Aggressive borellis

[sevenkit]

Hi all, new to the forums.

I have a 10 gallon tank where I recently added a female apistogramma borelli to a male that had been there for quite some time. They hit it off and produced baby fry. My issue now is that they're aggressively chasing their tankmates (couple guppies, cloud minnows, and harlequinn rasboras).

I don't want them all to be constantly stressed by the harrassment of the new parents. Does anyone have tips on what I can do? Will I have to get a new tank (I'd rather not) or just sell the pair back to stop all this aggression?

 

[regani]

The fish show their natural behaviour trying to protect their fry from potential predators and there really is no way around it. You can remove either the other fish or the pair to a new tank to prevent aggression or keep all together and just ride it out. The minnows and rasboras will be fast enough to get away from the apistos, the guppies may have a bit more trouble.
If you want to breed apistos it is best done in a dedicated tank, community tank will always be problematic in that regard.

 

[sevenkit]

So if i had to move the apistos and company to a new tank...is a 10 gallon the minimum? When the fry grow up a bit, is it going to be all-out war in the tank?

 

[regani]

Borellii should work ok in a 10g if properly decorated as they are fairly peaceful as far as apistos go. They will tolerate the fry for a couple of months, maybe, that depends on how fast the female gets ready to breed again. Usually she will try to chase the older fry out of her territory (the whole tank for a 10g). Sometimes you get lucky and have two or three generations in a tank, but the numbers will dwindle and you need lots of hiding places (e.g. dense vegetation) to shelter the older fry. To properly breed them you will need a separate grow-out tank for the fry where they can go after the first few weeks with the mother.

 

[sevenkit]

Thanks for the help! In all likelihood, I'll have to sell them back. It was wonderful seeing them have fry, but I want a peaceful tank. Is there any concern about separating the mom from its fry? I don't think the other fish are likely to eat them, but will they survive on their own for a while if momma isn't there to show 'em the ropes?

 

[regani]

If they are still small enough the fry will get picked off by the other fish. Otherwise they should be fine without the parents.
You will need something like freshly hatched brine shrimp or micro worms to get good growth rates for the young fish, but in some cases they will do ok on finely crushed flakes as well.
If you manage to raise a few to a decent size in your community tank you should be able to sell them off to pet shops as well.