Apistogramma Being Aggresive

[moscat1206]

Hello, i'm new to keep apistogramma and i buy 2 of them. I asked for male and female but they're still juvenile. First i'm not sure if they're really male and female (still about 1,5 inch). Can I identify them this early? And second, one is very aggresive to another. It keep chasing the other one when i feed sinking pellet. Eventhough i've given the food in two separate area. Any suggestion to reduce the aggresiveness? Because i'm afraid the other will be stressed

The non dominant apisto

The dominant apisto

 

[Mike Wise]

Welcome. First, realize apistos are cichlids. Like most cichlids they are territorial and aggressively protect their territory. Second, you have a bare tank and it appears to be small. Both mean the the less dominant fish, whatever sex it is, does not have a way to avoid the dominant fish that considers the tank its entire territory. So what to do? I hope this is a quarantine tank and not their permanent home. Either way you need to break up the line-of-sight in the aquarium so that there are visual boundaries between territories for each fish. Otherwise I fear that you will have to physically separate the 2 specimens or lose the subdominant fish to aggression.

 

[moscat1206]

I will try to buy some driftwood and plants to give them more space. If the aggresiveness keep going, should I move it to different tank or is it okay with a breeding net?

 

[Mike Wise]

Move to another tank. Breeding nets only stress fish more. It is like a jail cell to humans.

 

[moscat1206]

I've separated them now. Different tank. Both of them alone. But still no plant or driftwood on both tank. When they get bigger, and turns out it's male and female, can they be placed in one tank again?

 

[MacZ]

I've separated them now. Different tank. Both of them alone. But still no plant or driftwood on both tank. When they get bigger, and turns out it's male and female, can they be placed in one tank again?

At that point free a whole tank, rescape it and add them together so none of them has an established territory in the tank. But be aware there is no guarantee they will get along. Usually a male only accepts females in the territory that are ready to spawn. If not they get chased off. This turns around once they have spawned, because then the male is most often seen as a risk to the fry.
Question is: Do you even want to breed?

 

[moscat1206]

At that point free a whole tank, rescape it and add them together so none of them has an established territory in the tank. But be aware there is no guarantee they will get along. Usually a male only accepts females in the territory that are ready to spawn. If not they get chased off. This turns around once they have spawned, because then the male is most often seen as a risk to the fry.
Question is: Do you even want to breed?

Actually yes, want to try to breed. But if it's not possible, i will think of another idea to scape my tank, with apisto in it