Can you get the male before the female

[Andreas]

Hi
I want to get apistogramma hongsloi but they only have males at the moment they are still quite small
woul it be possible to get the male and later to get the female if so how big is the time gap for hongsloi before the cant breed any more

 

[Mike Wise]

Part depends on the size and lay-out of your tank. You can buy a male now and add a female later, but when you do you should re-arrange the decor so the male's territory (the entire tank?) disappears. Remove the male while re-arranging the tank and introduce the fish at the same time. I don't know if there really is a time gap, age-wise, if they are both mature specimens. Of course if the female is very small there could be problems with male dominance. I'll give you a couple of examples. I prefer to breed younger female A. bitaeniata with older males that are 'slowing down'. I've found young males are very 'eager' and often the attention causes the female to lose her spawn. Age-wise, I commonly have 3-year old pairs breed and once had a pair of A. cf. agassizii BBCS (Gold) that successfully produce fry when they we over 4-years old.