Apistogramma Males who breed the fry

[FIL]

Hi

For several months, I observed new behaviors of certain species in my tanks.
My Apistogramma borellii have shared breeding fry, my male Apistogramma cacatuoides have bred fry and he chased female and male Apistogramma agassizii my "Itaya" have bred fry and he chased female.

Is it a behavior that can be found in the natural environment or is it a disposition of behavior in captivity?

Sorry for the vidéo quality , i don't have camera. It's a video i made with my phone.

Nicolas

 

[Mike Wise]

What you observe in not common, but not rare. This usually occurs in aquariums where the male has no need to guard his territory from other fish. Usually females dominate males when they have fry. If the female is not the 'domineering type' or if the male is super-dominant, the male will sometimes try to brood the fry - with mixed results. We don't really know the reason; boredom? Usually males don't do as well as parents. We don't know much about breeding in the wild. We have observations of pairs of A. steindachneri jointly caring for fry from predators in the wild, but not the male taking over sole duty.

 

[FIL]

Hi ,

Thank for your informations. Yes the male is super-dominant but the pair are not alone in the tank. The male defend very good the fry. It's very very interesting to observe this behaviors.

Other vidéos

and photo of male

 

[Apistomaster]

My experience with these two species is that often the pair shares in the brood care although the females usually provide the primary care. I think it is best to think that with these species that the brood care may be distributed on a continuum where sometimes males may predominate, or pairs may share and usually the female primarily provides brood care.
Some unpredictability just adds to the experience of rearing them.