Neil
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- Sacramento, Ca.
jowens writes
RE:- During spawning, do your Apistos become especially aggressive towards fish they'd ordinarily ignore?
jowens,
Although Apistogramma species are typically not particularly aggressive, they can be little terrors during spawning. :twisted: I have had to remove other fish from the tank so many times after a pair of well-behaved apisto started to breed. This Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde transformation can start well before laying eggs takes place.
Usually tetra don't rank high on an apistos concern list and even after spawning they are only a minor distraction. But I had a pair of nijsenni once that didn't seem to bother with them at all; they just beat-up on each other. After spawning, however, the male actually hunted the poor little neon tetras down and killed them. It took him a while too, because they were so much faster than him. I didn't want to disturb the tank by fishing them out, because it was when I had just started and though I was pretty lucky to get a spawn from these cool fish. He kept chasing them into corners and blocking their exit. When they would try to get away he would either nip or ram them until they couldn't get away anymore.
Let me say that this is very unusual and I have never had that happen since, but it was a good lesson to me to keep an eye on the tank-mates of breeding Apistogramma. Nijsenni are particularly aggressive for apistos and this one individual was ruthless. So there are some species that are more aggressive than others in the genus, but the key is the individual fish that you have - I think! Neil
RE:- During spawning, do your Apistos become especially aggressive towards fish they'd ordinarily ignore?
jowens,
Although Apistogramma species are typically not particularly aggressive, they can be little terrors during spawning. :twisted: I have had to remove other fish from the tank so many times after a pair of well-behaved apisto started to breed. This Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde transformation can start well before laying eggs takes place.
Usually tetra don't rank high on an apistos concern list and even after spawning they are only a minor distraction. But I had a pair of nijsenni once that didn't seem to bother with them at all; they just beat-up on each other. After spawning, however, the male actually hunted the poor little neon tetras down and killed them. It took him a while too, because they were so much faster than him. I didn't want to disturb the tank by fishing them out, because it was when I had just started and though I was pretty lucky to get a spawn from these cool fish. He kept chasing them into corners and blocking their exit. When they would try to get away he would either nip or ram them until they couldn't get away anymore.
Let me say that this is very unusual and I have never had that happen since, but it was a good lesson to me to keep an eye on the tank-mates of breeding Apistogramma. Nijsenni are particularly aggressive for apistos and this one individual was ruthless. So there are some species that are more aggressive than others in the genus, but the key is the individual fish that you have - I think! Neil