearing fry? Is it absolutely necessary to seperate the parents? How do you make sure that there is adequate food for them? At what point/size do you take them out of the tank altogether?

I still am shocked at how that little female kicked her male's butt! I will also be very sad if he passes away due to the stress. He hasn't come out to eat in 3 days and is not sleeping in his normal driftwood cave area. I think she has kicked him out.

 

[MikeNYC]

Unfortunately I lost the male. He was being chased for probably 3 straight days by the female and just finally went into a sort of "death spiral" and landed on the base of the tank, while still being tail slapped by the female.

It is still unbeleivable to me how aggressive this species (A. Eliza) can be.

I began with 2 pairs and am now down to one female. I believe that the major cause of my losses was due to aggression.

 

[blueblue]

Sad to learn that ... anyhow, hope the fry will grow well ...

 

[wickedglass]

I believe that the major cause of my losses was due to aggression.

unfortunately I don't think that's entirely correct to assume. if the deaths were caused by aggression then you didn't provide the proper environment (plants, tank size are all a factor, although 40 gallon should be ample ... so we're back to plants) for them to be able to play out their natural behaviour. In the wild the victim of aggression can swim away, in a tank obviously not. two ways to compensate for this is heavy planting or removal of the sub-dominant fish.

I don't want to sound harsh, but you could have prevented this ...