A. trifasciata breeding question

[regani]

I got a nice pair of A. trifasciata a few weeks ago and set them up in a 2x1x1.5 tank with lots of driftwood, leaflitter, sand substrate and a couple of floating pieces of pipe as refuge. They settled in nicely and after a bit of flashing and chasing I got to see the first fry about 2.5 weeks ago. As expected the female became the boss of the tank and the male was carefully sticking to the parts of the tank furthest away from her.

The other day I noticed that the male was swimming around freely again and the female was hiding. I didn't have too much time yesterday, so I left the tank as it was. Today the same situation and the male chasing the female whenever he sees her.
It's difficult to say with all the leaflitter in there, but there seems to be hardly any fry left. I have removed the male for now to give the female a chance to rest and maybe collect here scattered fry again (I hope there are a few left).

Is that a common problem with A. trifasciata? Is it best to remove the male after they have spawned and let the female raise the fry to 4-6 weeks before removing them?

The A. macmasteri next door have fry only a few days older, but they are model parents and both participate in protecting the fry.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mike Wise]

Each apisto species is a bit different. Some are good parents; some are not. I find that A. trifasciata, being a highly polygamous species, tend to be less successful as pairs. The males are very aggressive toward females who aren't ready to breed. He tries to drive them out of his territory (the tank) in hopes that a spawn-ready female will 'pop in'. Females are very protective of fry for the first month or so, but after that, she loses interest. In the wild this is about the time when the juveniles are pushed out of the breeding territory. When the female loses interest the male seems to know and he becomes the suitor again.

 

[regani]

thanks for the reply, Mike. I found a few fry hanging around in a corner of the tank this morning, but the female did not show any interest in them. So I guess the best option is to remove all the fry from the tank, move the male back in and wait for the next batch. these I will probably remove a bit earlier then.

I noticed that the female was very protective only for the first week after she brought the fry out. after that she was still guarding them, but also didn't mind going off for a while foraging on her own.

Interesting to see the differences between different species. the A. macmasteri are still both caring for the 4 week old fry, but just today started courting again, so I guess it is time to remove the fry there as well.

I'll see how how I go with the A. agassizii where the female brought out some fry a few days ago.

 

[Apistomaster]

I find Apistogramma species to be capricious when it comes to spawning and brood care.
I was raising A. trifasciata and for years the pairs would always breed and the females raised their broods. Then I began to have as much difficulty breeding them as I would expect of a supposedly more difficult species.
I have had similar experiences with others which are considered easy like A. cacatuoides and A. borelli.
Within any group of breeders, some pairs are going to be very productive and some will be impossible to spawn.

Long ago I taught myself to never ask why a fish does or doesn't do what is expected of them. Years of breeding Discus especially reinforced my position. I get a lot of requests for advice regarding breeding Discus or aspects of their behaviors and I have come to the point where I ask people to never use the words "why" and "Discus"(or Apistos for that matter) in the same sentence.

 

[JamezMan]

Hey guys, I currently own a small male A.Trifasciata in my planted tank and I was wondering would another female Trifasciata be a good tank mate, even if I don't want to breed them, or would they be too terratorial towards each other?

Thankyou for your replies and sorry if I overtook your thread a little.

 

[regani]

how big is your tank?

 

[JamezMan]

Sorry I should of put that. It's a 2 x 1.5 x 1.5 foot tank which is densely planted.

 

[Mike Wise]

If you don't plan to breed them, then I see no reason to add a rather plain looking fish (female) to the tank. If breeding is wanted, then at least 2 would be best, but your tank is borderline on decent size for a trio. It really depends on the decor and other fish in the tank.

 

[JamezMan]

The main reason is that I would like another dwarf cichlid in there but I thought that if I put another male in the tank they would fight all day. I don't mind the look of the females either, I thought if I find a nice one they would look good together but I was just querying the compatability first.

 

[Mike Wise]

I suggest that you buy a male of any species compatible with A. trifasciata if breeding isn't important. There will be much less aggression between males - particularly if they are different species - than adding only one or even 2 females. I find females just as aggressive to each other as males are to non-breeding females. Of course this depends on the species added and tank decor. It probably will help if the tank is re-decorated to remove established territory boundaries, etc.

 

[Apistomaster]

You can keep many female A. trifasciata in a tank without any males if you want. They will coexist together just fine.
Of course if you wish to breed them you should add the second female and a male.

 

[JamezMan]

Okie dokes thanks for the info guys. I will keep all this in mind when I make my selection in the next little while. I will probably go with another male of another species but I'm not a 100% sure yet. Do you know of any examples that are compatible with A Trifasciata?

 

[Mike Wise]

I would suggest a smaller, deeper bodied species from the regani-lineage. A. borellii comes to mind.

 

[Apistomaster]

It really doesn't matter which species male you choose but why not get an A. trifasciata male so you have a real social group?
I recently dumped about 35 male A. trifasciata from a very badly skewed brood at the LFS. Out of about 40 adults I only got four females and the rest were males.
I have had skewed sex ratios before from various broods from different Apistogramma species but never one so badly skewed as that particular brood.

 

[JamezMan]

Ok well I will have a look at what's available in my area and go from there. I don't mind the A.Borellii either so they are an option. When you say add another A. Trifasciata won't they fight with each other?

 

[Mike Wise]

Maybe a little more than a different species male, but not much. In a suitable tank with no females to encourage them, they both should be able to establish a territory. When they meet, they will flair fins at each other, but nothing vicious. I personally prefer males of 2 different species just for variety in the tank.

 

[Apistomaster]

Hi Jamez,

I see we crossed wires. I thought you wanted a male but I was mistaken.

 

[JamezMan]

Okie dokies. Well thanks for all your replies guys, it has been helpful. I will most likely get another male of some sort, I believe the tank is big enough and there is enough decor so that they can create some territories. Not sure when this will happen exactly but I will let you know how they go if you like?

Cheers.

Luke