Fighting Females

[lou]

MY Female Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids (two of them) will not stop fighting. They have plenty of caves to swim in but it seems one female is intent on constantly picking on the other female who now sits hiding in the corner of the tank. She also refuses to go into any of the caves, instead staying in the open waiting to be attacked. Im not sure what to do to stop this. The male is quite peaceful, having stated the tank as his, now swims calmly with my females. The attacked female is a new addition to the tank, and I tried to make the transition into my tank as smooth as possible, she just seems completely petrified (she has been in my tank a week now).

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[ProF_FR]

Hi,

Personnally and depending on your tank size i would add a female or remove the harrassed one.

the first female while beeing alone just made the whole tank her territory.
Adding one will divide her agressivity on 2 other females which should help but you need to have enough space for the 4 of them.

Hope that helps

ProF

 

[lou]

Lou

Thanks for that!

Although I have got plenty of rocks and spaces for her to hide it is only a small tank, holding approximately 16 litres. So I guess I should have just kept to one female and the male, as I really don't think there is enough for four of them.

I did try re-arranging the rocks in the tank in the hope that both females could regain their own territory at the same time, but I am not sure if this has helped or made things worse!

I have only had them since June and attempting to learn their bahaviour, as they are very very different to my big tank of Malawi Cichlids!

 

[ProF_FR]

16 litres ??? WOW

I'd definately remove the additional female

ProF

 

[lou]

lou

I have just checked as I am bad at guessing tank volume, and it is actually 25 litres! It was a starter tank used for my Malawi Cichlid babies who are in the big tank now.

I think I will have to find a new home for my female then, as it appears I may have overlooked how much space a female wants as her territory.

Just out of interest is there a rough area size to use to calculate how many females to put in one tank?

Thanks for help

 

[ProF_FR]

25 litres makes me feel the same : too small for a trio.

I'd personally not put a pair in such a small tank.

The more space they have the better it is. i don't think we could determine the space needed.

ProF

 

[lou]

Ok thanks for that!

I will have to go back to the original male and female. At least I now know how terrritorial the females are, I thought it was just the males. My male is not aggressive at all, so I must have gotten it completely wrong or they have reversed roles! She is very protective!

 

[ProF_FR]

Apisto mom are always very protective for the spawning place area... the male defends a bigger place which can include several females territory.

ProF

 

[Mike Wise]

I give each of my females a minimum of about 1 sq. ft. (30 x 30 cm) with boundaries that block the vision of the neighbors. Females are much more violent in defending territory than males. Males usually put on ritualistic displays but rarely damage each other. The same cannot be said for females.

 

[lou]

Thanks, with that in mind a small tank like mine should really only have one female, to bring back the peace.

I read somewhere on the web that the females lived in communities and helped with each others babies, does that actually happen? Or do they stay within there own terrority?

 

[Mike Wise]

The problem with web is that any fool can write anything they want. Forums are usually safer because if someone writes something obviously wrong someone else will correct it.

In large tanks, where there are several females that occupy there own individual territories, fry often are exchange (taken) between different females - even of different species. This is not joint custody. This is kidnapping.

 

[lou]

That certainly makes much more sense and explains the bahaviour of my females, and as a first time forum user I will stick to this method for information!

I have read on other forums the original female had young, and now her grown daughters live within the same tank and look after any young she produces. But I'm guessing that is a case of kidnapping again and not such a 'happy community' that it sounds!

 

[lou]

Quick update- By inserting one small plant I now have three happy flirty fish! My females seem to be best friends now sharing caves together, and showing no aggression! I have no explanation why one small plant has caused this reaction in my fish, and I am pretty sure I will have lots of babies again soon!