Male A. Agassizi has become very aggressive

[shifty803]

I have had my A. Agassizi pair for about 2 weeks now. They were coexisting fairly peacefully till the last couple days. He seems to have become extremely aggressive. There is damage to the female's caudal fin, and she spends almost all her daylight time hiding. Last night I found her up behind the filter intake, where she stayed for several hours.

After lights out, the male seemed to calm down a little. She came out and started poking around for food like usual. This morning though, the male is back to his aggressive behavior.

I am in the middle of cycling a 10g tank I am using as a QT tank, but it is still in the nitrite phase. I really have no way of separating them, and am worried that the male is going to kill her, whether directly or through stress/disease.

Is this common for the species, and what do most people do about it? Thanks for any help.

 

[CPool]

Well I would do this, take her out andput her in the 10 gallon even if it isn't cycled. Take some filter material out of the tank that she is in now and put it in the fitler of the 10 gallon tank nad you have basically an instant cycle. Better than the alternative of having the female die.

In me experiance, they usually get along fine, but perhaps some time appart might do them well. Lovers quorel, I fight with my wife sometimes, these things happen.

 

[shifty803]

Unfortunately, the QT runs a sponge filter and the main tank runs an Eheim 2217, so there is no media to take from one to the other.

I guess I'll have to keep the QT running at all times in order to have a place to stick the female in times of need.

 

[MGF]

HI,
You can put a divider like the following link shows
http://www.amazon.com/Tank-Divider-Gallon-Aquariums-Medium/dp/B0007ZN3KW
to separate them so that you don't need to prepare another tank, until the female gets stronger or shows the breeding color.

 

[viejo]

You didn't mention what size tank they are in.. It would be a good idea to put in some compatible dither/target fish ( I like rainbowfish) to calm them down,
give them something to chase if feeling testy & make them more conscientious about guarding spawns.