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Laetacara araguaiae pair or harem breeders ?

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
Are Laetacara araguaiae best in pairs or do they prefer harem ? Is there an obvious method to tell which fish are harem breeders and which are best in pairs ?
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
All Laetacara species form mated pairs as far as I know. With regard to determining what species are harem breeders, I suggest doing research on the specific species in which you are interested. Some apisto species are harem breeders, some develop casual harem behavior, some form spawning (not mated) pairs, and a few form long-term mated behavior.
 

Fikret Celik

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
115
Location
Turkey
Hello there. In my experience, all Laetacaras are strictly monogamous. The couple usually kill the other male or female in the tank. Have a nice day...
 

Mazan

Active Member
Messages
281
Definitely monogamous. I have 2 pairs and they each have their own territory in a large tank (160 x 60 cm footprint). They breed regularly, the two pairs display and flare at eachother and very occasionally fight, nothing too serious, but it is probably not a good idea to have more than one pair in a smaller tank.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
I have four immature in a 40B (30inch x 18 inch). Once a pair forms i will see what i can do with the other two. The tank has a very large number of hiding spots but the large one that looks very much like a male still likes to chase the two smallest one. The fourth one confuses me. I think it might be a female and i see it 'flirting' with the one i think is a male by circling it and flashing its gill (shouldn't the male be doing this?; certainly this is behavior my male nannacara used to perform with the females) but the one i think is male ignores it - but it also doesn't chase it away like the others.

This is the tank more or less; there is quite a bit of drift wood in there - 5 or 6 pieces but you can't see most of it through the plants.
vv3.jpg


tank from above:
vv2.jpg
 

Mazan

Active Member
Messages
281
Actually they may all be OK in your tank, as it has lots of plants and driftwood. I also started with four juveniles, the two biggest and more colourful were the first to form a pair, displaying to each other but with some chasing as well (at first I thought they might be two males). As they mature it is easy to tell the difference between the sexes as the male develops quite a pronounced nuchal hump and the size difference between male and female is greater.
IMG_0558.JPG
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fullsizeoutput_1126.jpeg
 

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