Hyper Aggressive Males

[aarhud]

I'm just curious, do you think the aggressiveness of males is genetic or just variable across indivuals?

The nicest A. cacatuoides male I have is aggressive. He is not doing the "seek and destroy" routine, but any other fish are chased until they can evade him. I moved the female I am trying to spawn out of his tank and into her own. I'm going to condition with live foods for two weeks and then introduce the male to the females tank.

I don't think I will add him back to the 125g tank because he tried to claim the whole thing. The smaller male that is currently in the large tank is a lot less aggressive.

 

[Mike Wise]

Aggression in apistos can be due to many factors. Commonly it's seen in tanks too small or without enough structure to allow individual territorial boundaries. Then again, like people, some just have a bad disposition.

 

[Shane Puthuparambil]

Add more structure. Add more caves. Add more plants. Add a few spawning mops. Large driftwood pieces provide plenty of natural holes and territories for these fishes to claim.