Bad Mood

[RiC]

Hello all,

A little update about my pair of agassizii and my concern; I'm new to apistos so I'm a bit worried about the current situation.

I got them as juveniles six weeks ago and about 10 days ago the female turned yellow/gold and began to display in front of the male, who stopped chasing her away (he never was very violent with her, much more like a kind of "push away" attitude). Then she went into a cave and spent almost one week in there, coming out to see the male from time to time and eating a little bit (still gold/yellow). I could see nothing insinde the cave as the entrance is hidden by a bunch of java moss.

On Sunday, she came out of the cave with no fry; I was told that since that's her first time she probably ate the eggs or fry. However, since Sunday the male has been pretty nasty with her (her color is back to normal), to such an extent that she hides all the time. Granted, she's got plenty of hiding places but it's very difficult for me to see her and to feed her, so I'm concerned about that "miserable life" of hers. I know that with fish you never know because it always varies from one fish to the other, but should I try to let things settle down a little bit (it's been only three days) or should I remove the male for a while?

They are in a low 20g with a little school of hatchetfish.
Thanks for any input!

 

[RiC]

Another update, sorry about the double post. This morning she is back to gold/yellow and I just saw her "attack" the male - I really don't understand what's going on ...

 

[Mike Wise]

This is typical apisto breeding behavior. When the female is brooding eggs/fry, she is the dominant fish. When she isn't brooding she is the subdominant fish. In a 20 gallon long with sufficient hiding places, both fish should be safe from the other.

 

[RiC]

Thanks for the reply, Mike.
But is it normal that after only a few days she turns back to yellow ?

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, it is possible. I have a wild form of A. cacatuoides in which the female is almost always in breeding/brooding colors. Females can produce new eggs every 10 days to 2 weeks, depending on how well she is fed. If she lay eggs on day 1, the eggs hatch late on day 3, and she loses the larvae sometime after this, she will already have had a good start at producing a new set of eggs.